Treasure trove of biodiversity under threat

Enviromental journalist and wildlife photographer Adam Wajrak in front of an uprooted tree in the Bialowieza primeval forest near Teremiski village, eastern Poland, on Sept 30, 2021. Photo: AFP/Wojtek Radwanski

Stopping by a giant oak tree in Europe’s largest surviving primeval forest, environmental journalist Adam Wajrak pauses in admiration.”The trees here were born when the United States did not exist yet, when electricity had not been invented,” said the journalist, who moved to a village in the vast Bialowieza forest 25 years ago.

“It’s shocking that we protect historical monuments that are 400 years old but we cut down living organisms of the same age.”