The paper presents the results of an evaluation of the effectiveness of SEA obtained as a result of a survey with the participation of stakeholders. In Poland, several hundred SEAs are conducted annually at the local and regional levels and several at the national level. Although the survey demonstrated that SEA is evaluated as effective or quite effective, the respondents pointed to several irregularities in the non-procedural dimension of effectiveness. The main ones in terms of substantive effectiveness are that SEA is rarely used to help develop plans/programmes and procedures are highly politicised. Moreover, low effectiveness in terms of variant assessment and cumulative impacts and nearly non-existent monitoring of the actual effects of implementing plans/programmes influence substantive effectiveness significantly. The respondents pointed to the problem resulting from the fact that plan-makers are unwilling to take into account the SEA recommended changes. They also emphasised that there are certain attempts to put pressure on SEA consultants to make the conclusions less stringent. Respondents indicate that in Poland the costs associated with conducting SEA often outweigh the profits. The research shows that the society is properly informed about SEA, but public involvement is still low.

Guidelines and instructions for Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment (together referred to as EA here) are developed to improve the quality of legal requirements’ implementation and to support EA procedure accomplishment. However, to date, it has not been checked whether they are useful for practitioners. Therefore, the aim of the study underlying this paper was to verify, based on the experience of Polish EA experts, whether guidelines and instructions are useful in their everyday work. A qualitative study comprising of a questionnaire survey and interviews tested whether (1) EA practitioners know and use the Polish and EU guidelines, (2) how EA practitioners evaluate the validity and usefulness of such instructions, and (3) in which areas there is a lack of instructions and guidelines. The results show a low level of knowledge of national and EU handbooks. Those guidelines focusing on legal procedures, road investments and designing animal passageways are considered to be the most useful. Moreover, practitioners indicate that EU guidelines should be translated into Polish. Most important for practitioners is the linking of guidelines with the EA procedure, so that they can become a platform for dialogue of all stakeholders.

This letter looks at whether important changes introduced to the Polish EIA Act over the last decade (with regard to scoping, cooperation, the rights of the public concerned and non-governmental organisations) have led to simplified EIA as well as to simplified development consent processes. In addition, current draft modifications (the EIA Amendment Draft 2022) are also reviewed with regard to their potential to lead to simplification. It is found that to date, rather than simplifying EIA, amendments have resulted in more complexity and have led to increased uncertainty and risks, in particular for investors.

The aim of the article was to explore pet welfare in Municipal Adaptation Plans (MAPs), based on a literature review and case studies of 40 MAPs accepted in Poland as part of the “Let’s Feel the Climate” project, supported by the Polish Ministry of Environment in 2017–2019. The study summarizes the concept of climate change and the importance of adaptation measures with particular emphasis on urban heat islands and heat stress, acknowledged by climate change literature, and outlines pet welfare in the context of thermal comfort and threats caused by heat stress. Because the authors subsequently presented an empirical study of the 40 accepted MAPs, they also discussed the role and legal nature of MAPs. The main hypothesis of this survey of Polish MAPs was that pet welfare in the context of their thermal comfort is an example of the adaptive measures clearly stipulated in Polish MAPs, which was examined after presenting the MAPs’ findings. The starting point was the assumption that the welfare of pets should also be assessed from the perspective of their thermal comfort – a new element of broadly understood animal welfare. This is due to the fact that pets are exposed to the risk of heat stress resulting from urban heat islands and, just like people, have to endure the inconvenience of extreme weather phenomena, which is impossible without the support of amenities such as drinkers or water shelters and the development of green and blue infrastructure.