May
11
/ 2020
By Aleks Pluskowski, Alex Brown & Rowena Banerjea / The Conversation The Forest of Białowieża, which straddles the border of Poland and Belarus, is unique in Europe: it is incredibly ancient. Woodland has been continuously present there for some 12,000 years. With the protection of 6059 hectares from human disturbance within the Polish national park, as well as the return of its iconic European bison herds from the brink of extinction, the forest is widely regarded as a model for restoring biodiversity or “rewilding”, which areas across Europe are trying to emulate. Shifting Baseline Syndrome Human memories are remarkably short – often only a generation or so. What we remember as “natural” landscape is often what we remember experiencing as
