Bio-diversity

Wigry National Park is facing permanent conflicts with farmers within the Park and in the buffer zone.Protection plan for the Park and buffer zone provide some restriction in form of farming and economic activities.farmers are under pressure of people from other parts of Poland requesting sale of land for recreational purposes and these ideas (extra income, speculative price of land in past years!) are welcomed due to very low land productivity, small size of farms, demographic reasons (yopung people are leaving for towns). These recreational land, hundreds of plots became a great threat to value (biodiversity) of this park, waters (no sewage treatment plants in small recreational houses). Farmers are blaming the National Park for "restrictions" and examples of violence from farmer`s side can be observed (growing poaching etc). Project is a pilot attempt to generate extra income to farmers through introduction of animal breeding and restitution of old varieties of fruit tree as a potential for extra income (special local products based on old receipes, forgotten species in industrial farming).

Poland