National park as a legal form of nature protection – analysis of selected issues taking into account the example of the Ojcow National Park

For many years – equally on a global scale, at the European level as well as in Poland – necessary actions have been taken aimed at creating an effective legal framework for nature protection. Nature is protected under international law, European Union law and Polish law. The acts of European law which should be pointed out from the perspective of this article (besides the EU Treaties) are the so-called Birds Directive and Habitats Directive. The Polish Constitution of 2 April 1997 stipulates that the Republic of Poland shall protect the national heritage and ensure environmental protection guided by the principle of sustainable development. In the domestic Polish law, the Act of 16 April 2004 on nature protection constitutes the basic legal act of a statutory rank defining objectives, principles and forms of protection of living and inanimate nature and landscape. The aim of this analysis of selected legal provisions regulating the functioning of national parks in Poland is an attempt to assess whether the existing law effectively protects nature, or whether it is rather a set of demands that are difficult or impossible to implement. This matter is crucial for the existence of such unique areas as the Ojcow National Park. The answer to the question whether the national park – as a form of nature protection – is protected in Poland in an effective way is ambiguous, which is illustrated by numerous examples, several of which are indicated in this article.