Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
What is ‘E40’?
‘’This is a project to establish a navigable route longer than 2,000 km that [the project proponents] ... want to construct through the Vistula, Pripyat and Dnieper rivers in order to connect the Baltic and Black Seas. The project proponents call it the "reconstruction" because the E40 trunk waterway (on the route Gdansk-Warsaw-Brest-Pinsk-Mozyr-Kiev-Kherson) exists on paper since 1996. Except that from Warsaw to Brest it is not navigable, therefore, plans for the "reconstruction" of the E40 suggest building a bypass canal in Poland, six or seven dams and locks in the Pripyat, as well as dredging on the entire route so that multitonnage "river-sea" vessels can follow the course of our rivers’’
Why is protest important?
A feasibility study has been carried out by the project consortium but ...
‘’Some points are not taken into account in the feasibility study at all—for example, the fact that the E40 waterway and its construction works will be carried out in the areas contaminated by radiation as a consequence of the Chernobyl disaster. Ukraine can be exposed to the most drastic consequences. The E40 waterway will pass through more than 70 valuable natural areas of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine that will be suffer from irreparable damage. There’s almost no mention of the threats to the biodiversity of the whole region in the existing documents, therefore we asked several experts what impact the construction of the E40 may have on the Pripyat river and Polesye.’’
What is at stake?
‘’Among large European rivers, the Pripyat is one of the least human-spoilt and the entire life of the Polesye region is indissolubly tied to it. Each year, 1.5 million birds gain strength in the floodplain of the Pripyat during migration, and more than 90% of the total number of birds in Belarus are recorded in Polesye. There are a lot of rare biotopes here, for example, unique floodplain oak groves and black alder forests; it is home to a large number of protected species of animals and plants, many of which are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus. Moreover, Polesye has a lot of swamps that absorb 20 times more CO2 than forests and can be severely damaged due to the change in the hydrological regime of the region. It should be noted that the E40 waterway will affect some of the most valuable natural territories in Belarus: Pripyat National Park, Polesye Radioecological Reserve, 11 republican sanctuaries and six local ones. Of these sites, 12 are of international importance.’’
Please help protect these incredibly sensitive and pristine wetlands by signing the PETITION
here
https://stope40.org/en/pages/about
‘’This is a project to establish a navigable route longer than 2,000 km that [the project proponents] ... want to construct through the Vistula, Pripyat and Dnieper rivers in order to connect the Baltic and Black Seas. The project proponents call it the "reconstruction" because the E40 trunk waterway (on the route Gdansk-Warsaw-Brest-Pinsk-Mozyr-Kiev-Kherson) exists on paper since 1996. Except that from Warsaw to Brest it is not navigable, therefore, plans for the "reconstruction" of the E40 suggest building a bypass canal in Poland, six or seven dams and locks in the Pripyat, as well as dredging on the entire route so that multitonnage "river-sea" vessels can follow the course of our rivers’’
Why is protest important?
A feasibility study has been carried out by the project consortium but ...
‘’Some points are not taken into account in the feasibility study at all—for example, the fact that the E40 waterway and its construction works will be carried out in the areas contaminated by radiation as a consequence of the Chernobyl disaster. Ukraine can be exposed to the most drastic consequences. The E40 waterway will pass through more than 70 valuable natural areas of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine that will be suffer from irreparable damage. There’s almost no mention of the threats to the biodiversity of the whole region in the existing documents, therefore we asked several experts what impact the construction of the E40 may have on the Pripyat river and Polesye.’’
What is at stake?
‘’Among large European rivers, the Pripyat is one of the least human-spoilt and the entire life of the Polesye region is indissolubly tied to it. Each year, 1.5 million birds gain strength in the floodplain of the Pripyat during migration, and more than 90% of the total number of birds in Belarus are recorded in Polesye. There are a lot of rare biotopes here, for example, unique floodplain oak groves and black alder forests; it is home to a large number of protected species of animals and plants, many of which are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus. Moreover, Polesye has a lot of swamps that absorb 20 times more CO2 than forests and can be severely damaged due to the change in the hydrological regime of the region. It should be noted that the E40 waterway will affect some of the most valuable natural territories in Belarus: Pripyat National Park, Polesye Radioecological Reserve, 11 republican sanctuaries and six local ones. Of these sites, 12 are of international importance.’’
Please help protect these incredibly sensitive and pristine wetlands by signing the PETITION
here
https://stope40.org/en/pages/about
