Polesia, Europe’s largest wilderness. It is known as the Amazon of Europe due to its rich biodiversity, spanning over 186000 square kilometres of largely untouched forests across Central and Eastern Europe. Polesia is home to many large mammals, birds and other wildlife, while also being an important location for many migratory birds, serving as a resting point for them to recharge before continuing on their journey. Many nature parks and reserves are located in Polesia to study the unique and diverse wildlife in the region.

 

Perhaps calling Polesia the Amazon of Europe may have cued images of wide swathes of forests being cut down due to human activities, which is the case for the Amazon Rainforest. However, relative to the Amazon Rainforest, Polesia has not suffered as much. How is it possible that such a large area of wilderness can remain almost untouched, free from widespread exploitation of its resources? This is due to an incident that happened almost 35 years ago: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster.

The nuclear fallout from the disaster resulted in the spreading of radioactive contamination across many parts of Europe. One of the most heavily hit regions was Polesia, as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was located in the region. Many people were evacuated and never returned due to the risk of radiation to human health. As such, most of Polesia has been undisturbed by humans since then. This provided the opportunity for wildlife to flourish, along with the establishment of many nature reserves and parks to protect and study the region.

 

However in recent times, even the risk of radiation exposure and contamination is insufficient to deter humans from encroaching into Polesia to exploit its resources. These human-related issues pose a risk of significantly threatening the ecosystem and resulting in irreversible damage to the region. Some of the issues are the fragmentation of habitats through infrastructure expansion, illegal amber mining and berry picking.