Environment in Poland: Issues and Solutions

ISBN-13: 9789401047593 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 192 str.

Maciej Nowicki

Opis

than 6,000 hectares of arable land turn The second half of the twentieth century will pass into history as an epoch that saw great irreversibly into desert (Tolba, 1992). During the last 30 years, human activity acceleration in technological development, the birth of electronics, the first space flights, and has created new deserts in Africa and Asia covering areas as large as Saudi Arabia. evolutionary developments in information sci- ence, transportation and materials technol- Intensive exploitation of the land has led to accelerated erosion of the best soils, and the ogies. Rapid industrial development spurred a significant increase in gross product on process is intensifying in parts of India, China, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Without a global scale. Between 1950 and 1990 the global population doubled, but gross product urgent remedial action these trends could lead to complete impoverishment of these areas in increased fivefold and its value sevenfold (Brown, 1991). the decades ahead (Brown, 1984).

Spis treści

One The Legacy of the Past.- Europe after World War II.- Western Europe.- Central and Eastern Europe.- Environmental pollution in Poland.- Atmospheric pollution.- Water pollution.- Waste management.- Environmental pollution in Upper Silesia.- Other environmentally threatened regions.- Consequences of environmental devastation.- Nature conservation.- Two sustainable development of the polish economy.- At the crossroads.- Sustainable development of the principal economic sectors.- Restructuring of industry.- Reforming the branch structure.- Changes within industrial branches.- Reform of the energy supply system.- Fuels.- Electrical power.- Heat energy.- Energy consumption.- Energy policy for 1990-2010 in Poland.- Eco-agriculture.- Polish agriculture at present.- Intensive farming in Western Europe.- Ecological farming.- The chances for eco-agriculture in Poland.- Improving the transport system.- Urban transport systems.- Long-distance transport.- Three Conservation of nature in the strategy of sustainable development.- Introductory remarks.- Conservation of nature.- The state of Poland’s natural environment.- Nature conservation programme.- Protection of individual plant and animal species.- Ecosystem protection.- Forest management.- The ‘Green Lungs’ of Poland.- Soil conservation.- Preserving the wealth of nature — the basis for sustainable development.- Protection of mineral resources.- Resource exploitation at present.- Programme components.- Air quality protection.- Carbon dioxide.- Methane.- Freons and halons.- Sulphur dioxide.- Nitrogen oxides.- Particulates.- Noise abatement.- Water conservation.- Water supply.- Water pollution and its causes.- Guidelines for water management reform.- Waste management.- The concept of waste.- Municipal waste.- Industrial waste.- Hazardous waste.- Protection from radiation.- Ionizing radiation.- Non-ionizing radiation.- Four Instruments of Sustainable Development Policy.- Reform of environmental law.- Current law.- New package of environmental laws.- Law enforcement.- The State Inspectorate of Environmental Protection.- The inspection system.- The monitoring system.- Economic mechanisms.- The current system for collecting environmental protection funds.- Anticipated changes in the system of economic incentives.- Co-operation with other nations.- Assistance from economically developed countries.- Co-operation with neighbouring countries.- Regional and international co-operation.- Environmental education.- Formal education.- Activities of non-governmental organizations.- The role of science.- Poland at the Brink of the Twenty-First Century.- Appendix: Poland — selected statistical data.