In Belovezhskaya Pushcha science is on fire

The article by Heorhi Kazulka, Philosophy Doctor of Biology Kamenyuki village, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha
Published in «Narodnaya Volya» (People's Will) Newspaper, #22,
February 07, 2004

One more extraordinary event took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The unique scientific library and archives put together in over 60 years by several generations of scientists and managers was on fire in the true sense of this word. The library comprises 12,000 books. Among them there are many unique editions, issued as early as the beginning of the last century. There are a great number of books specializing on various branches of nature protection, biology, forestry and soil science. More than 10,000 scientific magazines are the property of this library. Reports of scientific researches carried out since the end of the Second World War are stored there. Accounting documents (the records archive) and permanently stored papers are also available. In the past the library and the archive were placed in separate rooms in the laboratory building, which was constructed for the scientific department in the «70's.  Storage conditions of the library fund have corresponded to the rules and norms in force. At first the administration and management of the State Protected Game Ground, and then, since 1991, the National Park administration have been set in this building. Scientific and economic departments peacefully coexisted in this building for over 30 years.

A year ago, however, the present administration of the National Park «Belovezhskaya Pushcha» lead by general director Nickolai Bambiza, has suddenly decided that such a long-term «idyll« is unfavorable to economic development, and therefore undesirable. A decision was taken to move all staff out and to turn this building into one more hotel. They have decided that the 4 hotels already existing in the Park are not sufficient for accommodating the numerous foreigners, the coming of which is literally expected in the closest future. It is expected that the tourists bring a lot of hard currency to the treasury. Well, it is a noble enterprise; the state budget benefits from these investments. But it is true that economic analyses and scientific prognoses of such »influx of rich bourgeoisies« are not to be seen or heard to this day. For some reason nobody from the Park's administration recollects that the 4 hotels available are half-empty for most of the year. Oh, sorry, there are actually 3 hotels because brigades of numerous part time workers, brought in from other regions, occupied one hotel (approximately 100 residents). They have replaced the locals on the jobs and caused unprecedented unemployment in the Pushcha and also a rise in criminality.

So, in November 2003, all departments of the Park including the scientific department were hastily moved to the so-called industrial area where the timber processing plant is located. The scientific department was placed within the premises of the car repairs garage which is, to say the least, poorly adapted to scientific purposes. Though the managers of the Park promised members of the Parliamentary Commission (the Commission came to the Pushcha in summer) that they will not touch the library and archive, but perhaps, the temptation of «green currency» has proved stronger. As a result, the library and archive were removed from the building and placed … above the boiler-house!

The room and storage conditions of the priceless library fund corresponded neither to rules nor to common sense. You see, the boiler where wood is burned is situated at the ground floor (!). Two months ago one of the participants to the action has predicted the outcome of this change of location in an article published on the web site «Belovezhskaya Pushcha — 21 century», and he has proved to be absolutely right.

In midday, January 30th, one more fire occurred in the Pushcha — wooden parts of the roof of this boiler-house started to burn (the previous fire was on October 27th, 2003 when timber processing equipment burned down). Thank God firemen were able to extinguish the fire and to prevent an irreversible calamity. But flows of water mixed with sooth, resin and pitch have done their dirty business. Approximately a quarter of the library fund was affected by water. Pitch covered many books. Fortunately employees of the science department had the large herbarium brought into their offices. Otherwise the damage would have been more significant. Nearly ten years ago in the Berezinski Reserve the whole library was lost because of a fire caused by a malfunction of the electrical circuit. Employees of the Reserve remember to this day how much they lost in that fire. If, for instance, the Nesvizh castle had burned down owing to negligence of workers, it could have been restored, recreated identically, by spending a substantial sum of money, but how to restore thousands of valuable books turned into ashes? However, the most surprising part of this story is that not even now, after this extraordinary incident, a proper room for the library has not been allocated!

Thus, a series of uncountable natural and man-made disasters continue to attack the unfortunate Belovezhskaya Pushcha. And the end of this series is not in sight. What is to do and how to put and end to this series? Let's look at the real situation. Today there is only one man in the country that has all the necessary powers. He is Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of Belarus. And Belovezhskaya Pushcha is subordinated to the Property Management Department of the President.

Having no power to further look at how the things that several generations created in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha are being destroyed and annihilated with unprecedented speed during the last years, I appeal President Alexander Lukashenka. Now the future of Belovezhskaya Pushcha depends exactly upon You!

Polish kings, Russian tsars and Communist General Secretaries of the country zealously took care of Belovezhskaya Pushcha and saved it. Some people could say that all of them were mad about hunting and considered Pushcha their own hunting lands first of all. At the same time, some could say that the Belarusian President is not a hunter and therefore he has no direct interests in the Pushcha where he makes short visits few times a year. That's true. However this is not a reason to take the position of a taciturn and a detached observer. After all, this is a sacred place of Belarusian nature! It is impossible to look so indifferently at this farm of businessmen, timber merchants and casual people!

The following short note cannot comprise all the violations from the last two years: fellings of living spruce stands in 2001 without approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection; secret fellings of living old forest and giant trees in 2002; reconstruction of the old and construction of new water reservoirs without a real ecological impact analysis; cutting of scientific monitoring plots; mass artificial planting of trees within the protected territory without the ecological basing; tens of thousands of cubic meters of timber decaying and losing quality after being left to lay in the forest at places of cutting; breaking up of the National Park management team; oppressions and persecutions of the local population; storage without appropriate documents of a combat weapon and many other things. While the timber processing plant is supplied by half-rotten low-quality timber, causing economic losses to the Park, the perfect, valuable and high-quality wood of large trunks is delivered to sawmills of local businessmen in the vicinity of the Pushcha. And the last events are eviction of science from the laboratory building and the fire in the «boiler-house-library»!

Local inhabitants both individually and collectively wrote more than one letter with disturbing notifications to various state instances including the President of the Republic of Belarus. However no effective measures for changing the situation have been applied till now. For example, a year ago unmasked facts of illegal secret fellings of living old-age forest and giant trees within the protected territory have been published, but none of the officials have even «raised a finger» to check the facts with direct eyewitnesses, though someone declared publicly and in press about «careful checking of all facts and information«. If we believe the rumours, during the visit to the Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1997, the President reacting to an offer of one of his subordinates to expand a helicopter platform for the purpose of increasing safety of landing, answered that »if even one live tree will be cut, the forester who did so will be taken off the job at once«. Moreover, in the spring of last year the international society has acted for saving the Pushcha. Due to the initiative of Russian and Ukrainian nature protection organizations a fax protest-campaign against violation of the legislation and destruction of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha relic forest addressed to the President and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Protection was initiated. At the same time, the work contract of the director of the National Park was prolonged for the next term as one of the answers to these requests (!?).

Already for a long time, local inhabitants have spread the belief that the head office conducts periodic control missions for the purpose of covering infringements of the present administration instead of revealing job misconduct and bringing order to the National Park. It is clear because a hand cannot slap itself, can it? At the same time, according to the informal declarations of their employees other indirect instances and state bodies have rather limited access to the territory or do not have it at all.

In such a situation and taking into account all facts mentioned above, the impression we get is that leaders of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha are not citizens of Belarus while they belong to a special «caste of the untouchables» (from the juridical point of view) to which laws do not apply. So ecological, economic and social arbitrariness, plus adventurism are allowed with impunity and nature on protected territories is left to be destroyed.

Dear Alexander Grigor'evich! I am addressing to You as to the President and the state person obliged to guard the law. I do not believe that you do not know the situation in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. A lot of information was addressed to You regarding this problem. On the other hand, if you wish, You have sufficient administrative resources to objectively check up facts, to clear up the truth and to stop mockery in respect to the land and people of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Why was this not done till now? I am far from the idea that You personally find any benefit for Your own purposes using this catastrophic situation in the Pushcha. Therefore it is not allowed, even just from the point of view of common sense, to be so indifferent and apathetic in regard to the future of the nation's sacred place and the heritage of mankind.

In the last period there is on TV an advertising that always says: «The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the world of primeval nature!». Alexander Grigor'evich! Please, ask any tourist what has he seen in the Pushcha after visiting it? You will get the answer: «The world of stumps and logs«. So maybe, time has already come to really bring the long-awaited peace for nature and people of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha!?