Virtual Conservation: How the European Union is Turning a Blind Eye to Its Vanishing Primeval Forests

Situated on the border between Poland and Belarus, the Bia lowieża Forest (1600 km2) is the last large remaining fragment of primeval deciduous forest of the northern temperate zone in Europe. A relic of vast forests that once covered the European lowlands, it is home to many species that are rare or extinct elsewhere, including Wisent (Bison bonasus), large carnivores (Canis lupus, Lynx lynx) and woodpeckers that specialize on dead wood (Dendrocopos leucotos, Picoides tridactylus). In an era when people are increasingly concerned about the environment and large institutions care for nature, one would think that such a unique area, located in the middle of Europe, would be fully guarded against human threats. One might expect to find it a hallmark in the continent’s network of nature sanctuaries. Unfortunately, this singular forest is seriously threatened by continued extraction of timber from self-sown stands of natural origin, felled with the full approval of the authorities. If this process is not stopped, the majority of the primeval old-growth stands will soon be gone. The preservation of natural forests should be at the very top of the European environmental agenda, but it is not. Why is this so? No-intervention protected areas (wilderness, categories I and II of the World Conservation Union [IUCN]) cover only 0.5% of Europe