Białowieża Forest

Białowieża Forest
Белавежская пушча (Belarusian) Puszcza Białowieska  (Polish)
Fallen tree in the Białowieża Forest
Location	Hrodna and Brest Voblasts, Belarus Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland
Nearest city	Hajnówka, Poland
Coordinates	52°45′8″N 23°52′45″E / 52.75222°N 23.87917°E / 52.75222; 23.87917Coordinates: 52°45′8″N 23°52′45″E / 52.75222°N 23.87917°E / 52.75222; 23.87917
Area	3,085.8 km2 (1,191.4 sq mi)
Established	11 August 1932
Governing body	Ministries of the Environment of Belarus and Poland
UNESCO World Heritage Site Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
European bison in its natural habitat
Type	Natural
Criteria	ix, x
Reference	33
UNESCO region	Europe
Coordinates	52°40′01″N 23°48′00″E / 52.667°N 23.8°E / 52.667; 23.8
Inscription history
Inscription	1979 (3rd Session)
Extensions	1992, 2014
Location in Europe

Białowieża Forest (Belarusian: Белавежская пушча, Biełaviežskaja Pušča; Polish: Puszcza Białowieska  Polish pronunciation: [ˈpuʂt͡ʂa ˌbʲawɔˈvʲɛska]; Russian: Беловежская пуща, Belovezhskaya Pushcha) is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve Białowieża in 1976 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve Belovezhskaya Puschcha in 1993. In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve occupied the area of 216,200 ha (2,162 km²; 835 sq mi), subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones. The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee by its decision of June 2014 approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland”, which became “Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland”. It straddles the border between Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship) and Belarus (Brest and Grodno voblasts), and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest, Belarus and 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok, Poland. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of 141,885 ha (1,418.85 km²; 547.82 sq mi). Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.