New Film: Queen of the Carpathians

Global Conservation has just released a new film: Queen of the Carpathians is a dramatic short film about a young Ukrainian woman named Lydia who fights illegal logging, wildlife poaching, hunting, development and pollution to save her beloved natural heritage. 

Harmonious coexistence with nature is a core piece of 16-year-old Lydia's philosophy. She lives far from noisy and crowded metropolises, in the ancient forests of the Carpathians -- a place where she feels connected to untouched nature, wild forests, and clean air and rivers.

However, one day her idyllic vision is challenged when she sees how some people brutally cut down forests, pollute the environment and kill wildlife. Then, her fight for nature conservation begins. From lonely pickets to crowded protests, Lydia leads the movement to preserve the forests she loves.

Read the full script below:

There are very few places left on our planet where you can be in complete harmony with nature, feeling its pristine power permeating everything around you. One of the Last Great Wild Places on Earth is The Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, where I was born and raised. Now, I am trying to protect my home and its wildlife against the evils of logging, pollution, and poaching.

I am Lydiia and this is my story.

When I was a child my grandmother told me many fairy tales about the eternal struggle between good and evil. She told me how, in the forests high in the Carpathian Mountains, there live mythical creatures that protect all living things from evil forces. This fierce struggle has been going on for many centuries, and in the most difficult moments, when evil seems to prevail, the Queen of the Carpathians  wakes up from a deep sleep and frightens the evil forces into stopping their destruction of nature.

My mother now says that this struggle is far from over - A time will soon come when the Queen will wake up again - but she will need help to survive the battle against nature’s destroyers. In my mother's fairy tales, the Carpathians are always depicted mystically: forests hide the strangest creatures, and the mountains are shrouded in mystery. As I get to know these precious lands, I understand they are even more majestic than she describes.

Here you can see how the sky converges with the earth, and mountain peaks “breathe” a swirling mist. Tiny raindrops turn into powerful brooks, feeding major rivers that quell the thirst of all of Ukraine. Deer, hares, and grouse feed important predators like brown bears, wolves, and lynxes. Otters glide through the rivers as golden eagles and peregrine falcons soar high above. These animals coexist in a delicate balance.

People used to be one with nature, living as part of that balance. But now, greed has caused devastating destruction of our forests, mountains and rivers. Wildlife is being hunted to extinction.  

People have become mindless plunderers. They are destroying the Carpathians and all of its living things for their own gain. Rivers are being polluted, the forests are strip mined, and high rise developments, like mountains of cement, are built inside the national parks. Places that were once remote and pristine are now drowning in garbage. The last intact primary forests, so important for our ancestors’ survival, have been clear cut across even the steepest slopes. They now resemble scarred, post-apocalyptic landscapes that will only be further degraded by erosion. 

It is difficult to imagine – but by the end of this century there will be no place on the planet that will not be ravaged and polluted by man. If we do not change our behavior now and repair the damage we have done, we will forever lose one of the most majestic and beautiful places on Earth – The Carpathian Mountains.

In our lifetimes, the magnificent Carpathians of Ukrainian fairy tales have started to fade into just another landscape devastated by man. My generation, though they admire the fragile beauty of nature, are unaware of the scale of the problems. Many of us stand by, idly watching.

But I see a brighter future for the Carpathians. We must change the course of history by working with others, in Ukraine and abroad. We must stop the destruction of our beloved Carpathians from unchecked logging, development, pollution and poaching.

I dream of a future where these magnificent mountains, misty valleys, and old-growth forests, among the last in Europe, are protected forever. But for that to happen, my generation must raise our voices about the importance of this exceptional landscape and the destruction happening right before our eyes. We need to condemn the irrational development of this fragile ecosystem – fight against poor forest management, the building of high rises and hotels atop our precious rivers and mountains, and the killing of our last wild animals.

I know I am not alone in this. Our Carpathians still have a chance, because there are people who care.  Activists, Conservationists, Park Rangers and Forestry Officials are dedicated to the preservation of the environment. Ukrainian citizens  are creating a new dawn where our great country will rise up and protect its sacred mountains, rivers and valleys.

Already, the fight to save the Carpathians has begun. Working with our government and international organizations, we are fighting to save the sprawling forests and astonishing wildlife of our Carpathian Mountains. One of our allies, Global Conservation, is training our rangers to use the newest technology, like drones, trail cameras, and aerial surveillance, to stop the destruction. This program, called Global Park Defense, is helping our park rangers and community ecoguards to be more effective in fighting threats like illegal land clearing and pollution.

Soon, we will create a Greater Carpathians National Park, an integrated ecosystem where people, wildlife and forests can thrive together – forever. The park will protect millions of hectares of Europe’s last intact forests, with the potential to bring millions of visitors every year to see its fairy tale beauty and experience its extraordinary wildlife.

With this park, we will build a new economy based on ecotourism and ecosystem services, preserving clean water and fresh air for millions of Ukrainians. International and Ukrainian visitors to our beautiful Greater Carpathians National Park will bring in millions of dollars, or tens of millions of hryvnia, providing business opportunities, jobs and economic advancement for Ukrainians living in the Carpathians. By putting nature first, the people of the Carpathians can move from exploitation to conservation, from pillaging nature to protection. 

Someday I hope to tell my own children the tale of the Queen of the Carpathians. I hope I can tell them that, faced with the destruction of our Carpathians, she awoke from her deep sleep and summoned the people of Ukraine to rise up and protect these mountains. I hope I can tell them that she and the Ukrainian people prevailed against those destructive forces, helping us to live in harmony with nature and preserving our Carpathians for future generations to treasure forever.