Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Home » Feature » Health and Environment
Residents fear the human cost of saving Europe's last ancient forest
By Gabriela Baczynska |
August 8, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EUROPE'S last ancient forest, home to its largest herd of bison, faces an uncertain future because of climate change, but residents worry that tougher conservation efforts will damage the local economy.
The 150,000-hectare Bialowieza Primeval Forest, which straddles the border between Poland and Belarus, is one of the largest unpopulated woodlands left in Europe. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
On the Polish side of the border, residents oppose plans to extend the protected zone of this unique habitat, which is under threat from rising temperatures and declining rainfall.
Encouraged by international conservation agencies, Warsaw wants to enlarge the area's national park, which occupies less than one-fifth of the Polish part of the forest.
It has offered up to 100 million zlotys (US$33.6 million) to be shared among the nine communities that would be affected by broader regulations protecting wildlife.
However, the region is among the poorest in Poland and residents of Bialowieza district (population 2,400) are skeptical, fearing it would discourage investment, cause job losses and reduce the community's tax revenues.
"You may think we are fools not willing to take the money," said Mayor Albert Litwinowicz, "but it will only go for green investments, while we need roads."
Forests occupy more than 80 percent of the Bialowieza administrative district and provide a significant part of its income, thanks to government cash.
Revenues come mostly from woodland and other subsidies from the central government, plus grants and other state aid, Litwinowicz said.
Income would be halved if the whole area were incorporated in the national park and most of about 50 forestry workers, responsible for maintaining the woodland as well as for cutting the timber, could be laid off, he said.
Temperature rises
Bialowieza district would be fully incorporated into the national park under the current proposal.
"Building anything in the middle of a national park with strict conservation rules would be almost impossible and we want to develop better transport ... and other infrastructure," Litwinowicz said.
There are no major industrial centers nearby. Every year 150,000 people visit Bialowieza, but tourism accounts for only a 10th of the district's revenue.
However, unemployment in Bialowieza is almost non-existent, partly because a quarter of the population has left since 1990, moving to cities or, like many other people from eastern Poland, seeking better jobs in wealthier Western Europe.
Signs of climate change that could threaten the forest have become more evident.
"The average annual temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past 50 years. This is a lot for a primeval forest," said Elzbieta Malzahn of the Forest Research Institute. "That's enough time to call it a change to climate.
"There is less rain in the summer, winters are milder and end sooner, prompting vegetation to start earlier."
National park officials say the level of ground water has fallen by 50 centimeters in the past three decades.
"Spruce roots are very shallow and they just run out of water. We are observing falling numbers of spruce," said park employee Mateusz Szymura.
Bialowieza is home to 800 wild European bison, the continent's heaviest land animals weighing up to a ton each and standing up to 2 meters high.
So far, the changes have not endangered the bison because mammals adapt easily to a changing environment, scientists say.
They say Bialowieza had undergone many changes over the centuries and the forest had adjusted to new conditions.
Enlarged park
"The problem is, however, if the changes we are now causing are too fast and too unpredictable and leave nature little chance to catch up," Malzahn said.
Political arguments between Belarus and Poland have stifled efforts to safeguard the forest. Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, the bloc's eastern border runs through the forest, marked by a fence built by Belarus years ago.
The barrier prevents bison from each side from intermingling.
However, they remain genetically similar since the species was regenerated using just a few animals -- and only two males -- that survived in a Polish zoo after they had vanished from the wild in the 1920s as a result of hunting and poaching.
To extend the protected area on the Polish side, the government needs the approval of local authorities and says the scheme would cost between 1.5 million and 3 million zlotys.
"For years, local people have opposed plans to enlarge the park and we are now presenting a program that shows they can go on operating with an enlarged park," Deputy Environment Minister Janusz Zaleski said.
"We also hope this money would create jobs in the region and help improve it."
Mayor Litwinowicz did not seem convinced. He said he was considering holding a referendum among residents on the enlargement scheme.
"If where we live is so unique for the whole of Europe, why shouldn't the residents benefit rather than suffer?" he said. "Personally, I am against it, but the people will decide."
The 150,000-hectare Bialowieza Primeval Forest, which straddles the border between Poland and Belarus, is one of the largest unpopulated woodlands left in Europe. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
On the Polish side of the border, residents oppose plans to extend the protected zone of this unique habitat, which is under threat from rising temperatures and declining rainfall.
Encouraged by international conservation agencies, Warsaw wants to enlarge the area's national park, which occupies less than one-fifth of the Polish part of the forest.
It has offered up to 100 million zlotys (US$33.6 million) to be shared among the nine communities that would be affected by broader regulations protecting wildlife.
However, the region is among the poorest in Poland and residents of Bialowieza district (population 2,400) are skeptical, fearing it would discourage investment, cause job losses and reduce the community's tax revenues.
"You may think we are fools not willing to take the money," said Mayor Albert Litwinowicz, "but it will only go for green investments, while we need roads."
Forests occupy more than 80 percent of the Bialowieza administrative district and provide a significant part of its income, thanks to government cash.
Revenues come mostly from woodland and other subsidies from the central government, plus grants and other state aid, Litwinowicz said.
Income would be halved if the whole area were incorporated in the national park and most of about 50 forestry workers, responsible for maintaining the woodland as well as for cutting the timber, could be laid off, he said.
Temperature rises
Bialowieza district would be fully incorporated into the national park under the current proposal.
"Building anything in the middle of a national park with strict conservation rules would be almost impossible and we want to develop better transport ... and other infrastructure," Litwinowicz said.
There are no major industrial centers nearby. Every year 150,000 people visit Bialowieza, but tourism accounts for only a 10th of the district's revenue.
However, unemployment in Bialowieza is almost non-existent, partly because a quarter of the population has left since 1990, moving to cities or, like many other people from eastern Poland, seeking better jobs in wealthier Western Europe.
Signs of climate change that could threaten the forest have become more evident.
"The average annual temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past 50 years. This is a lot for a primeval forest," said Elzbieta Malzahn of the Forest Research Institute. "That's enough time to call it a change to climate.
"There is less rain in the summer, winters are milder and end sooner, prompting vegetation to start earlier."
National park officials say the level of ground water has fallen by 50 centimeters in the past three decades.
"Spruce roots are very shallow and they just run out of water. We are observing falling numbers of spruce," said park employee Mateusz Szymura.
Bialowieza is home to 800 wild European bison, the continent's heaviest land animals weighing up to a ton each and standing up to 2 meters high.
So far, the changes have not endangered the bison because mammals adapt easily to a changing environment, scientists say.
They say Bialowieza had undergone many changes over the centuries and the forest had adjusted to new conditions.
Enlarged park
"The problem is, however, if the changes we are now causing are too fast and too unpredictable and leave nature little chance to catch up," Malzahn said.
Political arguments between Belarus and Poland have stifled efforts to safeguard the forest. Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, the bloc's eastern border runs through the forest, marked by a fence built by Belarus years ago.
The barrier prevents bison from each side from intermingling.
However, they remain genetically similar since the species was regenerated using just a few animals -- and only two males -- that survived in a Polish zoo after they had vanished from the wild in the 1920s as a result of hunting and poaching.
To extend the protected area on the Polish side, the government needs the approval of local authorities and says the scheme would cost between 1.5 million and 3 million zlotys.
"For years, local people have opposed plans to enlarge the park and we are now presenting a program that shows they can go on operating with an enlarged park," Deputy Environment Minister Janusz Zaleski said.
"We also hope this money would create jobs in the region and help improve it."
Mayor Litwinowicz did not seem convinced. He said he was considering holding a referendum among residents on the enlargement scheme.
"If where we live is so unique for the whole of Europe, why shouldn't the residents benefit rather than suffer?" he said. "Personally, I am against it, but the people will decide."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
