Poland should delay construction of a new barrier through the primeval Bialowieza forest that straddles its border with Belarus until it can prove that it will not harm local wildlife, UNESCO and environmentalists said.
The forest is a World Heritage site and home to the European bison, lynx and other endangered species.
Guy Debonnet, chief of Natural Heritage Unit at UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, said Poland had to demonstrate that the wall would have no negative impact on the protected site. If, nevertheless, "the project has to be carried out for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, the authorities have to first prove a lack of other suitable alternatives and implement appropriate compensatory measures," Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz said.
Large-scale logging stopped after the European Court of Justice ruled in April 2018 that Poland had broken environmental laws.
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