Actions of the Odra Tribe
The greatest ecological disaster of contemporary Europe (as the European Parliament called it) took place in 2022, when 65 million mussels, 147 million snails, and 82 to 122 million fish died. The estimated weight of the dead is 1,650 tons. In response to this, the Odra tribe was formed. We are a group of people recognizing the Odra River as a legal person and have been taking action since 2022. The founder, Robert Rient, wrote an appeal to the Polish government and asked the most prominent actors, musicians, activists, and scientists in Poland to read the appeal in a video. The petition to the government was supported by over 15,000 people. In 2023, the Great March for the Odra took place from its source in the Czech Republic to its mouth in the Baltic Sea. It took 230 people 44 days to hike 937.2 km.
On January 1, 2024, the largest campaign in Poland was launched: Flows for the Odra: 50 days and 50 events. Writers, scientists, lawyers, poets, and students (including Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk) each created a story in which the Odra River was the protagonist. These were activities aimed at changing consciousness.
Robert Rient founded the Odra Person Foundation, and a 15-person Legislative Initiative Committee “Clean Odra” was established. Together with Prof. Jerzy Bieluk and dr Stanisław Kordasiewicz, they wrote an act for recognizing the Odra River as a legal person. This, together with 1,000 signatures of support, went to the Polish Parliament. On January 31, the Marshal of the Polish Parliament issued a decision to accept the proposal and gave the initiative time until April 30 to collect 100,000 signatures. If we gather the signatures, the bill will be presented in front of parliament for consideration.
We are supported by over 200 Polish scientists, the Save the Rivers Coalition, and dozens of foundations, associations, and ecological organizations such as WWF Poland, as well as prominent figures from Polish media.
Currently, rivers in Poland are the subject of the Ministry of Infrastructure. The rivers are managed by 17 organizations – when one imposes a fine of over PLN 30 million (7,8 million dollars) on mines discharging salt into rivers, another organization cancels the fine. Nothing has changed for the better since the ecological disaster in 2022. In 2023, the salinity of the river, which was the cause of the tragedy, increased by over 8%.
