Have You heard about Rospuda?

[QuenGalad]

The question is mostly directed to european SYMers. The thing's been going on for some time now, but I hadn't any time earlier to put it down properly.
So:
Poland is famous for our complete lack of speedways. There aren't any.
But, recently, our holier-than-thou rightie governement has given permission to build one. Poland covers 311 889 km². And the only one speedway they intend to build cuts right trough the valley of Rospuda, an absolutely unique ecosystem of the moor type, and the only one "low" moor (i don't know the exact terminology in english) west of Ural mountains that hasn't yet been destroyed. It is absolutely impossible do remake it in any artificial way.

Nevermind! Our ministry of environement gives out permission to build. In response, about a hundred of people go down there and make a camp in -15 degrees of polish winter. And nobody cares. There is a very delicate reaction from the EU, which declares that "there might be a punishment". Accept for that and mild texts in one paper - but not right enough to influence the authorities - silence.

I would like to know whether anywhere anyone of You heard about it. Or is it going to be destroyed in silence? Do people outside hear about Rospuda?

[Faberge]

News on BBC:
BBC NEWS | Europe | EU warns Poland over environment
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Polish vote on controversial road
More about Natura 2000:
About Natura 2000 | Natura Network Initiative
Rospuda Valley:
Threatend Peatlands

I must admit of not having paid much attention on the present day news as I have been mainly dwelling in my history books for the past few weeks. So I can’t say how much attention Rospuda Valley has attracted in the media – but remembering how many of the European countries are approaching various elections – thus I think that the most of the attention has been towards “local” politics. Even so, I am guessing that it must have at least gotten a small mention near the margin of the paper; hopefully it has gotten more attention because hearing about this is seems a lot more important than seeing images of France’s female presidential candidate walking down the street.

But thinking about this the new road, it could be a good thing for Poland. It is a known fact that building highways still requires manpower – that is new jobs for sometime – and it would also decrease the time spend on travelling, and the costs from moving things from place A to B, plus it’s possible effect on tourism. So the monetary costs from building this road would be indirectly covered, and the new loose money could be used to improve productivity of Polish companies. And albeit the fact that Rospuda Valley is part of the Natura 2000, the area itself is not a natural conservation area or a national park in Poland. Based on these assumptions, they are going to build that highway above the valley.

But it would be a clear violation of the Natura 2000, leading to court case and perhaps even blocking EU funds for Poland’s projects in environmentally fragile areas. Unfortunately it might not be enough to convince people in power that building there is a generally bad idea. And if Poland gets of the hook, who is going to be the next one to pull of a similar stunt? And I am not just looking at the new countries in the Union.

It shouldn’t go down in silence. However, if they will really build it, let us just hope that they will build it so well that they don’t have to come and fix it every four years. Well, I can hope that the greater spotted eagle and aquatic warbler won’t be bothered by the traffic too much and there won’t be any freak accidents with Lorries plunging to the wetlands.

[C Elegans]

I, too, haven't followed the news lately due to high work load, but in general I believe that Rospuda is not a well known area and yes, it will die in silence.

I am very well travelled, and very much an outdoors person, and I had no idea Rospuda was a protected area with a unique, endangered wildlife. I actually thought it was a river. So my guess is that not many people know about the current situation.

[Malta Soron]

I tend to follow the news, but I didn't hear or read anything about it.

[QuenGalad]

Thanks for the replies, everybody

That answers my question, more or less. The tragic thing is that everyone sees Segolene Royal making a fool of herself, and other thrilling news, and we are losing our moor in silence.

Faberge, yes, we do need a highway. But we need it in thousand other places as well, and we have just a small one. And once we are going to get another one, it's in the worst place it could possibly be.

On highway subject, but more funny:
You might not know, but we have twin brothers as pm and president. Ugh. Didn't wote for them. They are so crazy about political power and control it's disgusting. Well, a month after they got it, they made a great fuss about opening the only little speedway there is, and declaring it as their success! Because the former governement made it, and they went to cut the ribbon! Isn't that sweet?