Poland’s Ministry of the Environment has reached agreement with NGO’s dealing with environmental issues to compile a list of Natura 2000 protected sites in this country before the end of this year. This is an important step as so far there has been more bickering than cooperation between the ministry and NGO’s in the interest of the country’s environment.

Krysia Kołosowska reports

Natura 2000 is the main element of the EU nature and biodiversity policy. It is a network of protected areas aimed at ensuring the survival of Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and areas. Each EU member state must compile a list of its most valuable wildlife areas.

Poland has so far designated 124 Special Protection Areas for birds and has sent to the EC 364 proposals of  Special Areas of Conservation, designated under the Habitats Directive.

The snag is that the lists of the ministry and NGO’s were not always identical, says Andrzej Kepel from the “Salamander” nature protection society: ‘NGOs sent to the ministry their list of sites which, according to our present knowledge, are still missing from the official list. We named it Amendment 2008 of Natura 2000 Poland, but we think that even when we will add all the sites proposed in this list to the official list, still we will not give sufficient Natura 2000 network protection in Poland. The reason  is that in Poland there was not any real inventory of resources of species and habitats, which should be protected in this network.’

Special teams have been set up in all Polish regions which will study the habitat and search for gaps in the Natura 2000 network.

Consultations with conservationists are the first step towards compiling a mutually agreed list of Natura 2000 protected sites, says dr Anna Lira, a specialist from the ministry of the environment: ‘It was a very important meeting because it was not only with NGOs but also with representatives of all voivodships, which will be responsible later for helping the ministry to designate these sites. We would like to finalize the designation of Natura 2000 sites at the end of this year.’

NGO’s are glad that the ministry decided to consult them and take their suggestions concerning Natura 2000 protected areas into account, says Andrzej Kepel: ‘We see some big improvement. Now, at least, the government talks with NGOs and the discussion is based on scientific rules. We really discuss if this site or another has a given species, how many individuals are there that shall be protected or shall not be protected. Before, there was actually no discussion. Rather the government tried to take some short-cuts.’

Dr Anna Liro stresses that the existence of a complete Natura 2000 list will be beneficial in more ways than one: ‘Firstly, because very important species and habitats will be well protected. Secondly, because the legal status of the potential sites will be clarified for environmental impact assessment procedure or for social and economic development. So, anybody who wants to develop and introduce any investment will be aware where Natura 2000 sites occur in Poland.’

In other words, developers and investors will be able to introduce proper environmental impact procedures and eventually avoid conflicts such as the one over the unique Rospuda River Valley in eastern Poland, the existence of which is threatened by plans to build a busy by-pass road.