An environmental catastrophe looms over Polesia, Europe’s largest wetland wilderness. Governments want to create a 2,000 km long navigable waterway connecting the Black Sea and the Baltic, that would cut through the heart of the region. Constructing the so-called ‘E40’ waterway would require dredging, damming, straightening, and deepening of pristine rivers. This would lead to the destruction of enormous floodplains and wetlands, home to rare animals and plants, including eagles, bison, bears, wolves and lynx.

Founded in 1989, the Laguna Foundation is a place-based organization focused on the Laguna de Santa Rosa and the surrounding wetland communities.