Image copyright AFP/ GETTY IMAGES
Europe's top court has ordered Poland to immediately stop large-scale logging in Europe's oldest forest.
Last year the Polish government approved a three-fold increase in logging in the protected Bialowieza forest, home to bison and rare birds.
The forest is a Unesco world heritage site on the border with Belarus.
The European Commission, which is taking legal action against Warsaw, asked the European Court of Justice to impose the provisional ban.
Unesco, EU officials and green activists protested against the increased logging.
The government says the logging can help to curb a bark beetle infestation but the European Commission says it puts endangered species at risk.
- Covers 141,885 hectares (350,606 acres) - mixed forest, but also wetlands and river valleys
- 17% is protected nature reserve where logging is illegal
- Representative of primeval forest that covered most of Europe 10,000 years ago
- Home to 59 mammal species (including European bison, lynx, wolf, otter), and more than 250 bird species
- Notable for extensive dead wood - habitat for fungi, beetles and worms
from BBC News - World http://ift.tt/2uJwaog
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