The goal of this type of environment protection is to prevent destruction or degradation of natural values and aesthetic features of the environment on a given area. Their significance as a recreation terrain must also be taken into consideration. It is implemented by creation of landscape parks and protected landscape areas, a common feature of which is their large size, as well as the fact that they are excluded from economic use. The idea of creating separate protected areas was born in western countries. The assumption was that the pressure of various destructive factors was so great that the existing hitherto forms of protection were insufficient.

In Poland the process of official creation of landscape parks began with the creation of two parks: the Suwalski and Wigierski. To this day 102 landscape parks have been created, which occupy, together with their protective zones, over 1.97 million ha. The largest ones are Puszcza Knyszynska Landscape Park which covers 71,000 ha and Orle Gniazda Landscape Park covering almost 60,000 ha.

The least intensive, although important form of protection, are protected landcape areas. On the one hand they are feeding areas (agricultural and forests ecosystems), but on the other they are the most important areas for summer and holiday vacations. 344 protected landscape areas exist at the moment and they occupy 5.8 million ha, that is 18.6% of the territory of Poland.

All the above-mentioned forms of spacial nature protection form a cohesive, although considerably varied, national system of protected areas. This harmonious system which has large biological potential will probably restore the normal spacial ties between existing protective areas, by influencing the character of the water and climate conditions in the whole country, and protect the preserved values of the natural environment.

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