May 15, 2009
Poland's General Directorate for the Environmental Protection published the latest additions to the list of area protected under the Natura 2000 scheme. The list contains 1,600 areas across Poland. Most of the protected areas were added to the provinces of Rzeszow, Kielce, Krakow, and Lublin; the fewest were made in the provinces of Lodz, Opole, and Katowice. Apart from the new areas, the borders of more than 300 existing Natura 2000 areas were updated.
"The list of all new protected areas will be completed by end of June 2009," Directorate Director Michal Kielsznia told the Polish Press Agency. The new protected areas will now be subject to a scrutiny from local authorities due to new, much stricter conditions that infrastructure investments will have to live up to in order to be carried out in the areas in question. According to Kielsznia, should clashes occur between the Natura 2000 areas and investments, the directorate will take a "flexible position."
