History of Conservation

History of Nature Conservation in Poland.

From the beginning of the establishment of a Polish state a special attention was paid to protection of natural resources. The very first king of Poland - Bolesław I the Brave (967-1025) forbade hunting beavers, which were commonly killed in those days. While the first regulations concerning fishing were introduced in 1328. An aurochs, a forest cow and the ancestor of domestic cattle, had long since been another protected species. The first general regulation concerning not only protection of the particular species but the whole environment was issued by Casimir III the Great in 1347 (it concerned protection of forests and water). 70 years later the next king - Władysław II Jagiełło forbade cutting down and carrying away from Poland taxus whose wood was used to produce bows all over Europe.

In the XV century a special guard came into being to keep watch and feed the aurochs, which were at that time on the brink of extinction. In 1578 king Stephen Bathory expanded the law which regulated fishing; among other things, he introduced a protection period for fish undergoing spawning and forbade using small meshed fishing nets. At the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Union king Sigismund I the Old by forming the Statute of Lithuania declared general protection of wisent, aurochs, beaver, falcon and swan.

All these royal prohibitions were meant to ensure the survival of particular species of animals and plants for the benefit of sovereigns and the Polish state - the preservation of game, edible fish as well as necessary wood. Unfortunately, all the animals were not effectively protected -the last female aurochs was hunted down illegally in 1627.

The development of natural sciences started in the XIX century and led to a greater number of protection postulates whose motives had not only resulted from man's interests. At that time Poland was under the annexation of Prussia, Russia and Austria. Even in that difficult period, in 1868, Cracow scientists successfully managed to introduce protection of marmot and chamois - rare animals occurring in the Polish territory only in the Tatra Mountains. It was the first in the world juristic act in aid of nature conservation which was based on research and implemented for scientific motives. The Tatra Mountains Society was established in 1873 - it was the first organization dealing with nature conservation in Poland. Its limited activities caused by the lack of country's independence lasted until the outbreak of the World War I in 1914. After the end of the World War I and regaining independence by Poland in 1919 the Temporary State Nature Protection Committee was appointed at the Ministry of Religion and Public Enlightenment. In 1925 it was converted into the State Council for Nature Conservation which has been functioning until now. The State Council for Nature Conservation gathered nature lovers, men of culture and science. Its prominent activists were: M.Raciborski, I.G.Pawlikowski, B.Dyakowski, M.Siedlecki, W.Szafer, A.Wodziczko, W.Goetel, M.Limanowski, B.Hryniewiecki, St.Sokolowski et al.

Activites of SCNC included then: preparing legislation in the area of nature conservation, conducting inventory of nature monuments, establishing a basic register of nature monuments both animate and inanimate as well as founding parks and nature reserves. Until Hitler's attack in 1939 and the beginning of the World War II Polish naturalists achieved many successes. The following were founded - over 200 reserves with the area of over 40 000 hectares, a national park in the territory of the BiaÅ‚owie¿a Forest, additionally many single species of animals and plants were taken under protection. Moreover, in 1927 the State Council of Nature Conservation established a social organization - the League of Nature Conservation whose aim was to spread knowledge about nature protection among the society.

On 10 March 1934, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland passed a nature conservation law which was comparatively modern at that time.

World War II, which left its significant imprint on Poland, restricted the development of natural sciences because of the obvious reasons. Directly after the end of WWII Polish naturalists began to be active again, spreading a belief among the society that nature had great value to our country and its protection was responsibility of each single citizen. On 7 April 1949 the Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland passed a new act on nature conservation which in the same way as the former one was characterized by modernity and a progressive approach. The act paid attention to rational development of all the natural resources not only conservation of particular areas or species.
During Communism a list of national parks was extended to 22, many particular animal species were also taken under complete species protection.
In 1980 both an act on nature conservation and act on environment protection were passed. A separate Ministry - namely the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources was established in 1985 to better manage environment-related issues. Many non-governmental organizations dealing with nature protection came into being in the 80s and at the beginning of the 90s following the stream of anti-communist protests and the development of the civic society. Owing to their activity it was possible to create many new protected areas, among the others the expansion of The BiaÅ‚owie¿a National Park by 100% and taking under complete protection new species e.g. wolf and lynx.

The twenty-third National Park - Ujście Warty was established in 2001.

The year 2004 constituted the next breakthrough for nature because then Poland joined the EU and consequently began to set Nature 2000 areas.

Currently the Ministry of Environment deals with nature conservation issues. The State Council of Nature Conservation still constitutes its advisory organ. Due to professionalization of many non-governmental organizations their impact on nature conservation policy is growing.

Below we present institutions and organizations which currently deal with nature conservation in Poland.

INSTITUTIONS / ORGANIZATIONS