Problems with the experience of biodiversity on the example of selected Polish cities

Abstract

Summary. The work deals with important contemporary issues concerning the sustainable development of cities with the preservation of biodiversity. The article is a review, includes an analysis of the literature on the subject and an assessment of the natural systems of the city of Lublin and Warsaw. The processes of globalization exert an increasingly stronger stigma on the quality of the environment. All its components are contaminated and degraded to the same degree: atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere and biosphere. Never before have so many elements and systems of the environment been subjected to such strong anthropopression that disturbs or destroys the ecological balance. Cities expand, displacing nature. Many species of plants, insects, birds and mammals do quite well at this, but there is also an excessive development of invasive species. It is difficult to reconcile the interests of the city’s development with the needs of nature. Taking into account the rapid expansion of cities, the need for new land for construction and, on the other hand, the strong emphasis on care for biodiversity and the preservation of ecosystems and the related adverse interactions, problems related to the combination of often extreme needs are increasingly being signaled. This work is an attempt to assess the situation in this field based on the analysis of the situation related to biodiversity in two cities: Warsaw and Lublin, as representatives of quite different agglomerations, especially in relation to the population density and the speed of changes dictated by human pressure.