Poland failed to properly protect some of the natural habitats and bird species in 2019-2024. The reasons were insufficient and delayed efforts to create and manage Natura 2000 sites. Subsequent places of this kind are being created under the European Union directives. The EU Member States have a maximum of six years (for habitat areas) to adapt them to their law. Poland repeatedly exceeded this deadline which resulted from non-compliance of domestic regulations with EU laws. Also, the areas of conservation were designated in response to charges the European Commission made against Poland, pointing to incompleteness of the Natura 2000 network.
HABITATS DIRECTIVE
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora determines the functioning of the Natura 2000 network, and the regulations contained therein are related, among others, to designating, updating and liquidating areas that are part of the network.
BIRDS DIRECTIVE
Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council* of 2009 on the conservation of wild birds defines the criteria for designating refuges for endangered bird species.
*Council – Council of the European Communities established before the European Union
The NIK audit showed that successive ministers of environment designated nearly 98% of special areas of conservation of habitats with delays ranging from 7 months to nearly 10 years. The delays were mainly caused by the fact that successive ministers of environment failed to submit projects amending national regulations to ensure their consistency with European regulations. That is why, the effective deadlines for the approval of conservation task plans and conservation plans for Natura 2000 habitat and bird sites are still not in line with the requirements of these directives.
The General Director for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ), who supervised the functioning of areas being part of the network, did not make sure (as of 12 November 2024) that the regional directors for environmental protection prepared planning documents for 140 areas. In the audit period, the cost of drafting documents exceeded PLN 11.6 million but finally it will be higher as establishing these documents requires further financial outlays.
At the same time, the directors of maritime offices submitted to the Minister of the Environment draft conservation plans for a total of 11 (out of 28) marine areas of Natura 2000, of which the Minister approved only two in the audit period. That was an aftermath of long-term works on draft ordinances on approving plans for marine areas supervised by the directors of maritime offices. That resulted in serious financial consequences, because after such a long time the documents needed update. The Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia spent nearly PLN 1.4 million extra on that purpose. In turn, the cost of three draft plans of marine area conservation incurred by the Maritime Office in Szczecin reached nearly PLN 800 thousand in 2013. Though, until the end of the NIK audit, the plans were not submitted to the Minister.
NIK considered such conduct as wasteful and recommended that the Minister of Infrastructure and the General Director for Environmental Protection eliminate the situations where additional costs of long-term development of conservation plans and their update need to be incurred.
The planning documents were also missing for the Natura 2000 sites being part of national parks and partially reaching beyond their boundaries. The conservation plan is prepared for each national park. The NIK audit revealed that such documents were developed only after the conservation plan for a given national park was approved. That was usually done with a year-long delay, despite the 6-month deadline. By 20 January 2025, the conservation plans for 10 of 23 national parks were not established. The delays ranged from one month to over 10 years.
NIK made a recommendation to the Minister of Climate and Environment to stop establishing conservation task plans for a Natura 2000 area going beyond the national park boundaries only after the conservation plan for that park has been established.
According to NIK, considering the possibility of obtaining funds as part of the FEnIKS 2021-2027 Programme (European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate, Environment Programme for 2021-2027), it is essential to develop and establish as soon as possible the missing conservation task plans for the Natura 2000 areas in whole or in part covering the area of national parks. Otherwise, the European Commission may start another proceeding against Poland concerning its failure to prepare draft planning documents and to establish them within the deadlines set by the EC.
Since there were no conservation plans or conservation task plans in place, by the end of June 2024 no objectives or protective measures were specified nationwide for 241 Natura 2000 areas, i.e. for more than 25% of sites covered by the network. As a consequence, some habitats were not properly protected for nearly 17 years, whereas in case of special protection areas for birds it was over 20 years.
Also the adopted model of financing tasks related to Natura 2000 areas did not ensure their stability or continuity. Funds for that purpose came mainly from the EU funds and were acquired in cycles of individual financial perspectives so the stream of financing was not ongoing. The problem occurred after the EU projects were completed. The scope of efforts related to the creation, management and supervision of Natura 2000 areas fell significantly as no sources of their financing were planned for that period. At the same time, in each of six audited regional directorates for environmental protection the performance of tasks related to the network was directly determined by the availability of external funds.
Also, the shortage of funds made it impossible to approve all planning documents for protected areas within the network (as of 20 June 2024) and fully protect all Natura 2000 areas subject to the supervision of regional directorates for environmental protection.
No regulations = insufficient protection
Natura 2000 is a European ecological network which has operated in Poland since 2004 under the Nature Conservation Act and two EU directives. As part of the Habitats Directive of 1992 protected areas are designated, updated and liquidated depending on habitat types as well as plant and animal species of priority importance. The Birds Directive of 2009, on the other hand, regulates issues related to special protection of wild birds. Once a site being part of the Natura 2000 network has been approved by the European Union, its Member States have a maximum of six years to designate a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) there and to establish priority conservation measures and objectives.
Natura 2000 network in Poland (data as of the end of June 2024)
1013 protection areas:
- 868 Special Areas of Conservation for Habitats (SACs),
- 145 Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs),
including 10 connected Natura 2000 sites.
The protection areas within the network cover almost 1/5 of the country's land area.
One of the objectives of the Habitats Directive is to prevent degradation and damage of valuable habitats and to eliminate threats for wild fauna and flora. At the same time, in the NIK audit period, successive ministers of environment and general directors for environmental protection assumed that the Natura 2000 network designated before 2019 was generally complete and did not plan its development.
As a result there were no rules for obtaining and using information e.g. from the National Monitoring of the Environment, that would imply that changes to the network were necessary. That is why, the regional directors exercising supervision over Natura 2000 areas were not obliged to implement internal procedures regulating the proposing, changing boundaries, updating or liquidating areas being part of the network. Therefore, the requests to create a new protected area were submitted only after the European Commission filed its formal charges.
According to the General Director for Environmental Protection, in 2019-2023 Poland met nearly all (except three) EU obligations related to the Natura 2000 network. However, in December 2024, the European Commission has re-identified 107 habitats and species, for which the site network being significant for the European Community was insufficient (to a variable degree).
To prevent such cases from occurring the Nature Conservation Act needs to stipulate rules for proposing, changing boundaries, updating or liquidating Natura 2000 areas as well as updating relevant information. The failure to define these rules may have an adverse impact on preservation or restoration of natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora being of the EU’s interest. The Habitats Directive does not indicate that once designated and protected, the network areas are sufficient to maintain the network coherence.
Agricultural and forestry management in Natura 2000 areas
In 2019-2023, in Natura 2000 areas the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (or: the Agency) identified over 1000 cases of conversion of permanent grassland of high natural value by farmers. The permanent grassland is a type of land used to cultivate grasses or other herbaceous forage plants which were not ploughed or covered by crop rotation for at least five years. The conversion identified by the Agency posed a threat to protected habitats and species.
The Agency had relevant information and data at its disposal to develop conservation plans and conservation task plans. The General Director for Environmental Protection and the regional directors did not use the data, though. The lack of knowledge made it impossible to take potential preventive or remedial measures to mitigate the risk of deteriorating condition of habitats or species related to those conversions.
According to NIK the data gathered by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture were essential to exercise comprehensive and reliable supervision over Natura 2000 sites.
The failure to use this information posed a risk that the condition of some habitats or species would deteriorate. The NIK audit revealed such cases. It also showed the absence of supervision or insufficient supervision exercised by regional directorates for environmental protection over Natura 2000 areas located in forest areas.
NIK also points out that conducting business operations in Natura 2000 areas without establishing adequate planning documents entails the risk of, among other things, damaging valuable natural resources. Activities such as clear-cutting (one-off felling of all or almost all trees in a specific area) in valuable habitat areas may lead to long-term, negative ecological consequences which will have impact on the environment protection level in a given area.
Lack of stable financing
The creation and management of Natura 2000 sites were financed primarily from EU funds, which were acquired in cycles of individual financial perspectives. The funds from the state budget mainly secured own contribution needed to obtain these funds. Money for this purpose also came from the budgets of local governments, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and its provincial branches.
Main sources of expenditure in 2019-2024 (until 30 June):
- EU funds – nearly PLN 142 million (67%);
- funds from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and its provincial branches – nearly PLN 46 million (approx. 22%);
- funds from the state budget – nearly PLN 23 million (approx. 11%).
The problem occurred after individual EU projects were completed – the scope of activities related to the creation, management and supervision of Natura 2000 areas decreased significantly at that time, because no sources of financing were planned for that time.
Despite the shortage of money, successive ministers of environment failed to submit information to the European Commission about the estimated amount which the EU should earmark to co-finance the protection of areas of priority importance designated in Poland. That was done in violation of the Nature Conservation Act and despite the government's annual consent to submit a list of changes to Natura 2000 areas to the European Commission.
The General Director for Environmental Protection did not provide calculations to the Ministry. Besides, he did not verify to what extent the EU and domestic funds planned for 2014-2020 were used in the Priority Activity Frameworks for the Natura 2000 network. Although the General Director ensured financing of tasks related to the creation and management of areas being part of the network, the funds were scarce.
Recommendations
In view of the audit findings NIK has made a recommendation for the Minister of Climate and Environment to provide a stable system of financing activities related to the creation, management and supervision of Natura 2000 areas, that would guarantee continuous task performance.
