Białowieża is “the misty, brooding forest that loomed behind your eyelids when, as a child, someone read you the Grimm brothers’ fairytales”, in the words of American ecologist Alan Weisman. This unique place of towering hornbeam and fungi the size of dinner plates is Europe: 1,500 sq km of woodland on the border of Poland and Belarus is the last lowland remnant of what covered our continent after the ice age. It is home to 20,000 species, including 12 carnivores such as lynx and wolves, 120 species of breeding bird such as the three-toed woodpecker and rare insects and invertebrates that were lost to the rest of Europe a century or more ago.

The forest boasts Europe’s tallest trees and largest mammal, the bison. It is a national treasure for Poland and an international treasure for us all. Białowieża is our past and our future, a natural laboratory for the study of species and climate, providing globally useful insights into how we’ve changed our environment and how it is changing afresh. Only a small portion (16%) is a national park and parts are protected by the EU and as a Unesco world heritage site.

Poland approves large-scale logging in Europe's last primeval forest Read more

So Poland’s government announcing a drastic increase in the logging of the old forest around these protected areas matters to all of us. Local communities were permitted to harvest 48,000 cubic metres of timber each year but the government is to allow at least 180,000 cubic metres. The new environment minister, Jan Szyszko, claims that the forest is “rotting away” because spruce trees are being killed by the spruce bark beetle. But scientists say such intervention will do more harm than good.

“Unhappy is not a good word – we are devastated,” says Rafał Kowalczyk, director of the Mammal Research Institute inside Białowieża. “If we allow it to become a managed forest, its value and its biodiversity will be lost. It will take hundreds of years to reverse this kind of destruction.”

As Kowalczyk explains, the shallow-rooted spruce is suffering because of drier soils and climate change. Its destruction by the beetle is a natural process that creates a more resilient forest: in areas where spruce does not regenerate, it will be quickly replaced by species – such as hornbeam and lime – better suited to these environmental conditions. It is natural for healthy forests to have plenty of dead wood, supporting huge numbers of invertebrates and other animals. The three-toed woodpecker is four times rarer in the commercially harvested part of Białowieża.

Tracts of the forest are unique because they have never been felled, but the forest is not completely “primeval”. It supports an indigenous human population that derives its livelihood from tourism, honey, mushrooms, hunting or timber and the Polish government’s case for destruction mixes cultural warfare with a dishonestly selective use of science. It claims the heritage of local people who traditionally make use of the forest’s riches is trampled upon by international conservation. But, while international scientists have spoken out against the logging, as has WWF and Greenpeace Polska, the strongest defence of the forest has been mounted by local scientists and local charities.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The richness of Białowieża lies in its untouched status and size. Hack away at the edges and scientists warn that the unique species and features of this complex ecosystem will be lost.’ Photograph: Łukasz Mazurek/WildPoland.com

They say the beetle is a handy alibi for commerce. Before Szyszko (a forestry teacher) was elected, he spoke of the wasted commercial potential of unlogged wood. Only 57% of the proposed harvest refers to disease-ridden spruce – its rotten wood is worthless. Loggers want to get their hands on valuable, large old trees. One forest district has already almost felled an allowance of trees which was supposed to last until 2021 and so the government will permit it to increase its annual take from 6,000 cubic metres to 53,000 cubic metres. Other districts are likely to follow suit.

The richness of Białowieża lies in its untouched status and size. Hack away at the edges, reduce the forest to managed fragments, and scientists warn that unique species and features of this complex ecosystem will be lost. Białowieża needs more protection, not less: its national park is 100 sq km but a lynx’s territory can stretch across 300 sq km.

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The untouched character of Białowieża has an economic value far greater than a once-in-200-year tree harvest. Forestry employs few people and its profits are channelled into the state forestry department and not local communities, argues Kowalczyk. In contrast, there are 70 scientists working permanently in the woods, 100 national park staffers and thousands of tourists who visit Białowieża to marvel at its riches. Białowieża represents just 0.5% of Poland’s forests, most of which are relatively barren commercial plantations. Why destroy such a special, precious remnant?

As Britain heads towards the EU referendum, virtually every conservationist argues that we need to stay in Europe because of its environmental protections, including the habitats directive and its Natura 2000 sites, of which Białowieża is one. Białowieża is the big test for that argument. The EU must intervene, cajole and penalise the Polish government until its vandalism is stopped. If the EU can’t save Białowieża, its environmental protections aren’t worth the – sustainably sourced – paper they are written on.