Geodziedzictwo obszarów chronionych, ich ochrona i promocja turystyczna na przykładzie Parku Narodowego Gór Stołowych w świetle analizy dokumentów

The article considers the tourist traffic as possible to elements of inanimate nature in protected areas. The highest form of protection in Poland - national parks, has been taken into account. The main goal is to diagnose the situation based on the analysis of official documents elaborated by the national park authorities. One of the important elements is to diagnose the threat to nature and indicate ways to neutralize it. At the beginning, the geotouristic potential of these parks was presented, where this type of resources is considered important from the point of view of tourism. The tourist function of the most important attractions in Poland was indicated. In the top ten there are as many as 4 national parks, including Tatrzański which takes first place. The size of tourist traffic in all 23 parks was analyzed. As a result, it was shown that the most popular, where tourist flow is of mass character, include mountain parks with significant geotouristic potential. Next, the current protection plans for them were analyzed: Tatrzański, Karkonoski, Table Mountains and Pieniński, where the annual tourist flow varies between 0.5 million and almost 4 million visitors per year. Threats were assigned to 4 groups: existing internal threats, potential internal threats, existing external threats and potential external threats. In each of the types of threats special attention was paid to those related to inanimate nature. It also indicated the ways in which park managers want to influence the change of negative trends. The basic conclusion was indicated, which boils down to the postulate of a balanced approach to the protection of both types of nature: animate and inanimate. In the case of animate nature, threats and suggestions for improving the situation seem to be much better diagnosed than in the case of inanimate nature.

The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship is one of the smallest provinces in Poland, but it clearly stands out with a very well-preserved natural environment. Because of exceptional features of animate and inanimate nature, large parts of the province are covered by various forms of nature protection. There is 1 national park (NP), 72 nature reserves (NRs), 9 landscape parks, 21 protected landscape areas and 40 Natura 2000 sites within the administrative borders of the province. The most unique natural features are found in the Świętokrzyski National Park (ŚNP), but the largest surface of the province is covered by protected landscape areas. Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship is the first in Poland in terms of the share of protected areas (as much as 65.2%), strongly outdistancing other Voivodeships. Small natural objects are much more numerous than large protected areas. At present, the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship has 705 natural monuments (NMs), 114 ecological sites (ESs), 20 documentation sites (DSs) and 17 nature and landscape complexes (NLCs). Moreover, new protected areas and sites may still be established within its borders.

Protected areas have two tasks on a global scale: First, to protect biodiversity and second, to ensure the continuity of ecosystem services. Identifying potential links between protected areas in a region and barriers between these links or restoration points is very important for the effective development and implementation of conservation strategies within the scope of biodiversity. In this study firstly, potential connectivity corridors between 10 different protected areas were determined to support the biological diversity in the Rize landscape, then the barriers that could block the ecological flows in these corridors were determined by using 100 m, 500 m, 300 m radii. Least Cost Path and Cost Weighted Distance methods were used for both analyses. The most suitable corridors have been identified between Kaçkar Mountains National Park-1st Degree Natural Protected Areas-Wildlife Protection and Development Area and Firtina Creek. Improvement scores were calculated by considering the radii determined for the barriers. As a result, the highest improvement scores at 100 m, 500 m 300 m radii were calculated as 21.1, 4.49, and 7.0, respectively, and according to these scores, it showed that there were barriers between Karadere, Handüzü Nature Park, Uzungöl Special Environmental Protection Area and Kaçkar Mountains National Park. The method used in this study is important in terms of generating protection strategies for protected areas in the Rize landscape. The results of this study will guide not only protected areas in Rize landscape, but also conservation priority planning studies.

Tourist trails as a linear form of tourist infrastructure fulfill various functions (i.e. recreational, ecological, economic, social, ensuring safety). They are especially important in national parks, where in selected areas tourist penetration is allowed only along specially designed, official routes. A well-planned layout of tourist trails with appropriate facilities can help to limit the negative consequences of tourist pressure on protected natural areas. The aim of the article is a comparison of offers for active tourists in two mountain national parks (the Krkonose National Park in the Czech Republic and the Peneda-Geres National Park in Portugal), taking into consideration the marked hiking trails — the most frequently used type of tourist trails. As a result the level of area coverage by the networks of hiking trails was assessed, as well as their adequateness towards the needs of tourists. The descriptive analysis was based on author’s personal observations. In the examination of hiking trails as part of a system, some elements of the graph theory were used, especially coefficients for topologic analysis of spatial structure. This method enables simplification of a network, comparison of various areas and making some assumptions concerning tourist infrastructure, which is a crucial factor while analyzing trails from a tourists’ point of view. In both analyzed national parks the relief is quite similar, as well as their locations near national borders, what justifies the choice of the areas scrutinized in the paper. What differ them are patterns of tourism development and the current ways of undertaking active tourism. Not similarities but the two latter factors resulted in a distinct character of the two compared networks of trails and facilities connected with them. The system of hiking trails and tourist infrastructure seem better developed in the Krkonose National Park, what can be explained by historical and social conditions, especially the adopted model of hiking. In the article some disadvantages of tourist infrastructure in both protected areas were presented, as well as some suggestions in terms of its development, resulting from the analysis of networks of hiking trails.

Overtourism results in pressure exerted on the natural environment, negative impacts on local communities and lower tourist satisfaction in many protected areas (PAs). This phenomenon has become an increasingly important issue in the management of national parks (NPs) in Poland, especially the mountain ones. Countering and alleviating the effects of overtourism requires developing appropriate management strategies based on the detailed analysis of tourism monitoring data. Having recognized this need, a research was conducted to develop methodology for analyzing daily visitors in NPs (methodological objective), to identify regularities characteristic for visitor flow in mountain NPs in Poland (cognitive objective), and to present the usefulness of monitoring studies in developing effective strategies aimed at tourist traffic management in NPs and their surrounding areas (application objective). The availability of data allowed conducting analyses for three national parks: The Pieniny NP (PNP), The Stołowe Mountains NP (SMNP) and The Tatra NP (TNP).The analyses covering the period 2017–2022 revealed a strong intensification of visitor flow and a growing problem of overtourism in the analyzed areas, primarily in TNP. An increase in maximum daily values, the number of days showing these values, and intensified tourist traffic off-high season were found. Using Daily Visitor Index and Seasonality Index, high-, mid-, and low seasons were identified, including the similarities in traffic seasonality between PNP and SMNP, along with the different nature of TNP, where the winter season was additionally separated. Using the Monthly Visitor Index and Gini coefficient, the long-term variation analysis revealed a reduction in the seasonality of tourism resulting from higher intensity of visits off summer season, in particular the extension of mid-seasons. Due to the growing number of high season visitors and the increasing visitor flow, it is necessary to implement time-limit measures at specific locations and activities aimed at temporal and spatial tourist traffic dispersion. The study shows the development process of overtourism in NPs. It also gives indications that the uneven spatial distribution of visitor flow determines the need for diagnosing overtourism in places and periods with the highest visitation intensity. Such a diagnosis is essential for effective tourism management in NPs and supports decision-making processes for the development of surrounding localities.

The article presents design problems of tourist infrastructure in protected landscape and nature areas in Poland. They concern discrete regulation of the intensity and course of leisure and tourist traffic towards and within protected areas. Such regulation can only be carried out on the basis of the structure of accessibility of areas covered by protection and spatial development plans, shaped in accordance with environmental conditions. The quality of access to protected areas is also significantly influenced by the architecture of tourist infrastructure objects presented in the article. It concerns selected objects of small wooden architecture designed in areas with special landscape and natural requirements, which have been implemented in Poland in recent years. These objects are small elements, e.g. signposts, information and educational boards, benches, tables, waste bins, rest shelters, objects at entrances to protected areas (gates), ticket offices, as well as impressive engineering structures built in difficult terrain conditions, e.g. terraces, platforms and observation towers. These issues will be presented on the basis of many years of research and design works concerning protected areas in Lower Silesia (arch. Bogusław Wojtyszyn) and original designs (arch. Alicja Maciejko and arch. Mirosław Strzelecki) realised on the tourist routes of the Stolowe Mountains National Park in Poland, shaping tourism and recreation accessibility for all users including disabled people in protected landscape and nature areas.

The protected natural areas are becoming increasingly popular vacation destinations with both international and domestic travellers. Protected area may be an area of land and/or sea dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other means. As an ever- growing activity, tourism in protected areas produces benefits and cost that often interact in complex ways. Therefore, it is obvious that special attention has to be paid to the protected areas governance model and its effectiveness, especially in terms of the planning and control process enhancement for the purpose of avoiding possible conflicts over nature protection and tourism development. This paper focuses on the analysis of problems that protected areas are facing in relation to tourism development, in particular from the Croatian protected areas’ point of view (specifically, national parks and nature parks). Additionally it offers some recommendations concerning possible environmental management strategies, specifically those related to visitor management, whose tools ought to be implemented in order to keep both the protected areas’ system and tourism development sustainable. These recommendations are to be discussed from the prospective of the new governance system implementation that might help in achieving the sustainability goals of Croatian protected areas.

Maize grains constitute the primary sources of food for mankind and a considerable waste of these valuable foods during pre and post-harvest constitute such a major agricultural bottleneck that the reduction of pre and post-harvest losses is now a common food strategy throughout the world. This study was focused on post-harvest food losses reduction in maize production in Nigeria. The study was aimed at identifying the causes of losses during post-harvest and to suggest ways of preventing the identified causes. Review was made economic importance, varieties, soil and climatic requirement, processing and storage of maize. It also sought solutions to some of the identified problems. It was revealed from the study that the fields where the crops are grown among others were identified as sources of insect infestation of stored maize grains; this result in poor quality and loss in market value of the grains. It was established from the study that susceptibility of the grains to attack by insects is determined by their water activity hence, long-term storage; grain must be dried to safe moisture content. In order to minimize these problems of food losses in maize production, harvesting methods be improved upon as to reduce grain losses due to injury which attract insects. Warehouses should be constructed to specification for effective storage of grains, stored products chemicals manufacturing company should be set up in Nigeria while research work must be encouraged through funding by Government and non governmental organizations. Key words: Post-harvest, maize grain, food losses, pest, moisture content, storage.

The idea underlying the understanding of sustainability is that mankind should live in such a way that will not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment in order to support it. That is, the sustainable management of natural resources is the way to attain sustainable development. On the other hand, ecological sustainability can be achieved only through conservation-based scientific approaches. If the problems to be caused by the uncontrolled use of resources are predicted in advance and if planning is made to this end, the sustainable use of protected areas will be possible. The concept of "carrying capacity" and the planning studies carried out within the framework of this concept are also essential to hand protected areas down to the future. According to the World Tourism Organization, the Carrying Capacity is defined as the maximum number of people that may visit a tourism area at the same time, without any destruction of the physical, economic, and sociocultural environments and without any undesirable decrease in visitors’ satisfaction levels. In addition, again the World Tourism Organization also stated that the carrying capacity was fundamental to environmental conservation and sustainable development.
 Within the framework of this study, it was intended to determine the carrying capacity of Bayramiç Ayazmapınarı Natural Park, which was taken under conservation with the "Natural Park" status in 2011 and which plays an important role in the economic development of the locality. "The Method of Estimating the Carrying Capacity in Protected Areas", recommended by the IUCN, was employed in the research, which was carried out to ensure the sustainable use of the study area with important natural and cultural landscape assets. As a result of the method, it was established that Bayramiç Ayazmapınarı Natural Park had some intensity of use above its carrying capacity. It was concluded that the intensive tourism activities creating a rather negative situation in terms of the sustainability of resources should be re-planned on the basis of conservation & use. Proposals of conservation policies were made in order to hand the existing natural and cultural landscape assets down to future generations. Furthermore, the incomplete or wrong uses in the area were highlighted and various suggestions were made to this end in the research.

For many years – equally on a global scale, at the European level as well as in Poland – necessary actions have been taken aimed at creating an effective legal framework for nature protection. Nature is protected under international law, European Union law and Polish law. The acts of European law which should be pointed out from the perspective of this article (besides the EU Treaties) are the so-called Birds Directive and Habitats Directive. The Polish Constitution of 2 April 1997 stipulates that the Republic of Poland shall protect the national heritage and ensure environmental protection guided by the principle of sustainable development. In the domestic Polish law, the Act of 16 April 2004 on nature protection constitutes the basic legal act of a statutory rank defining objectives, principles and forms of protection of living and inanimate nature and landscape. The aim of this analysis of selected legal provisions regulating the functioning of national parks in Poland is an attempt to assess whether the existing law effectively protects nature, or whether it is rather a set of demands that are difficult or impossible to implement. This matter is crucial for the existence of such unique areas as the Ojcow National Park. The answer to the question whether the national park – as a form of nature protection – is protected in Poland in an effective way is ambiguous, which is illustrated by numerous examples, several of which are indicated in this article.

Land use change due to human activity can have serious, often irreversible effects on the environment. It affects ecosystem functions and the sustainability of protected natural areas. Problems such as fragmentation, low habitat connectivity or a decline in a territory’s ability to capture carbon are some of its consequences. By studying past land use trends we can simulate future land uses, and modeling such trends is essential if a preventive approach to the management of protected areas is to be adopted. The aim of this chapter is to simulate different change scenarios in protected natural areas in the urban region of Madrid, from National and Nature Parks to Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas. To this end we study land use changes both inside and around these protected areas. CORINE Land Cover maps from 1990, 2000 and 2006 are used. Cross-tabulation techniques are applied in order to study trends in land use change. Three scenarios are designed: a baseline or trend scenario, an economic crisis scenario and a green scenario. The CLUE model (based on logistic regression) is used. LCM (based on neural networks) is also used but only in the trend scenario. Biophysical, socio-economic and accessibility factors and incentives and restrictions are considered. FRAGSTATS and GUIDOS are used to analyse the effect of infrastructure and built-up land growth on connectivity and fragmentation. In recent decades, the region of Madrid has experienced intense urban and infrastructure development (48,332 ha). Protected areas have been affected by this urbanization process. Built-up areas have grown at an average annual rate of 5.52% in protected areas and around them. According to the trend scenario, the built-up area will increase by 28,000 ha over the period 2006–2025 to 7.6% of the study area. No fragmentation processes are expected in the National Park. However, fragmentation of agricultural and natural habitats around protected areas is expected to increase by 7.2% during this period. These findings should alert land use planners and the managers of protected areas to the potential threats.

The paper presents the legal protection status in the areas of landscape parks in Poland, whose current number is 126. The structure and effectiveness of provisions pertaining to the protection plans for landscape parks have been presented, mainly in the context of inanimate nature elements. It has been concluded that currently fewer than half of the landscape parks have valid protection plans and that their provisions and the level of detail vary greatly from park to park. After analysing the existing protection plans, it has been noticed that the provisions concerning the protection of inanimate nature elements constitute a definite minority in relation to the provisions concerning animate nature, cultural and historical, or landscape values. The consequences of the lack of regulations and actual actions in the sphere of permanent, organised monitoring of inanimate nature elements have been indicated. The paper also points out how the necessity for the park protection plans to obtain the status of a local legal act, at least in the part concerning broadly understood spatial planning, would be important and beneficial for the management of active nature conservation in the area of the entire landscape park. Furthermore, the paper underlines the importance of obtaining an appropriate amount of data from inventory and scientific research, as well as constant monitoring of animate and inanimate nature resources located in each of the parks.

Protected areas as a double edge sword: An analysis of factors driving urbanisation in their surroundings

Forest expansion in mountain protected areas: Trends and consequences for the landscape

Tropical humid mountain forests are hotspots of biodiversity and providers of important ecosystem services. In the light of increasing human pressure, effectively managed protected areas represent an important means to conserve these ecosystems. A fundamental basis for effective management of protected areas is the integration of scientific baseline data in management decisions. Especially in the tropics such baseline data are largely missing. This is also the case in our study area, Armando Bermúdez National Park in the Dominican Republic. The aim of this research was to collect and analyze ecological and environmental data in this mountain national park and to provide baseline data for an improved management. The objectives of this study were: 1) Generation of a land cover/use map based on digital aerial photographs; 2) Analysis of the main vegetation types and modeling their spatial distribution; 3) Analysis of woody species richness/endemism and modeling their spatial distribution. For the land cover/use map 295 digital aerial photographs were orthorectified and mosaicked. The orthorectification process was hampered by the limited number of evenly distributed Ground Control Points and by the low textured aerial photos. Both the manual search for tie points and the integration of a Digital Elevation Model derived from 100 m contour lines led to a highly accurate orthorectification result. The visual interpretation of the mosaic was based on field samples, taking into account the characteristic elements of aerial photograph interpretation. Altogether, 13 land cover (thereof three forest types) and land use classes were differentiated. Agricultural activities were detected along the northern border of the national park. To understand forest patterns and species distribution, the floristic composition and the environmental-vegetation relationships were investigated. Floristic data were analyzed by ordination techniques. Four forest types were distinguished. Altitude, annual mean temperature, annual mean precipitation and soil pH were the most important environmental factors explaining their occurrence. These factors were used in a maximum entropy approach (Maxent) to model the potential distribution of each forest type. Pine forests occur at the highest elevation and humid broadleaf forests at the lowest. Cloud forests find their best conditions up to 2,300 m a.s.l.. The woody species richness was calculated by summing up 63 binary niche models. Woody species richness correlated highly negatively with increasing altitude. The highest number of endemic woody species was predicted between 1,500-1,700 m a.s.l., decreasing towards higher and lower elevations (hump-shaped curve). The results of this study are significant for an improved management. They can be used to establish a vegetation monitoring program or to elaborate a conservation plan, amongst others. Furthermore they form the basis for researching the effects of climate change on the natural vegetation of the national park