The environmental go-ahead for the project to construct the Siarzewo Dam on the Vistula River has been revoked by the Polish Minister of Climate and Environment, Michał Kurtyka. Non-governmental organisations, forming part of the Polish Save the Rivers Coalition have been pushing for several years for the Ministry to reassess the environmental consent for the … Read more
A long and discouraging process highlights the near-impossible challenge for civil society to lodge complaints against violations of Ukraine’s environmental laws. Since spring 2020, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU) – a partner of the Save Polesia coalition – have been battling to challenge the Ukrainian laws that were broken during the first steps … Read more
Polish women take a stand against the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Vistula river, which would be a key step towards the proposed E40 waterway. The inspiring movie ‘River Sisters’ by Cecylia Malik reports on the activities of a group of Polish women to protect one of Central Europe’s least impacted large rivers … Read more
The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure requests a joint decision among the governments of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, if the E40 waterway project is to be implemented. This needs to be based on sound economic and environmental assessments. The Ukrainian authority stated this in a letter sent to the Save Polesia partner NECU as response to … Read more
During the first weekend of June, Save Polesia partners – APB-BirdLife Belarus and Bahna – held the fifth annual “High Five Pripyat!” kayak tour. The event aims to draw attention to the beauty, and huge value, of the Pripyat and its tributaries if they are left in an unaltered, natural form. Overall about 30 people … Read more
The German Television channel, ARTE, just released a brand-new documentary about the wonders of Polesia – Europe’s Amazon – and the threat of the E40 waterway that would destroy it. The stunning footage shows why the landscape is so unique. It is one of the most biodiverse and culturally rich areas of Europe and a … Read more
This Saturday at Peat-Fest 2021, the ‘Save Polesia’ and the ‘Polesia – Wilderness without borders’ projects will showcase their commitment to protect Europe’s Amazon. The 24-hour long online festival is ‘dedicated to facilitating conversation about peatlands and larger ecological questions’. The free event is organised, for the second time, by a youth-led group RE-PEAT, in … Read more
The Ukrainian State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management (SAZM) kept their promise and removed the E40 waterway from the updated draft 2030 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Development Strategy. Hence, the previous section on the “Development of transport infrastructure” is not included anymore – as requested by several organisations, who argued that these plans were unacceptable. The … Read more
About a week ago, a group of swimmers from all over Poland protested against a hydroelectric dam. Their way of protest was remarkable: the activists swam in the eight degrees cold Vistula river near the planned construction site in Siarzewo. The proposed dam would severely impact one of Europe’s last big free flowing rivers, namely … Read more
On the 27th of April 2021, Save Polesia partners APB-Birdlife Belarus and Bahna will hold an online roundtable discussion on the “Potential of agro-tourism and ecotourism in Polesia”. The event will be supported by a number of environmental organisations, as well as the business community. Themes to be covered include the potential for ecotourism in … Read more