Natura 2000 in the Opinion of Local Entrepreneurs Operating in the Green Lungs of Poland Region

Abstract

The Natura 2000 network constitutes an elementary form of the protection of natural resources, together with national parks, landscape parks and reserves. However, the implementation of this system has revealed some formal limitations to the development of non-agricultural economic activity although it certainly should be seen also as the source of potential benefits. The presentation of assessments and opinions on Natura 2000 formulated by local entrepreneurs operating in the Green Lungs of Poland region can be treated as an introduction to the discussion on the network’s role in the functioning of rural economy. The main aim of a survey that helped collect these opinions was to establish how well the notion Natura 2000 was known to entrepreneurs, and to learn what they thought about the potential advantages and threats posed by the influence of the Natura 2000 network on the development of communes, on the life of rural communities and non-agricultural economic activity.