Will PORR Group halt road works in the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and comply with environmental regulations?

PORR S.A., a member of PORR Group, is violating environmental regulations in the Bialowieza Forest, a UNESCO Heritage Site. The company is carrying our road expansion works without the required permits for actions that affect protected species. Workshop for All Beings, a Polish nature conservation association, calls on the company to suspend construction work during the bird breeding season in order to comply with the law and meet its own ecological commitments.

Link to photos from the site visit (May 12, 2026) for use in media publications

Provincial Road No. 687 (Juszkowy Gród–Zwodzieckie) is located within the boundaries of the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This area is uniquely  important as the last remaining lowland primeval forest in Europe. The guidelines for the protection of this area, adopted by UNESCO at the request of the Republic of Poland, do not permit the expansion of existing roads. Only maintenance work on the existing roads is permitted.

Nevertheless, the project commissioned by the local National Roads Authority calls for an upgrade of the road’s technical specifications, including widening, increasing capacity, raising the design speed, and improving load-bearing capacity. As early as 2025, UNESCO and the IUCN expressed concern over the approval of the expansion of Road No. 687 and requested that Poland provide details of the project, including an assessment of its potential negative impact on the area’s outstanding universal value. To date, the competent authorities have not provided this crucial assessment.

The road expansion project is being implemented in violation of nature conservation regulations and the conditions specified in the road construction permit. The project currently lacks key permits to carry out works that impact protected bird species during the breeding season. Despite this, excavators, bulldozers, rollers, and trucks are operating in areas identified as breeding grounds, resting sites, and permanent habitats of valuable bird species.

PORR S.A. has been granted limited exemptions from rules prohibiting actions that impact plants and fungi. However, it is conducting works in violation of  the terms of those exemptions, , which explicitly rule out the possibility of carrying out construction work during the birds’ breeding season. The breeding season is legally defined in Poland as the period from March 15 to August 31.

The heavy earthwork, topsoil removal, and engineering work currently underway have gone well beyond the permitted timeframe, causing disruptions, hindrances, and interference with the reproduction of protected species for which the Białowieża Forest serves as one of the key refuges.

In addition, inspections conducted on May 12, 2026, and May 16, 2026, confirmed that no appropriate fencing for smaller animals had been installed anywhere on the construction site. The peak of the amphibian migration season is currently underway, and animals are entering the construction zone unprotected. Environmental supervision is in place for the project, but it has failed to prevent violations of species protection regulations and the failure to comply with the conditions of the building permit. 

"For a project carried out in the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, standards of care should be the highest possible. Continuing work that has been demonstrated to violate environmental rules stands in clear contradiction to the PORR Group’s declarations regarding damage prevention, biodiversity protection, and the application of site-specific protective measures",  said Radosław Ślusarczyk of the Workshop for All Beings. “Species protection is not an optional measure, but a mandatory requirement aimed at minimizing a project’s impact on protected species. Failure to comply with these measures during the period of amphibian activity and migration, as well as during the bird breeding season, means that the project violates the terms of its permits. It amounts to  violation of the prohibitions regarding protected species, including  the prohibition to kill, maim and destroy habitats”, Ślusarczyk adds.

The PORR Group claims to place sustainable development at the center of its operations. In its Sustainability Strategy 2030 it commits itself to   ecological, environmentally friendly construction. It identifies site-specific measures at construction sites and the implementation of tailored mitigation measures as key measures to protect and promote biodiversity. The PORR Group also states that, in its pursuit of environmentally friendly construction sites, it exceeds legal requirements.

“Prevention is the top priority in the hierarchy of measures approved by the PORR Group in its 2030 Strategy. We trust that, as a member of the UN Global Compact and a company deeply committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, PORR S.A.  will suspend the project until August 30. This is the only way to ensure compliance with the law regarding the construction of the road in the Białowieża Forest. More importantly, this is a way to demonstrate continued commitment to the Group’s strategy in one of Europe’s most ecologically valuable areas, whose protection has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international public” – Radosław Ślusarczyk argues.

The PORR Group has demonstrated environmental awareness in the past, during the construction of the bridge over the Drammen River in Norway. There, the construction schedule was adjusted not to coincide with the salmon spawning season. Can what was achieved in terms of salmon conservation in Norway be replicated for the rare bird species of the Białowieża Forest?