What picture emerges from this work? Our country is characterised by large environmental contrasts. We have beautiful, relatively well preserved natural areas in comparison with Europe. This is especially true in the case of the European Lowland. It is in our existing lowland national parks (Bialowieski, Kampinoski, Poleski, Roztoczanski and parks located at the seashore) as well as in those now being created (Biebrzanski, Mazurski and Bory Tucholskie National Parks) that the most valuable nature resources can be found in regards to biodiversity. Our national parks located at the mountains are not worse than many European parks. The unregulated middle section of the Vistula river, together with its numerous tributaries, is the pearl of Polish nature, in spite of the pollution of its waters. Nature that has been relatively untransformed is the feature not only of the north-eastern voivodships (the so-called "Green Lungs of Poland") but also the north-western voivodships together with the shore of the Baltic Sea, the south-eastern voivodships and some of the central ones.

At the same time in Poland there are areas that are the most degradated in Europe: Upper Silesia, the Legnicko-Glogowski District, the Karkonoski and Izery Mountains (including Karkonoski National Park with its forest dying due to acid rain). We have 27 areas ecologically endangered, where some indicators of environmental pollution exceed the norms allowable for the life of nature and the human health (MAP – Ecological Hazard Areas). The existence of forests is already threatened in a huge part of Poland.

The discharge of pollutants into the water and air, as well as accumulation of wastes on the surface of the ground have recently decreased consoderably. Besides the reasons of that improvement of the state ofthe environment coming from economic recession being observed in the edn of eighies and beginning of nineties, the major impact for that state has ecological policy of the Monistry of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry supported by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Menagement. The thounsands of environmental investments finansed by the Fund have resulted in dicreasing of number of polluters in comparision to the period of 5 year ago. The same importance have much more efficient mechanisms of environmental inspection and monitoring being developed by the State Inspectorate for the Environmental Protection. Thanks to these mechanisms we can respond faster to the negative results of economic activity and assess its influence to the particular sectors of the environnment.
The list of basic threats still consists of:
– excessive chemical pollution of the environment due to the discharge of pollutants, poisons and fertilizing biogenic elements,
– changes in land use, damaging the structure of nature,
– decrease of biodiversity on genetic, species and ecosystem levels,
– decrease of environment-generating functions of biologically active areas, especially in urbanised and industrialized areas.
An important role in the protection of the environment is played by individual, local-government and social initiatives.The stimulation of those initiatives by environmental education is already visible. In the recent years we can find a lot of examples bearing out the relationships between sounds information on the environment with the active ecological education and increase of people's awareness on the changes taking place in nature and on the role of each individual in forming our environment. Without the increase of that awareness all efforts of environment protection administration and ecological movements will be spoiled by people's unconcern.

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