Kids' action to protect the Rospuda Valley.
In what is fast becoming a Europe-wide battle, the fight to save
the Rospuda from the freeway is heating up. For the past 6 months
people across Poland have banded together to save this rare
landscape.
Act now to save the Rospuda Valley
Despite losing a regional referendum and a court case over the
building of the freeway through Rospuda, the Polish government
decided to ignore the growing opposition and begin construction
anyway.
It was time for action.
Greenpeace set up a camp to defend the forest and the valley in
February this year, when the Polish government announced the
startof the logging in the valley.
With temperatures below -20°C, our activists in the forest,
togetherwith other wildlife defenders stood ready to block
bulldozers.
Visits to Greenpeace Poland's website rocketed beyond all
previous records as people sought more information about the
battle.
"We had journalists calling us asking if they could chain
themselves to the trees" said one internal email.
Greenpeace Poland launched a website that encouraged visitors to
take out citizenship in the "Republic of Rospuda" complete with passports
and a manifesto:
If the chainsaws win again, many plant, bird and mammal species
willdisappear from the Rospuda Valley. We oppose it because there
are nowetlands like Rospuda Valley anywhere west of the Ural
Mountains. Formuch too long consecutive governments have been
destroying something weall depend on - the wild nature.
Don't stand by, join us!
Virtual citizens of the Republic of Rospuda and online visitors
to the website set about adopting individually the 20,000 trees
that the road project was slated to fell.
200,000 people signed a petition asking the Polish Prime
Minister to save the valley.
The issue blossomed into a full-scale populist issue as news
reached beyond the borders of Poland, and the European Union
started to increase the pressure on the Polish government.
The EU had previously requested Poland halt construction until
the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had made a decision on the
issue. But when the Polish Prime Minister balked, the EU
threatened to withhold funding from Poland for the construction of
other sections of the same freeway - the European transport
corridor called Via Baltica - outside the valley.
Within the last few days, the Polish Prime Minister has changed
his position and halted construction on the freeway until the ECJ
decision is announced.
Environmental activists don't want to stop the freeway from
being built, they only want the road rerouted to avoid the
environmentally significant valley, something the Polish government
has rejected in the past.
They say the alternative route would take too long to build.
"Progress in the 21st century should not be measured by the
number of trucks passing through the most pristine area in Poland'
said Maciej Muskat from Greenpeace Poland.
With work stopped on the controversial road, we can't let the
fate of the Rospuda hang on a court decision: now is the time to
let the Polish government know you want this fragile wetland
protected for good.
Tell the Prime Minister to reroute the freeway away from the
Rospuda Valley.
Take Action
Send a message to the Polish Prime Minister to help save the Rospuda Valley.
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