Important Plant Areas in Poland

The IPAs identified in Poland. For an
interactive map search the IPA database (right hand column). ©Plantlife International

Text by Zbigniew Mirek

Poland covers an area of over 312,000 km² in Central Europe and has two biogeographical zones: the Continental, which covers most of the country and a small area of the Alpine zone in the Carparthian Mountains of the south.

Poland’s natural and semi-natural habitats consist mainly of several types of forest, mown or grazed grasslands, including small areas of warm, dry, steppe-like grassland, as well as vast areas of swamps and peat bogs. The country also harbours two Centres of Plant Diversity, the Carpathians and the Białowieża Forest. Poland joined the EU in May 2004 and is a member of the Council of Europe.

IPA summary statistics

Total number of IPA: 116
Area of IPA (ha): 2,070,000
No/Area of IPA in Protected Areas (all or part): 97 IPA/2,046,500 (ha)

IPA national team

National coordinating organisation: The W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Krakow, Polish Academy of Sciences

National coordinator: Zbigniew Mirek