Landscape Changes in Protected Areas in Poland

Anna Zbierska

doi:10.3390/su14020753

Abstract

Land-Use Cover Changes (LUCCs) are one of the main problems for the preservation of landscapes and natural biodiversity. Protected Areas (PAs) do not escape this threat. Poland is among the European leaders in terms of the variety of landscapes and the share of an area designated as a protected area. However, as many as 78% of the habitats have poor or bad conservation status based on EEA reports. This article analyzes the LUCCs between 2000 and 2018 in various types of the Polish legal forms of nature protection areas and the European Natura 2000 network within the country. The research material was: the data of Corine Land Cover (CLC), the Central Register of Nature Protection Forms, and high-resolution layers, such as HRL and orthophotos. The results were compiled according to the CLC class and forms of protection. The matrix of transformations showed that the most frequently transformed CLC class was 312 (coniferous forest). It was transformed into class 324 (transitional woodland shrubs). The changes in PAs were usually smaller than in the surrounding buffer zones, which may indicate their effectiveness. The exception was the areas of the European Natura 2000 network. The scale of land-cover flows (LCFs) changed within particular forms of protected areas, though afforestation and deforestation predominating in all area types. National reserves and parks were the most stable in terms of land cover structures. However, human settlements increased around the protected areas, potentially increasing threats to their ecological integrity.

Highlights

In the analyzed period of 2000–2018, the share of nature conservation areas in the territory of Poland increased from 38% to almost 44%, mainly due to the implementation of a new form of nature protection (European Ecological Network Natura 2000 sites) and the establishment of a new national park in 2001 (Ujscie Warty)
Out of 44 land cover classes identified at level 3 Corine Land Cover (CLC), 32 classes were identified in Poland, including 28 different classes of land cover forms in protected areas
When we summarize the changes in three periods (Figure 8) it can be seen that the transformation covers only about 0.6 to 1.7% of the protected areas (PAs); this share increases over the years, mainly due to a significant increase in the share of the deforestation (LCF5) process in relation to the share of afforestation (LCF4), which in the period 2006–2012 has been almost balanced

Summary

Introduction

They are a key for mitigating climate change, providing ecosystem services, and fostering human well-being [3,4]. There is considerable evidence that well-managed protected areas are effective in reducing biodiversity loss [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The inception and growth of a protected area network are one of the major global responses to rapid habitat loss and fragmentation, to counter the threats of the propagation of invasive species, deforestation, climate change, and urban and agricultural pressure.

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Conclusion