Protection of the Bialowieza Forest as a Challenge to Cross-border Cooperation

The Bialowieza Forest has - for various reasons - long aroused international interest. Following the Second World War the forest was divided by state borders, and its resources are now subject to the sovereign powers of Poland and Belarus. Both states provide protection to the Bialowieza Forest - each to its part and together to the entirety. From the perspective of international law researchers, the latter is particularly interesting, involving as it does both classical cross-border cooperation, including a wide range of entities (local and regional self-government, forest administration, etc.), as well as inter-state cooperation (in bilateral and multilateral forms, e.g. UNESCO). The analysis of these forms of individual cooperation permits a better understanding of the protection issues of the Bialowieza Forest and enhancement of international cooperation.