Structure and importance of soil-protecting forests in the areas administered by the RDSF Toruń

The paper presents the state and importance of soil-protecting forests in the areas managed by the RDSF in Toruń, as well as changes in their structure over 29 years. The management of the RDSF in Toruń is characterized by a systematic increase in the area, thickness and rich abundance of soil-protecting forests, particularly intense since the mid-nineteen-nineties. They cover mainly rusty soils and podzols on outwash areas, sandy terraces in sloped areas of postglacial valleys and gullies as well. Soil-protecting forests, which are managed by the RDSF in Toruń, vary a great deal considering their habitat, both in terms of dampness and trophic richness as well as spatially. The dominance of coniferous forests is due to the fact that they grow in the poorest habitats, which have not been previously used for agricultural purposes, and to the common practice in recent years of pine reforestation in open stromal areas. The assessment of the state of habitats indicates that 66.2% of the soil-protecting forest area is characterized as natural and close-to-natural. Distorted or transformed habitats occupy 26.2% of the soil-protecting forest area, while the degraded habitats 7.6%. Taking the study area into consideration we can observe the relationship between the incompatibility of habitat in its natural form and the post-arable feature. Changes in habitat characteristics are shown by 75.5% of the area of the soil-protecting forest located on former farmland, mainly in the areas with rusty podzolic soils (Albic Brunic Arenosols). Incompatibility of the habitats is, among others, the result of the creation in recent years, during the afforestation of agricultural lands, of solid pine stands, also in fertile habitats. Secondary planted pine monocultures in the forest areas resulted in podzolization of rusty soils and transformed them into rusty podzolic soils

Use of agricultural soils as a source of nitrous oxide emission in selected communes of Poland

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the main greenhouse gases with a potential to produce greenhouse effect nearly 300 times greater than the potential of carbon dioxide (CO2). Almost 80% of the annual emissions of this gas in Poland come from agriculture, and its main source is the use of agricultural soils. The study attempted to estimate the N2O emission from agricultural soils and to indicate its share in the total greenhouse gas emissions in 48 Polish communes. A simplified solution has been proposed for this purpose, which can be successfully applied by local government areas in order to assess the nitrous oxide emissions as well as monitor the impact of the undertaken actions on its limitation. The estimated emission was compared with the results of the baseline greenhouse gas inventory prepared for the needs of the low-carbon economy plans adopted by the studied self-governments. This allowed us to determine the share of N2O emissions from agricultural soils in the total greenhouse gas emissions of the studied communes.The annual N2O emissions from agricultural soils in the studied communes range from 1.21 Mg N2O-N to 93.28 Mg N2O-N, and the cultivation of organic soils is its main source. The use of mineral and natural fertilizers as well as indirect emissions from nitrogen leaching into groundwater and surface waters are also significant. The obtained results confirm the need to include greenhouse gas emissions from the use of agricultural soils and other agricultural sources in low-carbon economy plans

Physico-geographical mesoregions of Poland : verification and adjustment of boundaries on the basis of contemporary spatial data

The programme of identification, cataloguing and evaluation of Polish landscapes, part of the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, has caused an increase in interest in physico-geographical regionalisation over recent years. The commonly accepted regionalisation of Poland developed by J. Kondracki (Kondracki & Richling 1994) is sufficient for work at an overview scale (e.g. 1:500,000), whereas its spatial accuracy is too low to make use of it for the purpose of Polish landscape cataloguing. The aim of this article is to present a more up-to-date and detailed division of Poland into mesoregions, adjusted to the 1:50,000 scale. In comparison with older work, the number of mesoregions has increased from 316 to 344. In many cases, some far-reaching changes in meso- and macroregions were made. Nevertheless, in most cases the previous system of units was maintained, with more detailed adjustment of boundaries based on the latest geological and geomorphological data and the use of GIS tools for the DEM analysis. The division presented here is a creatively developing new work aligning the proposals of the majority of Polish researchers. At the same time, it is a regionalisation maintaining the idea of the work developed by J. Kondracki as well as his theoretical assumptions and the criteria used to distinguish units, which makes it a logical continuation of his regional division

Recommended lines of Kashubian Lakeland landscape management in the light of their quarter-century transformation in the vicinity of Gdańsk agglomeration

Planning of spatial development in suburban areas requires considering natural and landscape criteria. In the studied transect Gdańsk - Kartuzy (189 km2), which has undergone a dynamic development of build-up area, in the last quarter of a century, we carried out analysis and assessment of urban sprawl in the years 1987-2012 and its relationship with the features of the terrain as well as the degradation of visual landscape values – based on a broad set of numerical spatial data. There is a little negative correlation of the frequency of the built environment with relative heights and a positive with intensity degradation of visual landscape values. Within the given period, the increase in built-up area amounted to 137% and this trend may continue, in the light of the findings of the studies on conditions and directions of spatial development of municipalities. The latest development, to a small extent, interferes with elements of ecological networks: patches and corridors, however, the planned investments, especially metropolitan bypass road, can reduce the efficiency of the functioning of the ecological corridor of the Radunia valley. In order to present recommendations in the scope of the landscape management and protection, the area was divided into 12 zone types, which were assigned with different spatial policies. The largest of them include large forest complexes (A), farmland dominated by fields (D), multi-functional rural settlements (F) and suburban areas (G)

Life and death of Poland’s landscape – are we living in landscape “hell”?

The author’s thesis assumes that the degree of landscape degradation in many parts of Poland is so high that the use of the term “landscape hell” is justified. This denotes such a state of visual and aesthetic, structural and functional landscape degradation that leads or has already led to the landscape’s death. This condition existed in many areas during the communist period, but now, 34 years after the political transformation and eight years of the development of the “mafia” state, it is also occurring with increasing frequency. Its origin lies in the attitude of some politicians and the public towards space and nature as resources that can be exploited to an extreme extent and that must be subordinated to people. This is due, among others, to the Poles’ civilizational lag in relation to many other nations, Polish society’s developmental history, and the recurring compensation for economic shortcomings. In the first quarter-century of transformation, the development of consumption, the dominance of economic development criteria, and the politicians’ ignorance and bias have introduced phenomena such as strip farm urbanisation, “concreteosis”, architectural “gigantomania”, “urban blight”, “railingeosis”, and “advertosis” into the landscape. After 2015, the above have been overlaid by the landscape-eroding activities of the representatives of the “mafia” state, resulting from, among others, excessive deforestation and tree clearing in open and urban areas, continued operation of the coal-based energy sector, including open-cast mines, river diversions, construction of hydro-technical facilities, mass legalisation of arbitrary construction, and transport infrastructure planning. The various recommendations on landscape conservation, formulated for many years, have, for the most part, not been implemented, despite Poland’s ratification of the European Landscape Convention. We can thus gradually kill off more landscape, which will continue to linger in our memories and documents for some time, until eventually, virtual reality becomes the main way of admiring it

LOADS AND REDUCTION OF ANTHROPOGENICAL CONTAMINATIONS IN POLISH ENVIRONMENT DURING 2000-2009 – SPATIAL ANALYSIS FOR COMMUNES’ LEVEL

The analysis of sozological situation of Polish communes by seven proposed indicators was prepared with application of 22 measures for pressure on environment and protection activities accessible during 2000-2009 period for commune level in Local Data Bank of Central Statistical Office. These indicators concern share of communes in all-Poland anthropogenical pressure on environment and environmental protection activities, also in relation to share in all-country area and population. The results of study show the concentration of pressure and environmental activities in large-city and high-industrialized communes, especially with the biggest commercial coal power plants. Upper- and Lower Silesia are the main concentrations of such communes. The regions with the most favorable situation are northern Poland and near-state border communes in eastern and western part of country. Despite the limitations resulted from the scope of accessible measures, proposed methods should be helpful and applicable in preparing and analyzing of state environmental policy

LOCAL LOW CARBON ECONOMY PLANS IN THE CONTEXT OF LOW CARBON RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Based on the analysis of twenty plans for a low carbon economy, adopted for implementation by the rural municipalities of typical agricultural character, representing various Polish regions, the evaluation of the role and effectiveness of these documents in the planning and coordination of activities in favor of a low carbon rural development was carried out. Evaluated among others are the scope and extent of regard for agriculture and rural areas in the diagnostic and programming parts of plans, sources of financing and monitoring indicators of individual actions. Both the advantages and disadvantages of these documents were pointed out and recommendations for drawing them up were formulated. The proposals can be a model solution for the recognition of agriculture and rural areas in a low carbon economy plans prepared by local government units

Mapping of EU Support for High Nature Value Farmlands, from the Perspective of Natural and Landscape Regions

Decoupling economic growth from the exploitation of natural resources, protecting vulnerable ecosystems, restoring habitats and species, and supporting areas used for organic farming are, along with achieving climate neutrality, key tenets of the European Green Deal (EGD)—the EU’s new sustainable economic strategy. One direction of activities to implement several of these goals simultaneously is the provision of financial support for agricultural activities aimed at protecting valuable plant and animal habitats and species. This study aims to present research results that include an analysis of the spatial diversification of EU support for nature value habitats in Poland against the background of physico-geographical regions. To date, no such studies have been conducted; instead, analyses of the spatial differentiation in how selected forms of EU funding are taken up in Poland and other European countries have mainly referred to regional or local territorial divisions, and not to regions distinguished based on natural environmental features. Payments from Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds to support farms using nature value habitats were selected for the analysis. The analysis employed data from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA), as a disburser of EU funds for agriculture in Poland; the data related to two packages (No. 4 and 5) of Agri-Environment-Climate Measures (AECM), which constitute one of the measures of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020. The spatial and statistical analyses not only supported a general description of EU support for the protection of nature value habitats in Poland but also allowed a detailed evaluation of the distribution and areal coverage of nature value habitats subsidised by RDP funds to be presented, and a comprehensive assessment of the scale of support for the natural habitats covered by the programme