'My worst nightmares are coming true': last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse'

Polish government is accused of pushing BiaAowieA1/4a forest ecosystem to point of no return with state-sanctioned logging in Unesco world heritage site

Scientists and environmental campaigners have accused the Polish government of bringing the ecosystem of the BiaAowieA1/4a forest in north-eastern Poland to the "brink of collapse", one year after a revised forest management plan permitted the trebling of state logging activity and removed a ban on logging in old growth areas.

Large parts of the forest, which spans Poland's eastern border with Belarus and contains some of Europe's last remaining primeval woodland, are subject to natural processes not disturbed by direct human intervention.