The Białowieża Forest (BF) is a trans-boundary area, located on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is considered the only remaining large area of near-natural lowland temperate forest in Europe with many rare species
The Białowieża Forest (BF) is a trans-boundary area, located on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is considered the only remaining large area of near-natural lowland temperate forest in Europe with many rare species including re-introduced the European bison, a symbol of the BF (Figure 1). Presently, 16% of the Polish part of the BF (i.e. about 105 km2 out of a total of about 630 km2) is protected as a national park, while the rest is managed by the State Forest organisation. Since the beginning of 1990s there has been conflict in the BF regarding protection and management of its. This has polarised into the contrasting perspectives and views held by two camps of. While environmentalists and scientists, supported by the Government, believe that the management by the State Forest has been detrimental to the unique biodiversity of this area, and have advocated enlargement of the national park to cover the whole Polish part of BF, foresters and local people have been keen to sustain the less biodiversity-friendly State Forest regime and they oppose the enlargement of the national park.
Since 2001, the planned enlargement of the national park has been blocked by local communities, who according to new legislation, needed to give consent on the enlargement. The new legislation was a result of the Białowieża Forest conflict and the argumentation of foresters and local people influenced the decision making at the national level. After a long process of negotiations between local authorities and the representatives of the Government that failed to lead to consensus, in 2013 the Minister of the Environment made a decision to reduce the level of timber harvesting by two thirds. This decision was welcomed by the proponents of the park enlargement as it meant a considerable decrease in the detrimental impacts of forestry and improvement of the conditions for the forest’s biodiversity. However, the decision was contested by the local communities
The main argument for park enlargement put forward by its proponents was related to the unique nature of the BF and its European importance for biodiversity conservation. They highlighted that forest management was detrimental for the special biodiversity of this area by interfering into natural dynamics of the forest and removing structures important for biodiversity, such as old large trees and dead wood (Figure 2). The opponents of park enlargement underlined that extending protection would mean increased costs for the local communities (e.g. limited access to forest resources such as firewood). In addition, they claimed that the management by the State Forest was necessary to maintain the natural values of the BF, because “the forest cannot manage itself”.
The lines of argument used by the various parties mirrored three wider standpoints: 1. ‘managerial’ – with foresters presented a