Agnieszka Woźniak-Starak, a prominent journalist and environmental activist, has voiced her outrage over the Polish government's potential plans to allow logging in the iconic Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Until recently a supporter of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition, Woźniak-Starak is now alarmed by reports from the ecological group Workshop for All Beings, which suggest that the Ministry of Climate and Environment is preparing to change forest management regulations. This development contradicts Tusk's earlier promises of absolute protection for Poland's forests, raising serious concerns about the government's commitment to environmental preservation. As public sentiment shifts, Woźniak-Starak warns that Tusk's administration may face significant backlash over this issue, highlighting the fragility of the ruling coalition's support among eco-conscious voters.
RMX: Until recently, news personality, journalist, and environmental activist Agnieszka Woźniak-Starak openly supported the ruling coalition, but now, reports about the government possibly allowing part of the Białowieża Forest to be cut down have her enraged.
“Donald Tusk’s government” will pay dearly for this,” she says, according to Salon24.pl.
On Friday, reports from the ecological organization Workshop for All Beings (“Pracownia na rzecz Wszystkich Istot”) caused quite a stir in the media, indicating that the Ministry of Climate and Environment has prepared changes in forest management that may open up the possibility of cutting down part of the Białowieża Forest.
Contrary to this, at the end of last year, Prime Minister Donald Tusk assured people that he would make every effort to ensure that Polish forests are placed under absolute protection; he also lobbed accusations at the actions of the previous PiS government.
“You not only slaughtered Polish forests but virtually slaughtered the pride of the Polish wood industry (…) You scared Poles with the privatization of state forests. This is not merely about timber management. I want to see a real Polish forest again,” Tusk accused the previous conservative government.
Meanwhile, statistics clearly show that the export of Polish wood to China increased by 30 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to last year under Tusk’s government. In other words, the destruction of Polish forests have only accelerated under Tusk’s rule.
If the prepared proposal of the Institute of Environmental Protection comes into effect, it will pave the way for the commencement of logging in the Białowieża Forest.
Agnieszka Woźniak-Starak, a declared defender of the environment and previous Tusk supporter, is now increasingly pessimistic about the party, posting what appears to be a now-deleted post on Instagram: “Donald Tusk’s government will pay dearly for this because it has a much more critical and unstable electorate than Law and Justice. I wouldn’t forget about it if I were them!”
Meanwhile, the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment published a statement to dispel doubts about the future of the Białowieża Forest.
“Alarming information has appeared in the public sphere regarding the Integrated Plan for the Białowieża Forest, which is being developed by the Institute of Environmental Protection – State Research Institute (IOŚ). Work on the plan is still ongoing and no binding decisions have been made in this matter yet.”
The statement further indicated that there would be “a revision of the document’s assumptions,” while Hubert Różyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Climate and Environment, stated that the plan aims to “correct the mistakes of our predecessors.”