Environmental restrictions on agricultural properties located in protected area in the Western Pomeranian Voivodship

Purpose: The aim of the publication is to provide a concise overview of the restrictions on the use of agricultural properties located in protected areas. Design/methodology/approach: As regards protected areas the Central Statistical Office publishes basic information annually in its studies and in the Local Data Bank on the forms of nature protection established in a given area, such as the area and forms and use in general terms for the whole country or by voivodeship, district and sometimes commune. However, it does not provide information on the overlapping of individual forms of nature protection and their spatial distribution, which was necessary in the case of this study. Therefore, an analysis of the spatial distribution and diversity of protected areas in the West Pomeranian Province was carried out using data made available by the General Directorate for Environmental Protection (individual forms of nature protection), the Central Geodetic and Cartographic Documentation Centre (territorial division units of the country), and cadastral data by districts from the Land Parcel Identification System. The study also used data from the Central Register of Nature Protection Forms maintained by the General Directorate for Environmental Protection and the Local Data Bank provided by the Central Statistical Office. Findings: The most restrictive restrictions on the management of agricultural real estate in protected areas occur in the case of the two most important legal forms of nature protection: national parks and nature reserves. With regard to the other forms of nature conservation, these restrictions are not felt as much by property owners. Originality/value: Research on the analysis of specific properties located in protected areas is rare. The authors wanted to show the constraints, difficulties faced by owners of agricultural properties located in environmentally valuable areas.