Europe has its own, smaller version of the Amazon: the Białowieża forest, the last expanse of primeval forest on the old continent, straddling the border between Poland and Belarus. Notwithstanding the many differences, comparing the two can be illuminating, both for the extraordinary naturalistic value they share and for the serious danger that they face.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 as an "irreplaceable area for biodiversity conservation, due in particular to its size, protection status, and substantially undisturbed nature", the Białowieża forest is home to 59 species of mammals, 12,000 species of invertebrates, more than 250 species of birds, 7 species of reptiles, and 13 species of amphibians. The area’s main attraction is the largest remaining population of European bison (Bison bonasus), about 750 in number, thanks to the careful reintroduction of the species from specimens bred in captivity. While the primeval forests of the rest of Europe have been eradicated by human activity, the forest of Białowieża has managed to survive the passage of time, with the first attempts to protect it dating back to 1426 when Sigismund I of Poland prohibited the hunting of bison.
The territory suffered serious damage during the Second World War, not the least of which resulted from the singular case of Hermann Göring, who wanted to transform the area into the largest hunting reserve in the world. Göring had become a champion of Heinz Heck, director of the Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich, whose idea it was to repopulate it with ancestral game, extinct wild animals "recreated" through a “breeding back” project based on the artificial selection of specific traits shared by domestic animals. The project lasted twenty years and was focused on reconstituting two species, the Auroch (Bos taurus primigenius), ancestor of the domestic cow, and the Tarpan (Equus ferus), progenitor of the domestic horse. The result, much criticized by other scientists, was the creation of the so-called "Heck cattle" and "Heck horse". The project has recently been referred to as “Hitler’s Jurassic Park”. This disturbing experiment did not survive the fury of war and the ''new'' species became extinct.
In 2007, the European Commission, in accordance with the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), approved the designation of the Natura 2000 site Puszcza Białowieska, comprising the three forest districts of Białowieża, Browsk, and Hajnówka. This ''Site of Community Importance'' (SCI) was also identified as a ''Special Protection Area'' (SPA) under the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC). Unfortunately, since 2016, Poland has been recklessly exploiting the Białowieża forest. The Minister of the Environment at the time, Jan Szyszko, authorized an increase in timber production in the Białowieża forest district, as well as forest management operations in areas which had theretofore been excluded from all human intervention. Following the opening of an infringement procedure by the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, in its judgment of April 17, 2018, in Case C-441/17, "condemned" Poland for failing to comply with its obligations under the Habitats and Birds Directives, according to which the authorization of any plan or project may be granted only on the condition that the competent authorities have established with certainty that it will cause no lasting detrimental effects on the integrity of the site concerned.
After the Luxembourg judges' ruling, logging was suspended, but the reprieve was short-lived: Poland's new environmental minister approved a regulation in 2021 that raises the quotas for cutting trees in areas of the Bialowieza forest that are not part of a national park. According to the Polish government, the plan is meant to clear trails and protect the forest from tree infestations and disease, which are allegedly caused by insects such as the bark beetle, a spruce pest.
As many environmental associations have pointed out, this new logging plan is unnecessary and devastating for fragile habitats, and is not in line with the conservation guidelines of Natura 2000 sites.
European regulatory framework
The European Union does not have a uniform forestry policy, so the subject remains under national purview. However, the EU envisions common strategies and actively participates in international negotiations on our global forest heritage. In 2013, the EU drafted a new EU Forestry Strategy to ensure the coherence of national and EU forestry policies.
The core principles identified therein are sustainable management, the multifunctional role of forests, and resource efficiency. The EU has also committed to new climate, energy, and environmental projects in which forests play a decisive role. The forestry strategy is directly related to the many actions called for in the European Green Deal, a pillar of European policy to meet the 2030 targets for growing the circular bioeconomy and protecting biodiversity.
The two main objectives are: 1) the promotion of the efficient use of resources while moving to a clean and circular economy. 2) the restoration of biodiversity and reduction of pollution. At the international level, the EU is also financing projects as part of the REDD+ program to reduce emissions linked to deforestation and forest degradation in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In keeping with this general direction, the European Parliament also submitted a resolution (28 Apri 2021, plenary session) asking the EU Commission to prepare a specific directive for soil protection.
Italian regulations
Italy’s forest heritage is the richest in Europe, covering 36.4% of the national territory, with 27.5% subject to environmental protection, as it hosts many species of plants and animals, including large predators at risk of extinction. The Italian forests, like those throughout Europe, have been expanding for several decades, increasing in Italy’s case from 12% at the end of the last century to 36.4% today. Reforestation has been made possible by the abandonment of agricultural and grazing land, leading to an increase in demand for goods and services which is not, however, without risks.
Within this framework, there has been an increase at the national level of interventions in support of forests, such as the Consolidated Forestry and Forest Supply Chain Act (Legislative Decree No. 34 of 3 April 2018). Today, our country, together with the individual member states, is called upon by the European Commission to an ecological transition and an economic development model based on biodiversity conservation, with measures towards this end provided in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. From this standpoint, the protection of forests plays a primary role in combating the climate crisis and in raising awareness of the great value of ecosystem services for the community.
Conclusions
Our conception of the forest has changed numerous times over the centuries: from the medieval notion of the forest as a place of madness (where the mind distances itself from the divine light) to the Enlightenment concept of a repository from which to extract resources (but in a responsible manner), to the benevolent forest of Rousseau and the Romantics and Leopardi, for whom it was the realm of memory (which alone can save the present).
Then, with the advent of Humanism and its anthropocentric vision, a fracture between humanity and nature was created, a dichotomy which posed progress and ecology as opposites. This polarization is also at the heart of the new humanism, according to which the responsibility for the current ecological calamity no longer lies with humanity, but with the speculative industrial and capitalist system, created by men who hold profit as the highest value. As we begin this new era, all such nihilism must be banished, leaving space only for an optimistic and proactive vision, in the awareness that humankind is one with nature.
Today we are ready, we have the culture, the sensitivity, and the tools to undertake this new journey into a new, more mindful dimension.
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