This paper presents a simplified method of assessing the impact of a motorway under construction on arable lands. The developed method makes it possible to determine all the losses connected with, the impact of a motorway. The basis for the determination of the studied losses involves an analysis of variations in land use, soil quality classes and in the layout of agricultural roads along the axis of the designed motorway. It is assumed that land value is a measure of the multilateral impact of motorway on arable lands. The specificity of this value lies in the fact that while determining it, only the variation in the utility for agricultural production is assessed. Therefore, it is a measure to assess arable land utility for agricultural production. Thus, this assumed measure of the motorway impact is not a market value. The estimated land value will be close to its market value only in typical agricultural regions where the key parameter to shape the land price is the production potential of such lands. The presented method of assessing the motorway impact on arable land is exemplified by a section of the A-4 motorway. This section is about 14 km long and runs between two towns, Brzozówka and Nowa Jastrząbka. One kilometre of the constructed motorway will result in a decrease in the arable land value by 1154 corn units. The value of arable land will decrease by around 80% in total owing to the acquisition of lands for the construction of the motorway and the toxic impact of the motorway on soils. The remaining 20% of losses in the land value result from the increase in traffic and from the deteriorated spatial arrangement of plots.

Lublin Province is an important agricultural region in eastern Poland owing to the occurrence of fertile soils and the natural environment, which creates the specific conditions for the development of agriculture. The dense network of loess gullies and the common occurrence of steep slopes is a particular challenge for rational spatial management. This study investigated 35 rural districts in loess-covered areas in Lublin Province. An attempt was made to assess the correlation of the selected components of the environment: coverage by loess soils, gullies, areas of specific slopes and the socioeconomic development of the rural districts. The indicators analysed included: forest cover, land use cover, size of agricultural holdings and economic indicators of agriculture. The conducted studies showed the impact of selected natural factors on indexes related to the agriculture of studied rural districts. In the case of loess areas, the density of gullies plays the most important role.

The aim of the paper is to analyse relations of the perception of landscape and landscape planning in rural areas. Attention was paid to the European Landscape Convention, national and regional strategic documents, planning studies and landscape programs, to analyse references to landscape planning. In the empirical part of the work, the results of a survey carried out among students of two faculties of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (Geography and Tourism and Recreation) are presented. The survey was conducted in 2011 and concerned the perception of the landscape of the Lublin region a rural area of great natural, cultural and landscape potential. In addition, the author indicated some possible applications of research on the perception of landscape for landscape planning, especially in rural areas.

Soil-agricultural maps on a scale of 1: 5,000, drafted in analogue technology in the 1960s, constitute a highly-regarded source of data on soil conditions. Pursuant to the Council of Ministers' ordinance of October 3, 2011 on the types of thematic and special cartographic studies (Official Journal No. 2011.222.1328), the soil-agricultural maps are meant to constitute thematic digital studies that will be a part of the spatial information infrastructure. This work presents the substantive problems faced by the digitization of the soil-agricultural maps, which follow from, inter alia, changes in the manner of use or melioration works. The research was carried out in certain areas of Poland, where the currency of the soil-agricultural maps was tested. In addition, the content was compared to valuation class borders recorded in the database of the register of lands and buildings. The results of the research indicate certain important issues. First of all, the currency of the manner of use, as well as the lack of necessary updates to the soil-agricultural maps of areas subject to melioration or reclamation works. The second problem is the quality and clarity of the maps, which are sometimes very poor. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the valuation class borders, recorded in the database of the register of lands and buildings, for the purposes of digitization of the soil-agricultural maps.

The rural landscape is characterized by considerable diversity in terms of natural conditions and socio-economic indicators. The Polish systemic transformation and subsequent membership in the European Union has had a great influence on the current functional and spatial structure of the rural landscape. The past decade has brought about a significant increase in the number of ecological and agritourist farms which, apart from transforming construction development and infrastructure (new roads, production lines), have also left their mark on the landscape. The social and economic changes occurring in the Pomeranian villages have also been reflected in changes in the functional and spatial structure of the landscape. Agriculture and forestry play an important role in the lives of rural communities in Pomerania and are the basis for natural resource management and development of the rural landscape. In this paper, the structure of the rural landscape is analyzed primarily in the context of multifunctional and sustainable rural development, whose main purpose is to improve the living conditions of rural residents by developing forms of multifaceted social, economic (mainly non-agricultural), and cultural activities.

Co-operative banks are the oldest form of banking in Poland. These institutions function mainly in rural areas and are strongly connected with the people who live there. The main activity of co-operative banks is to provide agriculture, small enterprises and the local government with financial services. Since Poland joined the EU, these banks have done much to change the functioning of the agricultural sector and improve the situation in rural areas, e.g. they created centres for European Union consulting, started cooperating with self-governments and centres of agricultural consulting and the government agencies responsible for supporting the development of rural areas. In recent years, co-operative banks have also shown great activity in attracting and serving a growing clientele of medium enterprises. Moreover, with almost 5 thousand bank service centres nation-wide, co-operative banks now employ over 32 thousand workers. Thanks to their long-term tradition and knowledge of the local community in financial services, co-operative banks have a great awareness of the needs in local financial markets. Currently, they are considered to be reliable, safe and solvent with little exposure to financial crises. With regard to the indigenous character of the capital and a statutory limitation on the area of operation of co-operative banks to the borders of particular districts, the profits these banks make are not transferred outside, but are re-invested giving rural areas a greater chance of development. Co-operative banks are allowed to allocate some of their profits to support local schools, fire brigades, charities, cultural and sports activities in order to be prominent among local communities. These well-established institutions have become very modernized and they now have a wider and more attractive offer of services, allowing them to compete with commercial banks.

Sustainable and environmentally-friendly tourism can provide stable foundations for the development of rural areas with poor transportation links, poorlydeveloped tourist infrastructure, insufficient marketing and promotion and no integrated tourist products. Forms of land use associated with the natural values of the tourist space and of those creating potential for development of tourist infrastructure account for approx. 40% of the area of the Kozłowo commune. There are few forests in the rural areas of the commune and it has no outstanding tourist value, but the vicinity of other attractive areas of Warmia and Mazury, as well as the presence of Lakes Kownatka and Szkotowskie can help it to develop its own tourist infrastructure. The development of tourism in the commune requires adopting relevant planning assumptions and a sustainable development programme, taking into account the close association of rural area development with the natural environment. In effect, such actions should contribute to social development and its stimulation in the rural areas of the commune.

This paper presents issues related to the promotion of environmentallyfriendly activities and projects carried out by residents of the urban and rural municipalities of Strzelin, financed by the municipality in accordance with paragraph 403 of the Environmental Protection Law. The types of investments and projects that are funded from the municipal budget are characterized along with the amount which is earmarked in the budget for this purpose and the breakdown between the various types of projects. The conditions which must be met by a person applying for a grant are presented along with a substantive and formal assessment of their applications. It also analyses funding expenditure on environmental tasks performed in the municipality of Strzelin in 2011, broken down by country and town. Also included is a resolution regarding disputed provisions of the Town Council of Strzelin on the financing of environmental protection and water management in the town and community of Strzelin which should be clarified.

This article presents the results of an analysis of the 16 environmental monitoring networks in Poland, which were operating during the years 2000-2009 within communes with a particular focus on the rural areas. The original data completeness indices were calculated for each network and in total. The results show that the development of environmental monitoring in rural communes is much weaker than in cities, especially in the scope of air quality and traffic noise. Outside the cities, the monitoring of waters, as well as the health condition of forests is being realized most fully. Considering the spatial distribution, the environmental monitoring of rural areas is run the most successfully in Pomerania, Lower Silesia and Łódź voivodeships, while it is the least successful in eastern Poland, especially in the Masovia voivodeship. Environmental monitoring was particularly applied in the areas endangered by industry, the national border areas and those with especially valuable natural values.

This article discusses spatial aspects of the results of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) measures intended to improve the natural environment, viz.: Support for agricultural activity in less-favoured areas (LFA), Support for agri-environmental ventures, and land afforestation. The basis of the spatial analysis was the number of applications granted as a percent of the total number of agricultural holdings and the amount of funds obtained per ha agricultural land, which made it possible to construct a synthetic indicator of fund absorption and to distinguish structural types. The use of EU means intended to improve the natural environment differs widely in spatial terms and is highly significant for physical planning in agriculture, especially in protected areas.

This paper presents an evaluation of landscape transformation resulting from tourist-recreational functional development, as based on an analysis of literature and own observations. The existing spatial assets have a direct influence on tourist development. The universal components are the accommodation and gastronomy (food and shelter) available in the area and transportation. The coastal regions have beaches, ferry and cruise ship infrastructure and marinas. Heritage, adventure and rural tourism, if developed in a balanced way, allow for the preservation of landscape assets. The most valuable, from an ecological and social point of view, are actions leading to the re-cultivation and revitalization of the tourism and recreation development of degraded areas.

This paper analyses areas of conflict between the practice of modern agriculture and the preservation, protection and the variety management of agro-ecosystems and landscapes. The development of modern agriculture in modern times, especially accompanied by agricultural engineering, chemicalization and production specialization, has caused negative transformations in the geographical, natural and cultural environment. These transformations have often caused the irreversible degradation of landscape elements. The policy of environment protection especially concerns areas which are particularly ecologically sensitive. However, this policy should concern agriculture on a broader scale, which is a spatially dominant form of soil utilization which generates many threats to biological and landscape diversity. It is necessary to develop forms of agricultural farming which are capable of maintaining a considerable wealth of fauna and flora and limit threats or introduce new active ways of stimulating the preservation of the natural environment and the landscape in an intact state. Biodiversity reduction and landscape degradation are especially visible in rural areas, which currently cover more than 90% of the territory in Poland.

Forests play a key role in the rural area landscape. One of the types of information which determines their social function are local names (geographical names, toponyms). The research was focused on forest toponyms the names of forest areas and objects related to forest management. The aim was to choose several sets of spatial data (topographic maps, tourist maps, forest maps and the State Register of Geographical Names) and then to compare them in terms of the number of forest toponyms they contain. The study area covers three forest districts (Daleszyce, Write, Tuchola) located in different parts of Poland. In total, more than 120 toponyms were found, which were divided into 8 categories. It was found that the compared sets of data are diverse both in terms of the number and categories of presented forest toponyms. Generally, good tourist maps, despite their smaller scale, include a slightly larger number of such names than modern topographical maps.

The quality of the natural environment in Poland, in comparison with other European countries, can be characterized as relatively high. This affects the fact that, in Poland, there are a number of areas of great natural beauty, a relatively small area of degraded soils and a traditional rural landscape. Therefore, the direct expenditures on environmental protection in the past have been minimized. However, escalating anthropogenic pressures have led to disturbing changes in the environment. This is primarily the result of socio-economic development and uncontrolled consumerism uncorrelated with environmental awareness. Implementation of the objectives of environmental protection, therefore, requires incurring specific, sometimes very high volumes, especially in rural areas. This article presents the changes in the level of investment in the rural environment based on the example of Warmia and Mazury and an indication of the main tangible results of these activities. A data analysis shows that the rural areas of Warmia and Mazury have observed high investment growth in fixed assets in environmental protection, resulting in increases in tangible effects, especially in sewage treatment plants and the sewage network.

Appropriate use of space helps to develop investments and the entire region more intensively. To determine the best use for land, its suitability for tourist purposes must be estimated. Land should have a variety of natural and cultural values, which together form the tourist attractions. The valorisation of nature examines elements of the landscape created by nature, while cultural valorisation analyses elements of the historical and cultural heritage. The aim of this paper was to carry out a natural and cultural valorisation of the municipality of Reszel for tourism development and to identify the best forms of tourism. In addition, a landscape evaluation with the experience curve method is presented. As a result, the municipality Reszel was divided into areas of variable suitability for tourism. Based on this research, places with tourism potential were selected and the route of a sightseeing path was proposed.

The economic growth, its quality and other characteristics depend not only on economical capacity of the country, but also on the clearly formulated economical development tasks and expected results. The aim of the research was to convey and compare the tasks and expected results of the process of rural areas development in Lithuania and Poland, in accordance with the rural areas development conceptions and historical context of the development of European Union, as well as Lithuanian and Polish legislation. Most of the discussions are in the form of a scientific debate. The main directions of the agriculture and rural development in Lithuania and Poland are presented as the results of the research.