Capability of the Polish Legal System to introduce the ecosystem services approach into the Environmental Management System

Abstract

Following the scientific progress and the European Union activity, Polish strategic papers have started to postulate the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach (National Urban Policy, 2015; Program for biodiversity protection and sustainable use, 2015). The aim of this paper is to show the implementation of the ES concept into the Polish legal system and the challenges related to its implementation. The paper attempts to review the legal acts concerning the protection of ecosystems, their functions and benefits for people.
Until now, the term “ecosystem services” has not been presented in Polish legal acts. However, the results of study show that current regulations allow for this approach (although not in a direct way) to be taken into consideration to a significant extent. Perceiving the ecosystems as beneficial for human beings is, in Polish regulations, clearly visible in the spatial management, nature conservation, forestry, and water management. The existing provisions incorporate both the services, which are already captured by the market mechanisms, and non-market services. The character of these regulations is preventive, maintaining, restoring and ES enhancing. We conclude that a further effort should be aimed at: harmonization of existing provisions; introducing the ES notion directly into legal acts; and implementation of ES approach in executive regulations.

Full text

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Please cite this article as: Stępniewska, M., Zwierzchowska, I., Mizgajski, A, 2018. Capability of
the Polish legal system to introduce the ecosystem services approach into environmental
management. Ecosystem Services, Volume 29, Part B, Pages 271-281
Title:
Capability of the Polish Legal System to Introduce the Ecosystem Services Approach into
Environmental Management
Authors: Małgorzata Stępniewska, Ph.D.; Iwona Zwierzchowska, Ph.D.; Andrzej Mizgajski, Prof.
Authors’ affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Department of Integrated Geography, Poznań, Poland
Full address:
Department of Integrated Geography, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz
University, ul. Bogumiła Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland phone: +48 61 8296226
Corresponding Author:
Małgorzata Stępniewska, Ph.D., malgorzata.stepniewska@amu.edu.pl
Highlights:
 The ES approach appears in Polish national environmental law in an implicit form;
 The ES approach is clearly seen in particular sectors of environmental management;
 The character of regulations is preventive, maintaining, restoring and ES enhancing;
 Further research should be aimed at introducing the ES notion straight into legal acts;
Abstract
Following the scientific progress and the European Union activity, Polish strategic
papers have started to postulate the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach
(National Urban Policy, 2015; Program for biodiversity protection and sustainable use, 2015).
The aim of this paper is to show the implementation of the ES concept into the Polish legal
system and the challenges related to its implementation. The paper attempts to review the
legal acts concerning the protection of ecosystems, their functions and benefits for people.
Until now, the term “ecosystem services” has not been presented in Polish legal acts.
However, the results of study show that current regulations allow for this approach (although
not in a direct way) to be taken into consideration to a significant extent. Perceiving the

2
ecosystems as beneficial for human beings is, in Polish regulations, clearly visible in the
spatial management, nature conservation, forestry, and water management. The existing
provisions incorporate both the services, which are already captured by the market
mechanisms, and non-market services. The character of these regulations is preventive,
maintaining, restoring and ES enhancing. We conclude that a further effort should be aimed
at: harmonization of existing provisions; introducing the ES notion directly into legal acts;
and implementation of ES approach in executive regulations.
1. Introduction
In the EU, the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES), is
seen as a key tool to maintain, restore and avoid degradation of natural capital (Maes et al.,
2015). The EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy calls Member States to map and assess the state of
ecosystems and their services in their national territory, assess the economic value of
ecosystem services and promote the integration of these values into accounting and reporting
systems (Action 5, Target 2). Member states differ significantly in the implementation levels
of Action 5; although their activity in this area has been growing recently (Kopperoinen et al.,
2016).
In the case of Poland, the concept of ecosystem services (ES) has entered into
scientific discussions in the 2000s (e.g. Mizgajski, 2010; Żylicz, 2010). Every two years since
2010, a Symposium on Ecosystem Services in Transdisciplinary Approach (ECOSERV) has
taken place in Poznań. These meetings and publications that follow (Ekonomia i Środowisko,
2012, 2014, 2016) create an opportunity to review progress in the methodology and
application of this concept. As the last symposium in this cycle reflected, a current stage of
development of ES research in Poland is mostly manifested by the reflection on the
availability of source data and their quality, and the growing number of original research
studies conducted on a local and regional scale (Mizgajski et al., 2014). Following the
scientific progress and the EU activity, at present, the ES approach, albeit with difficulty, is
reaching the policy. The conceptual framework of a national ecosystem services assessment
was proposed in 2012 (Mizgajski and Stępniewska, 2012). In 2015, two projects
commissioned by Polish Ministry of Environment have been completed: MAES for Poland
(UNEP/GRID-Warszawa, 2015) and Urban MAES (Mizgajski et al., 2015). A case study of
the Poznań city became part of the EU MAES pilot study for urban ecosystems (Maes et al.,
2016a). The first result of the actions presented is the introduction of the ES term into national

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strategic documents (National Urban Policy, 2015; Program for biodiversity protection and
sustainable use, 2015).
The aim of this paper is to show the implementation of the ES approach into the Polish
legal system and the challenges related to its implementation. The paper attempts to review
the legal acts concerning the protection of ecosystems, their functions and benefits for people.
Our objective is to point out the possibilities of applying the ES approach within the scope of
actions referred to in legal regulations. Legal acts have been reviewed and discussed in three
dimensions: i) Protection and enhancement of ES in the context of environmental protection
and spatial planning; ii) Chosen types of ecosystems; and, iii) Specific elements of
ecosystems.
2. Material and Methods
In this study we use an inductive, exploratory approach to examine the implementation
of the ES approach in Polish national law. Regarding policy-making at various administrative
levels, the national level is the key scale, which links European Union law and strategic
documents with their implementation according to a top-down approach (Albert et al., 2014;
Maes et al., 2016b). There are numerous studies on the legislative aspects of environmental
management at different levels of legislation (e.g. Matczak et al., 2014; Sadath and Krott,
2012; Vasarhelyi and Thomas, 2006; Zhenghong et al., 2013). The methodological concerns
faced during the course of this study were a lack of direct identification of the ES concept in
Polish legislation. For this reason, we reviewed the legal acts in search of equivalent notions
of those elements, which in the state-of-the-art literature (e.g. Bastian et al., 2013; Burkhard et
al., 2014; Grêt-Regamey et al., 2016; MAES, 2013, 2014; Potschin and Burkhard, 2015;
Villamagna et al., 2013) are considered to be an integral part of the ES concept. We have
followed the viewpoint that “Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions of
ecosystems in interaction with contributions from human society to human well-being”
(Braat, 2014, p. 23). Legal acts which we have selected for analysis concern the use and
protection of natural capital. Referring to the ES concept, these are partly include ecosystem
functions that underpin ES, partly various contributions of ecosystems to human well-being,
and partly interactions of the natural capital with human input in the supply of ES.
The review allowed to select nine legal acts considered as the most relevant to the
issue of ES (Table 1).

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Table 1. Legal acts considered.
Name of Act
Year of
launch*
Scope of regulation
Environmental Protection Law
2001
The Act defines the principles of environmental
protection and conditions for using its resources, in
particular:
 principles of defining: conditions for
protection of environmental resources;
conditions of releasing substances or energy
into the environment; costs of using the
environment;
 duties of administrative bodies;
 responsibility and sanctions.
Act on providing information on the
environment and environmental protection,
public participation in environmental
protection and on environmental impact
assessment
2008
The Act defines:
 principles and procedures in cases of:
a) providing information about the
environment and its protection;
b) environmental impact assessments and
strategic environmental assessments;
c) cross-border impact assessments;
 principles of public participation in
environmental protection.
Act on Planning and Spatial Management
2003
The Act defines:
 principles of shaping spatial policy by
administrative bodies;
 the scope and procedures related to intended
use of areas and defining principles of their
development.
Act on changing certain acts in connection
with strengthening landscape protection
tools
2015
The Act introduces changes to 10 acts in force.
Nature Conservation Act
2004
The Act defines the objectives, principles and
forms of animate and inanimate nature and the
landscape.
Forest Act
1991
The Act defines the principles of maintaining,
protection and increasing forest resources and
principles of forest management in connection with
other elements of the environment and the national
economy.
Act on protection of agricultural areas and
forests
1995
The Act regulates the principles of protecting
agricultural land and soil improvement.
Water Law
2001
The Act regulates water management in accordance
with the principle of sustainable development, in
particular, the shaping and protection of water
resources, and the use of water.
Act on Inspectorate of Environmental
Protection
1991
The Act defines competences and organization of
the Inspectorate of Environmental Protection as a
body for controlling the compliance of
environmental regulations and monitoring of the
condition of the environment.
* All acts have been amended several times

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We adopted the legal status as of June 1, 2016. In interpretation of the content of
analyses acts, we used the categorization of ES provided by the Common International
Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES version 4.3, 2013). As CICES has a hierarchical
structure with five levels of generality (section – division – group – class – class type),
depending on the degree of detail of the law, we matched the individual provisions with the
most detailed possible level of CICES.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Protection and enhancement of ES in the context of environmental protection
and spatial planning
3.1.1. The Environmental Protection Law
The Act of April 27, 2001 on the Environmental Protection Law establishes a general
framework for the management of ecosystems in Poland (Lew-Gliniecka, 2012). Detailed
principles of protection and conditions for using individual components of ecosystems are
regulated by specialist acts discussed further in the article. Although the Act does not contain
a single explicit use of the ES term, natural capital is intuitively and automatically perceived
as a provider of goods and services. For this reason, a lot of regulations in the Act can be
related directly to individual ES categories (Table 2).

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Table 2. Examples of regulations in the Environmental Protection Law with reference to ES categories.
Regulation
ES category
Protection of ES potential
The protection of land surface consists of keeping its environmental, economic, social
and cultural functions, including:
food and biomass production;
storage, filtration and transformation of nutrients, substances and water;
basics of the development of life and biodiversity;
sources of raw materials;
a carbon pool;
a collection of geological, geomorphological and archaeological heritage.
Provisioning
Regulation & Maintenance
Regulation & Maintenance
Provisioning
Global climate regulation by reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations;
Heritage; Bequest
Restoration of ES
For areas in which the level of substances in the air exceeds the allowable level, the
provincial assembly defines an air protection program by means of a resolution.
Micro and regional climate regulation
Prevention against ES degradation
A licence to release substances and energy into the environment defines the type and
parameters of installations, which are significant from the point of view of pollution
prevention.
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Everybody who intends to operate or operates a facility with increased risk is obliged
to ensure that this facility is designed, constructed, kept and closed in a way preventing
industrial accidents and limiting their consequences for people and the environment.
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Payments for ES
Payments for using the environment are due for:
releasing gases or particles into the air;
assigned rights for greenhouse gas emissions;
releasing wastewater into water or the ground;
water intake;
storage of waste.
Dilution by atmosphere, freshwater and marine ecosystems
Global climate regulation by reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations
Dilution by atmosphere, freshwater and marine ecosystems; Chemical condition
of freshwater systems
Provisioning - Water
Mediation of waste, toxic waste and other nuisances
Sanctions for ES degradation
Whoever uses an installation without the required licence, or breaches its conditions,
shall be punished by arrest, imprisonment or a fine.
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural

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The structure of the Act is organized by the following main titles:
 TITLE I - General provisions.
 TITLE II - Protection of environmental resources.
 TITLE III - Pollution prevention.
 TITLE IV - Major industrial accidents.
 TITLE V - Legal and financial means.
 TITLE VI - Liability in environmental protection.
 TITLE VII - Administrative bodies and institutions for environmental protection.
Regulations contained in the titles listed above can be assigned to specific issues
concerning ES. And so, titles I-II contain general provisions regarding the protection and
restoration of ES potential. This applies in particular to regulating ES concerning the
"maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions". For example, the requirement of
adopting air protection programs in areas in which allowable concentrations of substances in
the air are exceeded can be identified with striving after enhancement of regulating services
regarding air quality. In this section, the Act defines the legal framework of the supervision of
environmental pollution levels. This supervision includes the following sequence of actions:
specification of environmental quality standards (e.g. the quality of air, water and soil),
control of pollution levels and implementation of recovery programs. With regard to
environmental quality standards, the Act contains general guidelines; detailed standards are
defined in executive regulations. The condition of environmental components is monitored by
the Inspectorate of Environmental Protection. In areas where environmental standards are
exceeded, recovery programs are implemented (which constitute acts of local law). Recovery
programs create conditions for restoring ES, e.g. the air protection program for restoring ES
within the scope of micro- and regional climate regulation.
Titles III and IV contain regulations that can be combined with prevention against ES
degradation. To prevent or reduce pressure on ecosystems, the Act formulates a legal
framework for the supervision of substances and energy released into them. This framework
includes: emission prevention, minimization of emissions and controlling the compliance of
emission permits. Emission prevention is connected with the implementation of the
precautionary principle. Limits on emissions are determined by individual administrative
decisions, i.e. emission permits. If emission permits are not complied with, the Inspectorate of
Environmental Protection imposes a penalty payment.

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Title V of the Act can be connected with payments for ES. In accordance with the
regulations of the Act, entities using the environment in the scope, which requires an
administrative licence, are obliged to pay fees for using the environment. These fees are paid
for: releasing gases or particles into the air; assigned rights for greenhouse gas emissions;
releasing wastewater into water or into the ground; water intake and storage of waste. The
fees were originally introduced at the end of the 1980s to ensure funds for the improvement of
the disastrous condition of the environment upon the country's transition. These funds
abstracted from the budget have played a significant role in increasing the quality of
ecosystems in Poland. The existing fee system is predisposed for transformation into an
instrument of payment for ES after a stronger link between the amounts of payments with the
costs of restoring the environment to the appropriate condition.
Title VI of the Act can be perceived as a set of sanctions for ES degradation. It defines
the principles of civil, penal and administrative liability for negative environmental impact
and infringement of individual provisions of the Act (Mróz et al., 2011).
Title VII defines the competences of administrative bodies in the management of
ecosystems and their services. Responsibilities for prevention, protection and restoration of
ES are dispersed among numerous authorities and institutions. As a result, difficulties in the
coordination of actions occur (Mączka et al., 2016).

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3.1.2. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA)
The EIA and SEA procedures are regulated by the Act of October 3, 2008 on
providing information on the environment and environmental protection, public participation
in environmental protection and on environmental impact assessment (Act on providing
information…). This Act is a transposition of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
and Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (Brodawka, 2014). It can be said that the
Act has significant potential for the introduction of the ES approach directly into the
documentation drawn up within the EIA and SEA.
According to the Act, the consent for public and private projects that are likely to have
significant effects on the environment (e.g. construction works or other installation) should be
granted only after prior assessment of the likely significant environmental effects of these
projects (EIA procedure). The assessment has to take into account the influence of the project
on human health, quality of life, ensuring maintenance of the diversity of species and
maintaining the reproductive capacity of the ecosystem as a basic resource for life.
The likely significant effects on the environment should be identified (in the SEA
procedure) also for draft plans and programmes developed at the national, regional and local
levels, such as:
 the concept of the spatial development of the country, the study of conditions and
directions of spatial development of the municipality, local master plans, strategies
for regional development;
 plans and strategies in industry, energy, transport, telecommunications, water
management, waste management, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, tourism.
It is possible to match the requirements specified in the Act for the reports prepared
during the EIA and SEA with concrete ES categories. Table 3 contains examples of how the
aforementioned reports can support the mapping and assessment of different ES; e.g.
identification of the impact on ecosystem components such as: fauna, flora, soil, water, air can
be related to the influence on the structure and level of a large number of provisioning and
regulating ES. On the other hand, describing an impact on material assets, cultural heritage
and the landscape is related to a section of the cultural ES.

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Table 3. Relating the scope of the contents of EIA and SEA reports to ES categories.
ES category
Content of the report according to Act on providing information …
Report on environmental impact assessment
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Definition of the predicted environmental impact of analysed variants of the project.
Justification of the variant proposed by the applicant, indicating its environmental impact, in particular on:
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
plants, animals, fungi and habitats;
Gaseous and air flows; Atmospheric composition
and climate regulation
climate;
Dilution by atmosphere; Micro and regional climate
regulation
air;
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
water;
Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates
land surface, taking into account mass movements;
Physical and intellectual interactions with biota,
ecosystems, and landscapes
landscape.
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Description of predicted actions aimed at prevention, limitation or compensation of negative environmental impacts.
Report on strategic environmental assessment
Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Water; Hydrological cycle and water flow
maintenance; Water conditions
Dilution by atmosphere; Micro and regional climate
regulation
Mass flows; Soil formation and composition
Physical and intellectual interactions with biota,
ecosystems, and landscapes
Gaseous and air flows; Atmospheric composition
and climate regulation
Provisioning
Heritage
Provisioning; Regulation & Maintenance; Cultural
Definition of predicted significant environmental impacts, in particular on:
biodiversity;
water;
air;
land surface;
landscape;
climate;
natural resources;
monuments.
Description of predicted solutions aimed at prevention, limitation or compensation of negative environmental
impacts.

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There are strong arguments in the literature that support the need to consider ES in
EIA and SEA procedures to improve the understanding of consequences of the
implementation of plans and projects on human well-being (e.g. Kumar et al, 2013;
Mascarenhas et al., 2015; Rozas-Vásquez et al. 2016 in press). Main challenges for the
integrating ES approach into EIA and SEA are issues of scope, scale, ES trade-offs and
indicators (Genelletti, 2011). These challenges can be overcome by carrying out pilot
applications in a real planning context (e.g. Partidario and Gomes, 2013; Josimović at al.,
2016) and by taking advantage of the methods, tools and data for MAES that are becoming
increasingly available (UNEP, 2014).
3.1.3. Nature conservation
In the context of ES, what is of key importance are the provisions of the Nature
Conservation Act of April 16, 2004 that describes the rules of legal protection of ecosystems
and their elements. After many amendments (the last on April 15, 2016), the Act does not use
the term “ecosystem services”. However, its objectives, principles and forms of biotic and
abiotic nature protection and landscape refer directly to the benefits for people resulting from
the functioning of ecosystems (Matczak et al. 2014).
Objectives of protection focus on prevention, conservation and restoration of
ecosystems and their elements. These objectives include:
 maintaining ecological processes and ecosystem stability;
 conservation of biodiversity;
 conservation of geological and paleontological heritage;
 ensuring the continuity of the existence of plant, animal and fungus species, together
with their habitats, by maintaining or restoring them to the appropriate state of
protection;
 protection of landscape values, green areas in cities and villages and tree stands;
 maintaining or restoring the appropriate condition of natural habitats and also other
resources, formations and components of nature;
 shaping correct attitudes towards nature by education, information and promotion in
the area of environmental protection.
In the context of the ES concept, these objectives indirectly contribute to the
protection of services generated by ecosystems. The protection of values and benefits of the
natural and cultural environments has a long history in Poland (Cole 1995, Kozłowski et al.

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2004, Oszlányi et al. 2004). Areas of distinct importance for people are protected by law.
Their closer analysis shows that the ability to provide ES underlies their legal protection
(Table 4).

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Table 4. Relations between legally-protected natural values and ES.
*According to CICES version 4.3.
Protected values
and corresponding
services*
Form of nature conservation
Number
of nature
conservation
forms
Natura
2000
National
Park
Reserve
Landscape
Park
Protected
Landscape
Area
Ecological
site
Nature and
landscape
complex
Documentation
site
Natural
monument
Natural values/functions
Service: Maintaining
nursery populations and
habitats







7
Cultural values
Service: Heritage, cultural




4
Historical values
Service: Heritage, cultural


2
Landscape and aesthetic
values
Aesthetic values






6
Tourism and recreation
Service: Physical use of
landscapes in different
environmental settings

1
Didactic/educational value
Service: Educational



3
Scientific value
Service: Scientific




4
Number of protected
services
1
5
4
5
3
1
1
2
5

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Protected areas must meet criteria (as regards the value and/or protection goals)
specified in the Act. This shows that specific benefits for people were appreciated earlier and
regarded as worth the protection.
On the basis of Table 4, forms of protection can be divided into 3 groups:
 supporting only regulating services. These include Natura 2000 and ecological sites;
 supporting only cultural services (documentation sites and a nature and landscape
complexes);
 supporting ecosystem services in a comprehensive manner (other forms of nature
protection).
Both a national park and a landscape park are areas which must be characterized by
the occurrence of all values listed in the Act, so they must be treated as multiservice areas.
The creation of landscape parks is not only aimed at protection of their values but also on
their popularization. The situation is different for nature reserves which are aimed at the
protection of individual values and services according to the subject of protection or the type
of ecosystem (Executive Regulation, 2005). Even greater diversity of protect values occurs
among natural monuments - from natural to historical ones. Protected Landscape Areas have a
special place among forms of natural protection supporting ecosystem services in a
comprehensive manner. It is a form of protection which can be aimed at satisfying the need
for tourism and recreation or the function of ecological corridors. Therefore, only in this case
the services of tourism and recreation are literally criteria for setting the protection regime.
3.1.4. Spatial planning
Pursuant to the Act of March 27, 2003 on Spatial Planning and Development,
sustainable development is the basis for shaping the spatial policy and using areas for specific
purposes, together with establishing the principles of their development. This can be seen
mostly in planning documents drawn up in various spatial scales, i.e. the concept of the spatial
development of the country, provincial development strategy, spatial development plans for
provinces, studies of conditions and directions of spatial development of the municipality and
local master plans. These documents contain provisions, which have a significant influence on
the potential, flow, demand of ES and pressure on ecosystems.
In Poland, the largest influence on spatial changes is exerted by planning arrangements
at the local level. Therefore, the local governments have a basic tool that can be used for
implementing the ES concept in land-use planning. Similarly, the leading role of the local
governments in the implementation of ecosystem services-based regulation for the U.S. is

15
pinpointed by Hirokawa (2011). For most ecosystem services decisions, local governments
can improve the receipt of ecosystem benefits by engaging in the planning process (Hirokawa,
2011; Woodruff and BenDor, 2016).
In Poland, spatial policy at the municipal level is expressed by the study of conditions
and directions of spatial development (SCDSD) and next implemented in local master plans.
These plans are acts of local law and they must be consistent with the provisions of the
SCDSD, but their enacting is not obligatory (with exceptions). If the master plans are not
enacted, individual decisions have to be issued to set development conditions.
Pursuant to the Act, the SCDSD must include, amongst other things, conditions of the
natural environment, which, from the point of view of the ES concept, are a source of ES
supply. The document treats these conditions and the closely related potential of ecosystems
and service providing units to provide ES as one of the basis for spatial planning.
Special attention is paid to agro-ecosystems, forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems
as well as abiotic outputs (Table 5).
Table 5. Conditions taken into account in the SCDSD in reference to the concept of ES.
Reference to
the concept of
ES
Selected conditions taken into account in SCDSD
Ecosystem
condition and
related ES
potential
The condition of the environment, including: the condition of the agricultural and forest
production space, the amount and quality of water resources, requirements for the
protection of the environment, nature, landscape, including the cultural landscape;
The condition of the cultural heritage and monuments as well as contemporary cultural
assets;
Recommendations and conclusions from the landscape audit, including borders of priority
landscape;
The occurrence of documented mineral deposits, underground water resources and
documented complexes of underground carbon capture;
The occurrence of protected objects and areas;
Ecosystem
condition and
related
disservices
The occurrence of mining areas (a space affected by predicted harmful influence of mining
work)
The occurrence of areas of natural geological threats;
Requirements concerning flood protection.
The conditions mentioned above, also in the context of quality of life of inhabitants,
including the protection of their health and threats to safety of people and property are one of
the bases for designating areas and directions for development in the SCDSD.
It is argued that type of land cover, use and access determines ES that can be provided
or reduced (Wurster and Artmann, 2014). Therefore, the local master plan that establish forms

16
of land use and principles of land development can be regarded as the key tool in ES
management. The local master plan indicates borders and the development principles for
protected areas or objects, mining areas as well as priority landscapes. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the local master plan identifies areas with exceptional or reduced natural value.
It also indicates problem areas where the negative effects of natural and ecosystem processes
on humans (disservices) may appear (von Döhren and Haase, 2015). However, at the same
time, the problem areas require specific services such as flood protection in flood risk areas or
mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates in landslide-prone areas.
The local master plan can influence the maintenance of the ES potential and even
enhances it. This particularly applies to regulating and cultural services. In this area, by
designing the spatial order, specifying the principles of protection of the nature and landscape,
environmental conditions, cultural heritage and monuments, including cultural landscapes and
contemporary culture assets local master plan determines land development conditions and
the limitations of their use, including the ban on development.
A significant element of the local master plan is the introduction of the principles and
indices of land development, which directly shape the demand for ES (especially cultural and
regulating ones). The indices such as the maximum and minimum intensity of development
(understood as the total developed area relative to the surface area of the plot), the minimum
percentage share of the biologically active surface with regard to the plot area, the maximum
height of the development, shape the human environment as well as the degree to which their
needs with regard to the ES demand will be satisfied.
The scope of environmental conditions, which, in accordance with the regulations,
must be taken into account in the planning documents, shows a far-reaching focus on abiotic
outputs from natural systems, which are not contained in the main table of CICES. However
in the accompanying classification of abiotic outputs from natural systems special attention is
devoted to section Abiotic Provisioning (including nutritional abiotic substances, abiotic
materials, energy) and Regulation & Maintenance by natural physical structures and processes
(including mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisances, mediation of flows by natural
abiotic structures, maintenance of physical, chemical, abiotic conditions). In this light, one
should agree with van der Meulen et al. (2016), who urge to include abiotic flows as inherent
part in ecosystem services classification. Integration of abiotic flows in ES classification, such
as in the main table of CICES, will contribute to a more consistent application of the ES
concept and integration of the concept for environmental policy, spatial planning, and
ecosystem management.

17
Although, it is argued that planning is the essential starting point for ES analysis
(Hirokawa, 2011), the Act, apart from defining the framework and general planning
principles, does not determine in detail which planning solutions are beneficial for the human
environment. Therefore, it does not indicate, even indirectly, which development pattern is
beneficial for ES and balancing the supply-demand relationship. Therefore, as shown in
research by Kaczorowska et al. (in press), the urgent concern is how to fit current knowledge
into currently used tools. Also, Mascarenhas et al. (2015) concluded that tools easy to use by
practitioners are among important factors supporting implementation of the ES concept.
Similarly, Woodruff and BenDor (2016) indicate that there is limited guidance about how ES
should be used in the land-use and environmental planning. In this area, the development of
ES mapping methods seems to be significant (Daily et al., 2011), since planning that
integrates ES is still in an embryonic stage (Woodruff and BenDor, 2016).
Significant changes in the Act on Spatial Planning and Development, as regards the
support and protection of cultural services related to the landscape were introduced by the Act
of April 24, 2015 on changing certain acts in connection with the enhancement of landscape
protection tools. The changes apply to, amongst other things, the introduction of a definition
of the priority landscape and tools for landscape protection.
Particular care was taken of priority landscapes, i.e. particularly important for society
due to their natural, cultural, historical, architectural, urban, rural or aesthetic value that
require maintaining or defining the principles and conditions of their shaping.
The Act contains regulations regarding landscape protection and therefore influences
the related services, especially aesthetic ones. At the municipal level, the Act gives a tool to
local governments, i.e. the possibility of establishing principles and conditions for locating
street furniture, advertising boards, advertising devices and fences. The Act provides for the
possibility of taking actions aimed at landscape protection by prohibition of placing fences,
advertising boards and advertising devices, thus protecting or shaping aesthetic ES of valuable
landscapes. It provides also for the sanctions for failure to comply with this in the form of a
fine for placing an advertising board or an advertising device against the regulations of the
Municipal Council.
At the provincial level, the Act introduces tools in the form of landscape audits. It
should be emphasized, however, that this is a new solution, which is yet developing. Detailed
principles of auditing are to be specified in the executive regulation of the Council of
Ministers, taking into account, amongst other things, the necessity of preserving landscapes,

18
which are the source of identity of the Polish nation. This shows unambiguously that it is
aimed at protecting landscapes generating their highest symbolic services for people.
3.1.5. Monitoring of ecosystems and their services
Elements of legal regulations, which are gaining more and more importance, are those,
which include the monitoring of the ecosystem condition. The legal framework for the State
Environmental Monitoring Programme is established in the Act of 20 July 1991 on
Inspectorate of Environmental Protection. Since 1994, the Integrated Environmental
Monitoring Programme (IEMP) has been functioning within the State Environmental
Monitoring Programme. The tasks of IEMP involve comprehensive definition of energy and
matter flows in catchments representative for different landscape-ecological zones in Poland.
Within the framework of the IEMP, a specialized ecosystem services programme is
implemented in the years 2015-2017, which is aimed at developing methodological and
application principles of MAES in Poland. The IEMP database is a good source of
quantitative data in particular for analyses regulating ES connected with mediation by
ecosystems (by filtration, dilution, storage), soil formation and composition, atmospheric
composition and climate regulation, and mass flows (Kostrzewski et al., 2014).
3.2. Chosen types of ecosystems
3.2.1. Forests
Examples of direct reference to ES can be found in the Act of September 28, 1991 on
Forests. Analysing the provisions of the Act through the prism of the ES concept, it can be
concluded that it regulates issues related to:
 forest management taking ES into account;
 protection of forests of significant ES importance;
 making forests available that influence the ES flow.
Services generated by forest ecosystems are the aim of sustainable forest management,
which is included in forest development plans or in simplified forest development plans. Aims
of sustainable forest management listed in the regulations refer to ecosystem services at
various levels of detail and they sometimes overlap (table 6).
Table 6. Referring ES to sustainable forest management objectives.
Objectives listed in the Forest Act
ES category

19
1. Maintaining forests and their advantageous influence on the
climate, air, water, soil, living conditions and health of people
and on natural balance;
Regulation and Maintenance (including mainly
mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisances,
mediation of flows and maintenance of
physical, chemical, biological conditions).
2. Protection of forests, especially forests and forest
ecosystems which are natural fragments of domestic nature or
forests which are particularly valuable due to:
Regulation and Maintenance and Cultural
 conservation of biodiversity,
Regulation and Maintenance (Lifecycle
maintenance, habitat and gene pool
 conservation of genetic resources of forests,
protection)
 landscape values,
Cultural (Aesthetic or Heritage, cultural)
 scientific needs.
Cultural (Scientific)
3. Protection of soils and areas at particular risk of pollution
or damage and of special social importance;
Regulation and Maintenance (Mediation of
flows, Maintenance of physical, chemical,
biological conditions)
4. Protection of surface and deep water, catchment retention,
especially in watershed areas and in areas of underground
water supply;
Regulation and Maintenance (Mediation of
waste, toxics and other nuisances, Mediation of
flows , Maintenance of physical, chemical,
biological conditions);
Provisioning (water for drinking and non-
drinking purposes)
5. Production of timber, raw materials and side products of
land use, according to the principle of rational management.
Provisioning (nutrition, materials and energy)
As it can be noticed, the aims of sustainable forest management combine forest
protection with the possibility of using them by emphasizing their role in the delivery of
services from the Regulation and Maintenance Section, Cultural Section and Provisioning
Section. However, the Act emphasizes that the use of forests, especially for economic
purposes must take into account the necessity of their protection (Rakoczy, 2011).
For forest functions to be able to provide the entire range of benefits to people in a
continuous manner, the Act provides for ensuring forest protection in particular by preventive
and protective treatments which prevent the occurrence and spread of fires; prevention,
detection and control of appearing and spreading pests; protection of soils and forest waters.
However, it does not provide detailed guidelines for actions to be taken.
In accordance with the regulations of the above Act, forests which are distinguished by
their character, location or the functions they fulfil (Chmielewski, 2014) have significant ES
importance and can get a status of protective forests. In Poland, protective forests occupy
51.3% of the total forest area (PGL LP, 2015). In table 7, services that qualify a forest to get
protective status are assigned to legal provisions contained in the Act. It does not mean that an
ecosystem that meets the criteria obtains the protective forest status ex lege. Forests are
recognized as protective by an administrative act (Rakoczy, 2011).

20
Table 7. Forest ecosystem services as a criterion for designating protective forests.
Criteria for legal provision which qualifies forest
to get a status of protective forest
The ES referred to
Protect the soil against being washed or fatigue,
prevent landslides, falling rocks or avalanches;
Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates
Protect surface and underground water resources,
regulate hydrological conditions in catchment areas
and in watersheds;
Surface water for drinking purposes
Ground water for drinking purposes
Surface water for non-drinking purposes
Ground water for non-drinking purposes
Bio-remediation by micro-organisms, algae, plants,
and animals
Filtration, sequestration, storage, accumulation by
micro-organisms, algae, plants and animals
Filtration, sequestration, storage, accumulation by
ecosystems
Hydrological cycle and water flow maintenance
Flood protection
Limit the occurrence or spreading of windblown
sands;
Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates
Constitute seed tree stands or animal refuges and
plant sites covered by species protection;
Life cycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool
protection
Particular natural and scientific importance for the
country's defence and security.
Scientific; Security*
They are situated:
a) within administrative limits of cities and at a
distance of up to 10 km from administrative city
limits with over 50 thousand inhabitants;
Cultural & Regulation & Provisioning
b) in protective areas of health-resorts and areas of
health-resort protection;
c) in the upper forest limit area.
Cultural; Health*
Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates
*Outside the CICES version 4.3.
The summary above shows that this Act also takes into account a broader range of
benefits than the commonly known CICES version 4.3. For instance such services include the
influence of forest ecosystems on human health. Another example is the importance of this
ecosystem for the country's defence and security. Forests that are situated in military training
areas, exercise yards, airports, closed military facilities and in protective zones for such places
(Executive Regulation 1992) are appreciated for their defence and security role, which is not
included in the aforementioned classification.
In the Act on Forests, we find direct references to the ES concept also by the necessity
of taking into account the quantity of timber to be acquired in the plan and the issues of
hunting management (provisioning ES) as well as forest tending and protection (regulating
ES), taking into account the aforementioned sustainable forest management objectives.

21
Another issue important for human health and welfare is the availability of forest for
recreation. As shown by Bauer et al. (2004), most of the 23 countries investigated by them
guarantee free access to certain categories of forests. This is also the case in public forests of
Poland. However, the Act regulates the availability of forests by identifying forests to which
access is permanently forbidden.
Protection against pressure, which at the same time influences the ES flow, is aimed at
protection of forest cultivations up to 4 m high, experimental areas (scientific ES) and seed
tree stands (seed dispersal), protected animal refuges and plant sites (maintaining nursery
population and habitats), spring areas of rivers and streams (hydrological cycle and water
flow maintenance) and areas threatened by erosion (mass stabilisation and control of erosion
rates). The obligation of not to enter the forest resulting from legal regulations is obligatory in
the cases listed above. It is a restriction on personal liberty to protect ecosystems and/or
valuable services (Rakoczy 2011).
Procedures aimed at changing forest areas into another type of land use (e.g. built-up
areas) are long and difficult. Regardless of the change in the intended use of the land in the
local master plan, the deforestation requires actions specified in the Act of February 3, 1995
on protection of agricultural areas and forests. Within the meaning of the Act, the
deforestation requires a consent form the minister of the environment (for areas which are the
property of the State Treasury) or the provincial marshal (for remaining areas). The
deforestation, apart from administrative procedures, involves high fees. These fees can be
seen as a fine for losing ES provided by forests.
3.2.2. Freshwaters
In relation to freshwater, a lot of regulations, which are compatible with the ES
approach, are formulated in the Act of July 18, 2001 on the Water Law. It is the main Act
regulating the issues of water management at the national level in Poland. The Act introduces
various levels of restrictions, depending on the character of using freshwaters and their
services. In this way, the Act distinguishes ordinary, common and special use of waters.
There are no special restrictions regarding the first one; however, the second one involves
quantitative limitations and the third one requires administrative permits.
Concerning water protection, the Act distinguishes qualitative and quantitative
protection. Qualitative protection applies to regulating ES, quantitative protection to
provisioning ES, while both of these apply to cultural ES. Qualitative protection includes
restrictions concerning releasing of pollutants into waters, with special attention paid to

22
municipal wastewater and agricultural pollutants. The Act also creates conditions for actions
on a regional and local scale pertaining to restoration and enhancement of regulating ES in the
area of protection against floods and droughts. Flood and drought protection may be achieved
in particular by shaping spatial management of valleys and floodplains and by maintaining
and creating water retention systems. The Act does not see the trade-offs between flood
protection and other regulating services (e.g. natural fertilization, habitats of plants and
animals).
Quantitative protection is mostly related to the limits on water intake and changes in
the water regime, e.g. water transfer, irrigation, drainage, and water retention. Protection
zones of water intake and protective areas of inland bodies of water are of special importance
for provisioning ES, where specific restrictions for economic activity can be introduced. From
the economic point of view, the principle of recovering the costs of water services is very
important. This principle creates conditions for refunding the costs of the production of ES
(e.g. water provision) in specific locations for a greater number of external beneficiaries. The
connection between interests of stakeholders from areas of supply and use of ES is of key
importance for ensuring continuous ES supply (Hein et al., 2006). At present, advanced work
on the amendment of Water Law is in progress (Kropiewnicka et al., 2015); however, main
controversies pertain to social and political resistance against an increase in the cost of water
services which would result in a further increase in prices of water supply and wastewater
removal which are already high in Poland (as compared to the average household disposable
income).
According to the Act, the management of freshwaters and their services includes
monitoring, planning and direct management actions. The main instruments of these actions
are restrictions concerning the conditions for usage. Economic instruments are of growing
importance, including the recovery of water service costs. However, the basis for these
actions is the identification of the amount and conditions of water resources and their on-
going monitoring.
3.3 Specific elements of ecosystems
The regulations of the Act of April 16, 2004 on Nature Conservation apply to trees and
shrubs growing outside forests. Vegetation is the key element of ecosystems upon which the
supply of multiple ES largely depends. Trees, in particular, play an important role.
The regulations of the aforementioned Act in the section pertaining to the green areas
and tree stands focus on reducing the pressure on them by:

23
 limitation of the possibilities of their removal (on the basis of permits), and
indication of forbidden and harmful actions and their rational use (limitations
in use);
 compensation for removed trees or shrubs by replacement planting or payments
for removing trees or shrubs;
 sanctions for illegal removal of trees or shrubs.
In this way, the provisions of the Act have influenced ES indirectly. Their examples
with reference to the ES concept are presented in table 8.
Table 8. Examples of the regulations of the Nature Conservation Act supporting the supply of
ecosystem services.
Provisions of the Act
Reference to the
concept of ES
Trees and shrubs can be removed from the property after obtaining a permit.
Prevention
The issuance of a permit for removing a tree or a shrub may depend on the duty to
make replacement plantings or replant a given tree or a shrub.
Compensation
Fees are charged for removing a tree or a shrub.
The fee depends on the trunk perimeter and from the trunk growth rate in individual
types and species, depending on the tree location.
Charges for ES
degradation
Protection in the investment process
Earthworks and other works within the root system, trunk or crown of a tree or within
the root system or shoots of a shrub are performed in a way, which is least harmful to
trees or shrubs.
Prevention
and protection of
ES
Protection in the tending process
Works within the tree crown may not lead to the removal of over 30% of crown
branches, which have developed over the entire tree development period.
The removal of over 30% of branches in the crown constitutes tree damage, and the
removal of over 50% of branches is regarded as tree destruction.
On public roads, streets and yards, chemical agents should be used in the least harmful
manner for green areas and tree stands.
Fines are imposed for illegal removal of a tree or a shrub, damage to a tree or a shrub or
its destruction.
Sanctions for ES
degradation
In accordance with the most recent changes in the regulations, the fees for individual
types of tree species will be calculated depending on the trunk perimeter and the trunk growth
speed, taking into account the location of the tree or shrub (such as health resorts, areas of
health-resort protection or the area of a property entered in the register of monuments, green
spaces, urban areas, right of way, village area). The basis for their calculation is different
costs of production of individual types and species of trees, taking into consideration their
varied conditions of growth and the functions they fulfil. The rates are specified in the
executive regulation.

24
However, the Act provides a range of exceptions when it is not necessary to obtain a
permit to remove a tree and when no fee is charged. The catalogue of exceptions contained in
the Act concerns, for example, trees or shrubs which have died or which are a threat to the
safety of property and people, which are very young or characterized by a small perimeter.
These are situations in which trees are perceived as sources of insignificant services or even
disservices. With respect to the regulations concerning replacement planting, Łukaszkiewicz
(2013) noticed that they are very general and discussed that in extreme cases they may lead to
remission of environmental fees.
As pinpointed by Szczepanowska et al. (2010), the basis for financial compensation
for damage are actual costs of “reconstructing” a tree, understood as costs of a comparable
replacement tree. Therefore, ES are not a valuation criterion, and the indirect reference to
benefits provided by trees also takes into account the size of the tree.
4. Conclusions
The results of study show that the concept of ES does not appear in Polish national
environmental law in a manifest form, but implicitly. Despite the absence of the term
“ecosystem services” in Polish legal acts, they contain a range of regulations related to
managing ecosystems and their services. The presented analysis has allowed illustration of the
condition and differentiation of references to the ES concept in the existing law. All of the
analysed legal acts transpose the respective EU directives, so many of the findings could be
interesting for other countries, which implement the EU law in their own way.
The results of conducted analysis show that the character of regulations is preventive,
maintaining, restoring and ES enhancing. These are regulations that incorporate both the
services, which are already captured by the market mechanisms, and non-market services (i.e.
life cycle maintenance, habitat, and gene pool protection). The instruments used for ES
management are mostly legal and economic. The economic instruments include user-charges,
access-fees, and penalties for non-compliance (Rogulski, 2015), rather than financial
incentives to provide ES such as payments for ES.
From the point of view of the implementation of the ES approach into the legal
systems, we can conclude that the existing law provides space and basis for ES
implementation. Perceiving an ecosystem as beneficial for human beings is, in Polish
regulations, clearly visible in the spatial management, nature conservation, forestry, and water
management; however, the regulations are not harmonized with each other. Thus, there is a
need for a wider and comprehensive incorporation of the concept into the legislation. This

25
will require widening of scope of protection from protection of ecosystem and their functions
to protection of ES. Further effort should be aimed at:
 introducing the ES notion directly into legal acts in the area of protection and use
of natural capital;
 the implementation of ES approach in executive regulations.
As long as the ES notion is not introduced into acts, it cannot appear at the operating
level in executive regulations. They determine very detailed and often technical issues or
decisions, facilitating the application of regulations in the day-to-day decision making
processes. The operationalization of the ES approach in executive regulations will allow the
adjustment of existing legal tools. Some of them, such as land development plans, already
contain elements, which are core issues in the ES concept, and others such as EIA and SEA
reports can be adjusted to fit the concept.
Owing to the introduction of the ES notion directly into legal acts, one should
anticipate an increase in the social awareness of benefits which we obtain from ecosystems.
Moreover, the direct introduction of an ES approach would mean the sanctioning of a change
in the paradigm for the human- nature relationship from the opposition between the nature
and people who exploit it to a search for harmony by ensuring sustainable provision of
services for humans.
The state of implementation of the ES approach into the Polish law reflects the level of
perception of this concept by politicians and, indirectly, also in society. If this assumption is
adopted, to increase the ES-presence in the law, science should offer applicable solutions
(Stępniewska, 2016) and they should be approved by decision-makers for it. It can be
expected that the next generations of regulations in Poland will gradually implement the ES
concept as a socially acceptable approach, which is economically feasible and politically
attractive. The introduction of ES into the legal acts will be a formal obligation for
implementation However, the quality of implementation will depend on the operational
knowledge of the experts and administration, and the public awareness.
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
We would like to thank the three reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier
versions of this manuscript.

26
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