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Fundacja WWF Polska

WWF PL

We protect relic Carpathian Forest, rebuild the population of the lowland lynx in Masuria, prevent pollution of the Baltic Sea, propose a wise and friendly law on forest management and felling of stands, prevent the degradation of Polish rivers are great challenges that we would not be able to do ourselves.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Hannah Neumann (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Jun 2023 · Event on Future of Odra River

Meeting with Virginijus Sinkevičius (Commissioner) and

19 Sept 2022 · To discuss the pollution incident that is currently ongoing along the Oder River

Response to Protecting biodiversity: nature restoration targets

22 Aug 2022

WWF Poland finds the proposal of Nature Restoration Law as very needed initiative beneficial for biodiversity, climate and people. The reverse of biodiversity loss and climate change is crucial for maintenance of ecosystem services, may have a crucial role in reducing risk of heatwaves, droughts and floods, risks for food security and our wellbeing. We therefore call on European Parliament and Council of EU to adopt proposed Regulation without delay and to strengthen it where needed. In our opinion main points that require strengthening are: -Strengthening the governance to ensure that Member States can be held accountable for their contribution to EU-wide overarching objective -Increase the ambition level of area-based restoration targets in Art.4 and Art.5 (restoration of natural habitats) both at level of timing (by when measures need to be implemented) and at level of area to be restored. The biodiversity and climate crises are both urgent and important issues, we have no time to wait. As stated in introduction to the project of NRL (“A range of essential ecosystem services, and the benefits of restoring degraded ecosystems to good condition in all land and sea areas far outweigh the costs of restoration” and “The Sixth IPCC Assessment Report states that restoring ecosystems will be fundamental in helping to combat climate change and also in reducing risks to food security”) the higher level of ambition the higher benefits or more reduced risks. -The marine restoration targets are at risk of being unimplementable and empty in practice as their restoration measures are dependent on ineffective procedures of Common Fisheries Policy for managing destructive fishing impacts. A safeguard mechanism should be added to ensure that Member States’ failure to reach an agreement for a joint recommendation does not undermine implementation of effective restoration targets. Such a mechanism could, among others, set a time limit to joint recommendations process and/or empower Commission to break Member States’ deadlock, if no timely agreement has been reached. -It is needed to set quantified and time-bound targets to remove barriers on rivers. Member States should be required to restore at least 15% of river length (178,000km across EU) into free-flowing rivers until 2030, assure a continuous improvement in reaching target and ensure that target reached do not deteriorate in further years. The requirement to address primarily obsolete barriers reduces scope of the provision and should be deleted. The prioritization of barriers removal should be made at national or river basin level via a case by case assessment, taking into consideration specific purpose of the barrier and ecological benefits of removal, including need to ensure connectivity between marine and freshwater ecosystems. -Target 9(4), there must be a requirement that all drained peatlands should be rewetted, as this is needed for effective restoration, has high importance for reduction of emissions and reaching climate neutrality (eg. emission reductions from agriculture land that could be achieved in Poland by rewetting the drained peatlands was estimated to approx. 19,1 Mt CO2). In addition, restoration targets for peatlands should be increased overall in relation to both timeframes and area. -For most of indicator-based targets to restore agricultural and forest ecosystems (Art.9(2) and Art.10)) there are no quantified, time-bound objectives defined. A clear framework and guidance on minimum requirements for Member States to define these satisfactory levels is needed. -The legislative proposal should include an obligation for Commission to assess existing EU funding support available for nature restoration and explore options to expand these, for example through establishment of dedicated funding for nature restoration, pursuant to mid-term review of Multiannual Financial Framework. A more complete overview of our assessment of legal proposal can be found in attachment.
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Meeting with Mirzha De Manuel (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis) and ClientEarth AISBL and

28 Apr 2022 · Contribution and engagement from CSOs, local authorities and social partners on Polish RRP

Response to Revision of Regulation on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T)

11 Apr 2022

On behalf of Save the Rivers Coalition and Time for the Oder Coalition, in relation to the document ‘Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulation (EU)’, we would like to present our comments to the above said regulation. Our comments are related to the parts of the document that refer to waterways, and which significance the revision of the TEN-T would have for the Oder, Vistula and Elbe rivers. Above all, we request a clear separation in the document between the development of waterway transport on the existing and functioning waterways that form part of TEN-T network of international importance (i.e. with the parameters of navigability class V or not less than IV) from the remaining watercourses, both channels and rivers. It should be determined precisely and specified without any doubt that in the time of climate change, crisis of biodiversity and the objectives adopted in the Water Framework Directive, the extension of inland navigation within the European Union beyond the existing TEN-T network is unacceptable when developing the EU’s transport network. For the same reasons, rivers with natural character – such as the Elbe – must be deleted from TEN-T. Supporting inland cargo navigation at the cost of river ecosystems with high environmental values and of the ecosystem services they provide, while not implementing the law of the European Union at the same time (the Birds Directive, the Habitats Directive, the Water Framework Directive, the SEA Directive) is contrary to the ‘responsible development’ or ‘sustainable transport’ as referred to in the revision of TEN-T. In this context, it is significant that in the case of Poland, the available economic analyses indicate that the construction of waterways will be several times more expensive than an extension of the railroad in Poland to reach standards competitive to road transport. In the case of the extension of waterways, the benefits to the transport network in Poland will be disproportionately small in comparison to the amounts being spent. The correct planning of railway investments would allow freight trains to move with the speed of 60 km/h (current average speed is 27 km/h and even 14 km/h when delays are taken into account), while eliminating the delays that exceed 7–8 hours; the river transport would have no chance of achieving a higher share in transport. A look at the Elbe corridor and the modal split of freight transports shows how important a reasonably functioning rail connection is. Between the Port of Hamburg and the Czech Republic, 80 percent of goods are transported by rail and only 20 percent by truck. Almost nothing is transported on the Elbe itself, one of the reasons being that the river lacks reliable fairway depths. Please find our statement in the attachment TENT_T_Statement_20220411.
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Meeting with Pascal Canfin (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Oct 2020 · Green transition Poland

Meeting with Pascal Canfin (Member of the European Parliament)

2 Jul 2020 · Just Transition