location: Eastern Europe

location: Eastern Europe

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IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction
- IKEA is facing scrutiny over its wood sourcing practices after two damning reports linked the furniture giant to destructive logging in some of Europe’s last ancient forests.
- The investigations by Greenpeace and fellow environmental groups Agent Green and the Bruno Manser Fonds focus on IKEA’s procurement of wood from ecologically sensitive areas in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.
- Inter IKEA Group, the franchisor responsible for the IKEA supply chain, and Ingka told Mongabay they “strongly disagree” with the findings and that the operations complied with national and European laws.

Nature-based recovery needed for Ukraine’s damaged protected areas (analysis)
- A group of ecologists has published the first interim analysis of the impacts of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine’s protected areas, which has been an environmental disaster.
- Conservationists and international policy makers must reckon with the damages from this invasion and support Ukraine in a nature-positive post-war recovery.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Long-term wildlife impacts at Chornobyl, Fukushima may yield ‘a new ecology’
- The world’s worst nuclear power plant accidents to date, at Chornobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011, and the human exclusion zones created around them have given scientists a unique opportunity to study the effects on wildlife of radiation and of reduced pressure from people.
- Chornobyl disaster findings regarding the impacts on exclusion zone organisms vary: Some point to a resurgence of the studied wildlife in the absence of humans, while others indicate radiation negatively impacting certain animal populations.
- Fukushima radiation impacts are statistically harder to detect. But scientists have made similar observation to Chornobyl: Some, but not all, species appear to thrive from reduced human pressure.
- Radioactive contamination moves in ecosystem-specific ways, depending on factors such as water flow. A combination of radioactive contamination and reduced human activity in nuclear exclusion zones may be giving rise to “a new ecology,” with nature overall neither suffering nor thriving, simply different in the impacted areas.

Could biodiversity be a key to better forest carbon storage in Europe?
- A new project is reintroducing key species into Europe’s forests to help restore natural balance and boost the ability of woodlands to store carbon. But there are concerns that unless such reintroductions are made on a much wider, landscape scale, they will have little positive impact in a region so dominated by humans.
- Others argue that the best way to improve Europe’s carbon storage potential is via heavy forest management, even going so far as to clear-cut some older stands and replace them with fast-growing new forests to encourage rapid carbon uptake, and using thinnings from timber operations to burn as biomass to make energy.
- This heavy management approach has raised deep concerns within the scientific community. Many researchers say this method ignores the growing body of evidence that plantation forest monocultures are not only bad for biodiversity and store less carbon, but also increase the risk of spreading devastating diseases.
- A middle ground could see more natural management of some forests where timber is harvested, while other woodland areas are left undisturbed, with a mixture of tree species, deadwood allowed to rot where it falls, and native animals reintroduced to help restore a natural balance and healthy ecosystems.

Ukrainian biologists fight to protect conservation legacy
- As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into a second year, conservation biologists have been forced to implement new solutions to protect their country’s conservation legacy.
- Dangerous conditions have made it difficult to go afield and survey threatened species such as the sandy blind mole-rat, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, wetland birds and native plants, so finding ways to work away from field sites and conservation areas, has become key.
- Missile strikes, fires and thefts have threatened both digital and physical conservation data, spurring the scientific community to digitize and upload as much information as possible to an international biodiversity database.
- So far, 310,600 records have been added to the database, and physical assets like Kherson’s entire herbarium have been moved to safety in western Ukraine.

Russian invasion hinders global biodiversity conservation, study shows
- A new policy paper outlines the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on biodiversity and conservation efforts.
- The authors found that the escalation of the war has isolated Russia, a key party to many international conservation agreements and a vital country for protecting biodiversity because of its diverse habitats, as well as the threatened and migratory species it hosts.
- That isolation has impeded international cooperation on species conservation, they write.
- The invasion has also shifted the priorities of many countries faced with the knock-on effects of the war, such as potential food shortages.

Ukrainian ecologists say nature will suffer no matter war’s result (commentary)
- “As Ukrainian ecologists, we are constantly reminded of the extent to which war itself is at war with nature.”
- In a new commentary, two scientists linked to the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group share their views on the current and future ecological restoration work that will be needed in their country.
- Scientists and communicators linked to the group also hail from Russia and Belarus, countries which are engaged in the conflict against Ukraine: this is unusual and touching, the authors say. “The project has a huge democratic weight: when we’re trying to do the right thing for people and for nature, nationality doesn’t matter.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Black Sea dolphin deaths prompt ecocide allegations against Russia
- On Dec. 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of ecocide during COP15, the U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal, following unprecedented reports of dead dolphins and porpoises washing up on Black Sea beaches since Russia invaded Ukraine.
- On Dec. 2, researchers reported the first scientific analysis of changes in cetacean deaths and movement patterns since the war began in February.
- Mounting evidence is slowly painting a clearer picture of the mass mortality of Black Sea cetaceans.
- But estimates of the death toll vary and scientists diverge on whether research has progressed far enough to scientifically conclude the war’s effect.

EU’s winter energy crisis intensifies pressure on forests (commentary)
- An energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine is intensifying pressure on Europe’s already besieged forests.
- Faced with having to choose whether to heat or eat, demand for firewood has surged as people return to this pre-industrial means of survival to get them through the coming winter. Big companies who burn wood for energy have also been lobbying policymakers to support their industry in the face of fossil fuel shortages.
- “Instead of pumping billions of euros of taxpayers’ money every year into burning biomass…financial support should be redirected towards policies which work: for people, for forests and our climate,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

As biomass burning surges in Japan and South Korea, where will Asia get its wood?
- In 2021, Japan and South Korea imported a combined 6 million metric tons of wood pellets for what proponents claim is carbon-neutral energy.
- Large subsidies for biomass have led Japan to import massive amounts of wood pellets from Vietnam and Canada; two pellet giants, Drax and Enviva, are now eyeing Japan for growth, even as the country may be cooling to the industry.
- South Korea imports most of its pellets from Vietnamese acacia plantations, which environmentalists fear may eventually pressure natural forests; South Korea wants to grow its native production sixfold, including logging areas with high conservation value.
- Vietnam may soon follow Japan and South Korea’s path as it phases out coal, and experts fear all this could add massive pressure on Southeast Asian forests, which are already among the most endangered in the world.

Contorted energy politics of the Ukraine crisis (commentary)
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven energy prices to the highest levels in years, spurring a global energy crisis.
- Nikolas Kozloff, a writer who authored “No Rain in the Amazon: How South America’s Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet,” examines America’s response, which he argues is so far shaping up to be a missed opportunity to transition toward greener energy sources.
- “The Ukraine crisis has the potential to finally nudge the world towards a long overdue clean energy future,” he writes. “However, the Biden administration seems to have calculated that pursuing short-term political gains must take priority.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
- This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, which honors one grassroots activist from each of the six inhabited continents.
- The 2021 prize winners are Sharon Lavigne from the United States, Gloria Majiga-Kamoto from Malawi, Thai Van Nguyen from Vietnam, Maida Bilal from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kimiko Hirata from Japan, and Liz Chicaje Churay from Peru.

Video: Romania’s deadly fight against illegal logging
- Romania’s rich and ancient forests are in peril. Since joining the European Union in 2007, the country has seen its forest cover depleted at record levels.
- Rangers and environmentalists who investigate and document these crimes face violence, intimidation and even murder from agents of an extensive criminal network that supplies multinational corporations with timber.
- New technology has become one of the most effective ways for activists to investigate and document environmental crimes.
- In late 2020, activists teamed up with technologists to monitor illegal logging using bio-acoustic devices hidden in treetops. The devices record sound patterns in the forest, sending instant alerts to rangers who can intervene to stop the theft in its tracks.

Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans’ largest mountain pasture
- A 2019 decree by the government of Montenegro sets forth the country’s intention to set up a military training ground in the highland grasslands of Sinjajevina in the northern part of the country.
- But the pastures of Sinjajevina have supported herders for centuries, and scientists say that this sustainable use is responsible in part for the wide array of life that the mountain supports; activists say an incursion by the military would destroy livelihoods, biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.
- A new coalition now governs Montenegro, one that has promised to reevaluate the military’s use of Sinjajevina.
- But with the country’s politics and position in Europe in flux, the movement against the military is pushing for formal designation of a park that would permanently protect the region’s herders and the environment.

Are forests the new coal? Global alarm sounds as biomass burning surges
- As climate change rapidly escalates with worsening impacts, and with standing forests vital to achieving global warming solutions, the forest biomass industry is booming. While the industry does utilize wood scraps, it also frequently cuts standing forests to supply wood pellets to be burned in converted coal power plants.
- Though current science has shown that burning the world’s forests to make electricity is disastrous for biodiversity, generates more emissions than coal, and isn’t carbon neutral, a UN policy established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol erroneously counts energy produced from forest biomass as carbon neutral.
- As a result, nations pay power companies huge subsidies to burn wood pellets, propelling industry growth. While the industry does utilize tree residue, forests are being cut in the US, Canada, Russia, Eastern Europe and Vietnam to supply pellets to the UK, EU and other nations who can claim the energy creates zero emissions.
- So far, the UN has turned a blind eye to closing the climate destabilizing carbon accounting loophole. The Netherlands, which now gets 61% of its renewable energy from biomass, is being urged to wean itself off biomass for energy and heat. If the Dutch do so, advocates hope it could portend closure of Europe’s carbon loophole.

Scientists warn U.S. Congress against declaring biomass burning carbon neutral
- Some 200 U.S. environmental scientists have sent a letter to congressional committee chairs urging they reject new rules proposed in April under the Clean Air Act that would define biomass, when burned to produce energy, as being carbon neutral.
- The scientists say that biomass burning — using wood pellets to produce energy at converted coal-burning power plants — is not only destructive of native forests which store massive amounts of carbon, but also does not reduce carbon emissions.
- A long-standing UN policy, recognizing biomass burning as carbon neutral, has caused the U.S. forestry industry to gear up to produce wood pellets for power plants in Britain, the EU, South Korea and beyond. Scientists warn that the failure to count the emissions produced by such plants could help destabilize the global climate.
- The letter from environmental scientists concludes: “We are hopeful that a new and more scientifically sound direction will be considered by Members [of Congress] that emphasizes forest protections, and a shift away from consumption of wood products and forest biomass energy to help mitigate the climate crisis.”

As investment giant BlackRock pulls back from coal, NGOs urge the same for biomass energy
- BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management corporation, announced in January that it would be reducing investments in coal due to the fuel’s role in climate change.
- Environmental organizations laud the move, but say it’s not enough. In March, a coalition of 32 organizations from 17 countries delivered a letter stating burning biomass was more polluting than burning coal and asking BlackRock to divest its 5% stake in UK-based Drax, operator of the world’s largest wood-burning power plant.
- Biomass energy is commonly produced by burning wood pellets. Critics of the wood pellet industry say it produces tons of carbon emissions while leveling old-growth and managed forests in the U.S. Southeast and Eastern Europe needed for carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection and resiliency from increasingly intense storms and flooding.
- However, biomass was designated a renewable energy source in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on par with zero-emissions wind and solar energy. Because of this, countries that burn wood pellets do not have to count the emissions it produces. This gives an on-paper-only impression of carbon emissions reductions, thus putting a dent in the global effort to meet Paris Agreement emission-reduction goals to keep warming to 1.5 degree C this century over a 1900 baseline. Global temperatures have already risen 1 degree C over the past 120 years.

Former U.S. envoy under scrutiny for links to sanctioned Moldovan oligarch, land baron
- A former U.S. ambassador to Moldova who is employed by the country’s top commodities baron, Vaja Jhashi, has come under scrutiny for the firm’s links to a sanctioned oligarch.
- Last month, a Mongabay investigation revealed Jhashi’s firm, Trans-Oil, is allegedly over-exploiting its virtual monopoly on grain exports from the country and using offshore companies to transfer its profits overseas and avoid paying tax.
- The fugitive tycoon in question, Vladimir Plahotniuc, has reportedly been living in the United States, despite the sanctions, at a property linked to Jhashi.
- A senior Trump administration official, acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, has also come under fire for working for the oligarch, raising fears he was vulnerable to blackmail.

Fields of Gold: Commodities kingpin leaves a troubling legacy in Moldova
- A Mongabay investigation has traced the rise and fall of a billion-dollar commodities cartel in Eastern Europe, finding it relied on money laundering, tax avoidance and state capture.
- Over more than six months reporters reviewed hundreds of court filings, corporate and property records, and carried out interviews with those involved to reveal how the deals were done and where the money went.
- Despite mounting evidence of impropriety by the group, major development banks continued to fund its projects, lending legitimacy to its operations.

Feral horses gallop to the rescue of butterflies in distress
- A new study suggests that returning feral horses to grasslands in Czech Republic could increase populations of some threatened butterfly species.
- The research shows that the horses’ grazing creates and maintains short grasslands that some butterfly species thrive in.
- The research points to the importance of considering the impacts of species introductions on the restoration of natural ecosystems.

Why is Europe rewilding with water buffalo?
- Conservationists have released 18 water buffalo onto Ermakov Island in the Danube, in the first ever such rewilding project in Ukraine.
- The water buffalo were gifted by a German-born naturalist-cum-farmer, Michel Jacobs, who has taken on a mission of saving the Carpathian’s distinct water buffalo.
- Researchers believe the water buffalo will bring new richness and diversity to the Danube by acting as ecosystem engineers.

Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine
- Ukraine’s prime minister called for “a massive crackdown” on his country’s timber sector after allegations of widespread corruption and illegality.
- The London-based NGO Earthsight first revealed the potential illegalities in a July 2018 report, and since then, independent investigations from WWF Ukraine and the EU’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange have corroborated Earthsight’s findings.
- A reform package that would allow for independent enforcement of Ukraine’s forestry laws and increased transparency has been approved by the country’s cabinet of ministers, but it still lacks the signature and public backing of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

EU demand siphons illicit timber from Ukraine, investigation finds
- Corrupt management of Ukraine’s timber sector is supplying the EU with large amounts of wood from the country’s dense forests.
- The London-based investigative nonprofit Earthsight found evidence that forestry officials have taken bribes to supply major European firms with Ukrainian wood that may have been harvested illegally.
- Earthsight argues that EU-based companies are not carrying out the due diligence that the EU Timber Regulation requires when buying from “high-risk” sources of timber.

The triumph of the bison: Europe’s biggest animal bounces back a century after vanishing

We’d been hiking through deep snow all day with the mercury well below zero, not an uncommon occurrence during winter in eastern Poland. Still I was sweating, covered in several layers and walking with greater strides than I was used to. We stopped once for lunch, taking our repast on a snow-covered log, eating our […]
Stuff of fairy tales: stepping into Europe’s last old-growth forest

On bison, wolves, and woodpeckers: the wonder of Europe’s only lowland virgin forest. Bialowieza Forest at dawn. Old-growth forest is characterized by ancient trees, tall canopies, little undergrowth, and a huge amount of dead wood. Photo by: Lukasz Mazurek/Wild Poland There is almost nothing left of Europe’s famed forests, those that provided for human communities […]

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