FOREWORD
Onno de Bruijn,
Society for the Preservation of Nature in the Netherlands,
(Vereniging Natuurmonumenten),
's-Graveland,
The Netherlands
Heorhi Kazulka,
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park,
Kamenyuki,
Belarus
Czeslaw Okolow,
Bialowieza National Park,
Bialowieza,
Poland
As the editorial team, we are very pleased to introduce this book about the history, values and management of the Bialowieza Forest. This book is the result of a unique trilateral co-operation between Belarus, Poland and the Netherlands. It contains summaries of the contributions by Polish and Belarussian park managers and leading scientists during a cross-border conference on biodiversity conservation, nature protection and the cultural heritage of the Bialowieza Forest, which spans the border between Poland and Belarus. This large forested area (over 150,000 ha) is one of the most important nature reserves in the whole Europe, being the last vast remnant of the Middle-European primeval lowland forest.
Figure1.
In the Bialowieza Primeval Forest
The conference was attended by approximately 40 participants who approved by acclamation an appeal consisting of ten points covering motivations, challenges and future directions for integrated management of the entire Bialowieza Forest.
This book is broken down into four sections. The first contains the "Bialowieza-Kamenyuki Appeal 2000" and a list of the conference participants. In addition there is an introductory chapter entitled "There is only one Forest", written by the Dutch member of the editorial team. In this essay he gives a personal impression of the Bialowieza Forest (both the Polish and the Belarussian territories) and describes the initiatives which resulted in the cross-border conference and the process that led to its realisation.
In the second section of the book, Polish managers and scientists describe the situation in the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest, the Puszcza Bialowieska, regarding park management, nature conservation, forestry, water management, ecological agriculture, cultural heritage and ecotourism.
In the third section, Belarussian specialists describe the same subjects (and in addition bog and fen conservation) covering the Belarussian part of the Bialowieza Forest, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
In the fourth and final part of this book, the editorial team summarises and integrates all the contributions. Although we are happy to publish all of the articles because of their scientific qualities and originality, this does not mean that, as editors, we share all the ideas expressed by the various authors. A task for the near future will be to integrate the separate visions for the various topics dealt with into a coherent overall development plan for the Bialowieza Forest.
Figure2. Symbol of the Bialowieza Forest:
European Bison in the snow
In the summary, too, some ideas for future actions are given that align with the "Appeal". These reflect the one essential goal: to consider and manage the Bialowieza Forest as a whole, from historical, landscape and ecological standpoints. We hope to obtain international approval and support to realise this. This book gives an impression of the transboundary efforts, which are being made to conserve the natural and cultural values of the entire Bialowieza Forest. As an area with outstanding and unique values, a virtually lost example of harmony between man and nature, it deserves the full support of the international community.
We would like to thank the Society for the Preservation of Nature ("Natuurmonumenten") for its financial support towards organising the conference and publishing its proceedings. The edition of the proceedings has also supported by a grant of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries (Division of International Nature Conservation). The printing of the Polish version of the conference book including the addition of coloured maps of the Bialowieza Forest, have been supported by the Agricultural Counselor Office of the Dutch Embassy in Warszawa. Publication of the book has been facilitated by the United Nations within their project "Belovezhskaya Pushcha without borders". The proceedings have been published in three languages: English, Polish and Russian. Thanks are due to the translators: Mrs Agnieszka Kostyra (Polish-English and English-Polish translation), Mr Vladimir Burlak (Russian-English translation), Mr Heorhi Kazulka and Mrs Tatyana Kazulka (English-Russian translation), Mrs Ludmila Dvorak (Polish-Russian translation), Mr Miroslaw Dworakowski and Mr. Czeslaw Okolow (Russian-Polish translation). Dr. B. Jedrzejewska has assisted in the scientific correction of the Polish edition. We also thank Dr Giles Stacey for carefully correcting the final English edition. A small team of photographers unselfishly made available a number of splendid pictures for the benefit of this volume: Przemyslaw Bielicki (PB), Alexei Bunevich (AB), Nikolai Cherkas (NC), Onno de Bruijn (OdB), Jan Elfrink (JE), Valentin Ezhelov (VE), Paul van Galen (PvG), Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski (WJ), Rafal Kowalczyk (RK), Zbigniew Krasinski (ZK), Alla Kvyatkovskaya (AK) and Czeslaw Okolow (CO).
To this book two fine maps are added which show the Polish part and the Belarussian part of the Bialowieza Forest. These have been issued by the North-Podlasian Bird Protection Society (PTOP) and the Belarussian Bird Society (APB). Combined with the texts and the pictures, these maps give a good impression of the vastness, natural richness and cohesion of the unmatched Bialowieza Forest.