Activists from Greenpeace are pushing for the establishment of a vast park aimed at protecting the Carpathians, which would span eight countries, including parts of Poland. The proposed International Carpathian Park would cover nearly 50,000 square kilometers, home to diverse flora and fauna, including bears, wolves, and lynxes.
The Carpathian Forest is a picturesque and ecologically rich area stretching across eight European nations. However, Greenpeace activists argue that it is not sufficiently protected. The organization aims to create the International Carpathian Park to safeguard trees from logging and protect the wildlife that inhabits the region. As highlighted by Greenpeace, approximately four hectares of Carpathian forests are lost every hour.
Currently, we are losing four hectares of Carpathian forests every hour. Meanwhile, the European Union has committed to both protecting and restoring nature in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Law. The International Carpathian Park is essential for Europe to meet these commitments and halt the destruction of Carpathian forests, stated Aleksandra Wiktor from Greenpeace.
The proposed park would encompass an area six times larger than the vast Yellowstone Park in the United States and would be equivalent to the size of Slovakia. This ambitious vision, which activists are striving to realize, would include three Polish provinces: Silesia, Podkarpacie, and Lesser Poland, incorporating parts of the Pieniny National Park, Bieszczady National Park, Gorce National Park, and Babia Góra National Park. However, specific boundaries have yet to be defined.
To urgently protect the Polish part of the Carpathian Forest, we must immediately implement national protection measures, followed by international ones. Unfortunately, the process of excluding forests from logging is currently too slow. Little has changed so far, and the Polish portion of the Carpathian forest continues to diminish. First, we must save our most valuable Polish forests and then initiate cooperation with other Carpathian countries, concluded Aleksandra Wiktor.