The EU has decided to proceed with infringement proceedings over the logging of the ancient Białowieża forest authorised by Poland the previous year to combat a parasite.
In March 2016, Poland authorised large-scale logging of the Białowieża forest, involving the felling of 180,000 cubic metres of timber. This decision sparked widespread controversy because the area in question is no ordinary forest (assuming such a thing exists), but rather the oldest lowland forest in Europe, which has remained virtually unchanged since the end of the last ice age and is a remnant of the vast forest that covered the entire continent thousands of years ago.
The European Union has expressed its opposition and fears that the felling of such a large number of trees will cause irreparable damage to the ancient forest, a Unesco World Heritage Site and protected area within the Natura 2000 network. To this end, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Poland in June 2016, calling on the Polish government to provide full details of the plan. As the requested clarifications had not arrived, in April the European Commission will send Warsaw a reasoned opinion — a formal warning that constitutes the second phase of the infringement procedure.
"I asked for the logging plan to be halted and we requested discussions on amendments to the forest exploitation programme decided upon by the Polish government," said Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for the Environment, addressing the European Parliament. "Unfortunately, the offer was rejected and the Commission is preparing the next phase of the infringement procedure."
The logging plan was approved in an attempt to curb the spread of a pest, the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus), a small beetle that threatens the survival of European Norway spruce forests.
The Białowieża forest is home to more than 20,000 animal species, among which the best known is probably the European bison (Bison bonasus), the largest land animal in Europe and a relic of the ancient continental megafauna. This powerful mammal seemed doomed to inexorable extinction, like the other large creatures with which it shared its habitat during the Pleistocene; in 1927, the European bison was declared extinct in the wild, with barely 54 individuals surviving in captivity. Thanks to conservation efforts and reintroduction projects, the population today numbers more than five thousand individuals. The majority of European bison living in the wild roam among the ancient trees of the Białowieża forest.