Podkarpackie Province lies in south-west Poland and borders on Ukraine and Slovakia. Natural environment and favourable climatic and soil conditions in the region are very favourable to the development of ecological agriculture. >>

The motto “Create and Care” of the Polish exhibition at EXPO 2008 has been the guideline of many organisations (i.e. factories, business companies, financial institutions, research centres, local government authorities) in this country taking an innovative approach in their operations with the view of challenging growing market competition and attaching at the same time major importance to protecting the natural environment against any potential adverse effects of their businesses. >>

“Polish Market” spoke with Przemysław Gonera, PhD, Chairman of the Council of Presidents of Regional Funds for Environmental Protection and Water Management. >>

The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is the largest institution in Poland providing funding for environmental protection projects from national and foreign sources. The Fund’s activity over the past 19 years looks impressive: it provided funding for nearly 14,000 projects to the tune of over PLN18.7 billion (around USD8.5 billion). The total cost of environmental projects partially financed by the Fund reached PLN65 billion (around USD29.5 billion). >>

Grupa Lotos is a modern, professionally-run enterprise where environment protection is a top priority and a key factor in the company’s socially-oriented business strategy. Consequently, management at Lotos use only environment-friendly technologies on projects. Such technologies are less pollutive and highly effective. >>

The Police Chemical Works (Zakłady Chemiczne „POLICE” SA) is one of the largest chemical plants in Poland. Police is also a good example of how a large company can profit from investment in modern ecology. >>

Compared with other European countries Poland’s water resources are small and depend largely on rainfall which has been insufficient for many years. The effect is a noticeable drop of the water table and intensification of such extreme phenomena as drought and flooding. A cure could be water storage in the natural environment, otherwise called “small retention”, in which State Forests are the leading organisation. >>

Environmentally minded coal mine By taking environmental protection measures, Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka SA, the company that operates the Bogdanka coal mine in eastern Poland, tries to pursue sustainable development, which is strongly emphasised in Poland’s environmental policy. >>