The Implementation of the European Landscape Convention in Poland

Abstract

This chapter aims to examine the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) in Poland and related landscape issues. Legislative Acts and national policy documents are analysed, and a review of scientific literature is undertaken. It is found that Poland has neither its own legal definition of the term ‘landscape’ nor regulations specifically oriented towards landscape and the ELC. The term ‘landscape’ is found in a number of laws pertaining to various sectors: environment and nature protection, culture and national heritage, and spatial planning. No specific national landscape policy document has been drawn up, but there is a wide range of sectorial policy documents that address landscape and the ELC directly or indirectly. Although study of landscapes is one of the traditional themes of geographical research in Poland, research on Landscape Quality Objectives is at its initial stage. With respect to public participation, since Poland acceded to the European Union (EU) in 2004, its laws on public par- ticipation have been evolving in order to adjust to the EU’s legal regulations. However, law enactment alone does not instantly create new good practices of public participation nor does it eradicate bad habits that have formed in earlier years.