Unesco urges Poland to stop logging ancient forest

Krakow (Poland): Unesco on Wednesday “strongly” urged Poland to stop logging the older parts of the ancient Bialowieza forest, a world heritage site that includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland. The large-scale logging authorised by the Polish government began in May of last year and has since drawn concern from environmental activists, scientists and the European Union. Unesco “strongly urges (Poland) to immediately halt all logging and wood extraction in oldgrowth forests,” the World Heritage Committee said in a statement during its annual session. The committee, which is meeting in the southern Polish city of Krakow this year, also called on “the state party of Poland to maintain the continuity and integrity of protected old-growth forest in Bialowieza forest.” Straddling Poland’s eastern border with Belarus, Bialowieza boasts unique plant and animal life — including the continent’s largest mammal, the European bison — as well as one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain 10,000 years ago. The Polish government has said it authorised the logging to contain damage caused by a spruce bark beetle infestation and to fight the risk of forest fires. But environmental activists allege that the government’s explanation is being used as a cover for the commercial logging of protected old-growth forests. Unesco urged Poland to “clarify third-party reports about logging targeting species other than those affected by bark beetle that cannot be justified.