Ochrona drzew w procesach inwestycyjnych w miastach – przestrzeganie zasady zrównoważonego rozwoju

Environmental protection is a very important function of the state that has been set forth in the Constitution of Poland. In order to achieve this objective, public administration bodies should be governed by the principle of sustainable development, which implies the necessity of balancing the values that are protected by the law and that are in conflict with one another. In the case of removing trees, we deal with, on the one hand, nature protection and on the other hand – with protection of ownership and freedom of business. The principle of sustainable development cannot result in giving priority to one value at the cost of another one. It should result in such creation and application of law that will allow for preserving and realising both these values completely. The audit conducted by NIK has revealed that in cities trees lose with investments, and that the interests of investors are often regarded as more important than the social interest of nature protection, as a result of which trees are not protected effectively.