The principle of making forests accessible is a special regulation of Polish law. It allows anyone to enter the forest and obtain forest floor products. This solution should be assessed positively. It is of significant value in terms of making environmental resources accessible. However, many existing solutions require rapid and profound changes to the law. The reason for this state of affairs is that the existing regulations date back to the previous political system. They do not properly take into account property rights. It is also necessary to strengthen the relevant procedures.

The subject of the paper is an analysis of the provisions concerning the anti-smog resolution that may be adopted by the provincial assembly on the basis of Article 96 of the Act of 27 April 2001. – Environmental Protection Law, taking into account the practical application of such an act. The text consists of two parts: theoretical and empirical. The first part presents a study of the content of the aforementioned provision, as it raises a number of interpretation doubts that often cause difficulties in the application of the law. The second part discusses Resolution No. V/36/1/2017 of the Silesian Regional Assembly of 7 April 2017 on the introduction in the area of the Silesian Voivodeship of restrictions on the operation of installations in which fuel is burned. Reference was made to data on penalties for violations of the provisions arising from Article 334 of the Environmental Protection Law and, for comparison, Article 191 of the Waste Act by selected municipal and township guard units from the area of the Silesian Voivodeship in the years 2019–2023. The collection of this information and its elaboration served to determine what the effectiveness of the legal measure in question is, which in turn made it possible to identify the reasons for the low effectiveness of the use of the provisions contained in the Resolution.

This article attempts to show the reasoning expressed by administrative courts in their assessments of settled disputes over noise emitted by church bells, installations and sound amplification equipment. Such disputes occur both between parishes and environmental inspectorate authorities, which order noise emissions to be reduced, and between parishes and individuals complaining about the noise. A case was chosen as reflecting the essence of the problem, which is a manifestation of a wider phenomenon. After all, in a dispute of this kind between church and state, it is a matter of protecting the common good, such as compliance with environmental regulations, without infringing on freedom of conscience and religion, which are freedoms and fundamental rights of a personal nature. Addressed in the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 20 December 2022, ref. III OSK 1634/21, the issue of noise caused by church bells has not lost its topicality and has even become extremely present in social and public life. Presenting the essence of the problem and referring to the judicature allows the author to prove the important role of the administrative courts, which guarantee the observance of the law by bodies and entities performing public tasks for the protection of the law. The article also points out the important function for public perception of the uniformity of jurisprudence, which undoubtedly fosters the creation
of a consistent practice in the application of provisions raising interpretative doubts.

The article is devoted to the in situ and ex situ protection of the components of biodiversity under climate change in the light of the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity of June 5, 1992. The text presents the legal basis for the conservation of biological diversity and characterizes the purpose, structure and functioning of the Convention. It also addresses the issue of the importance of protected areas within the framework of in situ and ex situ conservation of components of biodiversity pursuant to articles 8 and 9 of the international agreement under consideration. The text also deals with the relationship between biodiversity and climate change.

The article addresses the issue of the legal entity of elements of the environment, such as rivers or forests. The concept of recognizing them as legal entities is promoted by the so-called “Rights of Nature” movement. Such a solution would mean that the protected element of nature would be treated as an entity with its own, independent right to exist, as well as a “statutory representative”, e.g. in the form of a scientific committee, and its resources would be protected from excessive exploitation. The author therefore considers what changes in the Polish legal system would be required to grant legal entity to creations of nature and whether it would be advisable.

The article presents the issue of the protection of mineral deposits and the new solution implemented, which is the possibility of granting the status of a strategic deposit to whole deposits or only parts thereof. This possibility was introduced by the Act of 16 June 2023 changing the Geological and Mining Law and certain other acts, which has been in force since 28 October 2023. The two main criteria that a mineral deposit should meet are presented, as well as the procedure for issuing a decision by the minister responsible for the environment to determine a mineral deposit or a part thereof as a strategic deposit. An analysis was also made of the consequences of issuing such a decision, which is assumed to increase the legal protection of such a deposit. It was shown that this increased protection consists of six major elements, which are
described in the article.