Shadow report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Bialowieza Forest

The report details unprecedented commercial logging in 2017, the failure to establish an integrated management plan, and the exclusion of stakeholders from governance. It highlights the destruction of old-growth forest habitats and the illegal upgrading of the Narewkowska road, concluding that the site meets the prerequisites for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

• In 2017, commercial timber extraction reached an unprecedented level of 190,000 m3, the highest in 30 years, with an estimated 300 hectares of clear cuts.
• Logging operations in 2017 primarily targeted old-growth forest stands over 100 years old, causing massive destruction to habitats of saproxylic invertebrates and affecting breeding areas for the Eurasian pygmy owl (52%), Boreal owl (43%), three-toed woodpecker, and white-backed woodpecker.
• Approximately 90% of the trees removed in 2017 were dead spruce trees that lacked bark beetle presence, contradicting official justifications for 'sanitary cuttings'.

APA

ClientEarth (2019). Shadow report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Bialowieza Forest. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zmllr0bn/shadow-report-on-the-state-of-conservation-of-the-world-heritage-property-bialowieza-forest-2019-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Shadow report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Bialowieza Forest. 2019. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zmllr0bn/shadow-report-on-the-state-of-conservation-of-the-world-heritage-property-bialowieza-forest-2019-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Shadow report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Bialowieza Forest |date=2019 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/zmllr0bn/shadow-report-on-the-state-of-conservation-of-the-world-heritage-property-bialowieza-forest-2019-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2019shadow, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Shadow report on the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Bialowieza Forest}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/zmllr0bn/shadow-report-on-the-state-of-conservation-of-the-world-heritage-property-bialowieza-forest-2019-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }