EXCLUDING LAND FROM FOREST PRODUCTION IN POLAND IN 2003-2012

Although growing economies and cities need new areas for development, the construction of social and business infrastructure often leads to land deforestation. The aim of the study is to determine whether the legal regulations in Poland sufficiently protect forests against exclusion from forest production. This study used statistical and analytical methods to investigate the dynamics of land exclusion from provincial forest production in 2003-2012. The results of the analysis of spatial changes were compared to the legal limitations [3]. The main question addressed in the article is whether the law sufficiently protects forests against land conversion. An analysis of the area and trends in excluding land from forest production found that the land conversion trend varies throughout Poland. This results from different economic development opportunities in individual regions, for example, the presence of mineral deposits. Legal and economic limitations concerning the exclusion of forest land from production, including fees, do not pose significant obstacles to land conversion, as reflected by the growth rate of the area excluded from forest production. One of such examples is the conversion of land designated for mining purposes. Although there is no special act to exclude the protection of land used in forest production, the area of excluded land is growing.