The aim of the article is to discuss and assess the diversification of renewable energy sources consumption in European Union member states. The time scope covers 2005 and 2015. The data comes from Eurostat. The analysis was based on synthetic indicators – using a non-standard method. Synthetic indicators were assessed based on three simple features such as: the share of renewable energy in energy consumption in 2015, the difference between the share of renewable energy in energy consumption in 2015 and in 2005 (in percentage points), deficit/surplus in the 2020 target reached in 2015 (in percentage points). The European Union member states were divided into four diversified group in terms of renewable energy sources consumption (first class – a very high level, second class – quite a high level, third class – quite a low level, fourth class – a very low level). Then the divided groups were analyzed according to the share of renewable energy sources in the primary production of renewable energy and the consumption of individual renewable energy sources. During the research period renewable energy consumption increased in the European Union, but individual member states are characterized by a diverse situation. The type of energy used depends largely on national resources. The countries of Northern Europe are characterized by a greater share of renewable energy sources in consumption. Biomass is the most popular renewable source of energy in the European Union. Depending on the conditions of individual countries – it is agricultural and forest biomass.

In view of the world’s recent changes in the mineral market, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure the sustainable and secure supply of raw materials, both within the European Union and in other high-developed countries. In response to this global challenge, as part of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Program for Research & Innovation, the 36-month INTRAW project was launched in February 2015 to foster international cooperation on raw materials. The EU-funded INTRAW project was set up to map and develop new cooperation opportunities related to raw materials between the EU and other technologically advanced countries, such as: Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United States. The first stage of the project was a review of conditions for the stable supply of raw materials from primary and secondary sources in selected countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Japan. The results of the work are two groups of comprehensive reports. The first of these is a broad contextual analysis of geological, environmental, political, technical -economic and social factors conducive to the effective management of mineral resources. The second group is operational reports, carried out in three thematic blocks: industry and trade, research and innovation, education. The analysis clearly shows that the basis for effective action in this area is a stable political, economic and institutional environment, which is friendly to mining and new entities wishing to invest in modern technologies, the exploration and exploitation of deposits. Investors are encouraged by tax regulations, sometimes also by direct government financial support and efficient licensing procedures. The well-defined protection of property rights, also for deposits is equally important. Selected aspects of a wide analysis of determinants of competitiveness for these countries were presented in the article below.

For much of the last two decades, the Central and East European (CEE) economies have experienced a deep structural reform, moving away from a socialist economic system towards a market economy. The political situation of the second half of the 20th century had a significant impact on the economic development and competitiveness of these transition countries, when compared with their Western European counterparts. A vast number of studies have been conducted to analyze the structural changes required for resource-dependent economies to achieve long-term development and to understand the synergies between commodities and diversification. Yet, the dynamics of resource extraction and the resource dependence of regions that have experienced periods of sustained levels of growth have largely been overlooked, especially the Central and Eastern European region. In this context, this article presents an analysis of the level of resource dependence of six countries which joined the European Union between 2004 and 2007. Using data spanning from the year 2000 to 2017, we calculate the Extractives Dependence Index (EDI) of six former Soviet satellite nations and one former Soviet state. Our results indicate that the commodity structure of trade in the six countries which joined the European Union has changed considerably. These countries have reduced their economic dependence on extractive resources by developing their high value-added and technology-intensive sectors. Our findings also reveal that Poland experienced the highest decrease in EDI scores among the six CEE countries.

This work aims to comprehensively describe the current state of the concept of green infrastructure. It is thus meant to fill in a gap in Polish literature as no comprehensive works concerning green infrastructure have been published in our country even though we have witnessed several such works in other places in the world. The book is mostly addressed to urban planners, spatial planners and landscape architects and it focuses on issues related to developing strategies or green nalyzingture network designs. It is difficult to establish when (and by whom) the term “green infrastructure” was actually coined. The performed literature search indicates that various authors attribute its beginnings to different publications. There is, however, much more consensus regarding the origins of the idea of green infrastructure. Among the concepts regarded as the bases for the notion of green infrastructure we can discern two principal ones: the concept of ecological networks and the concept of greenways (in the US). In Poland, such concepts included the Ecological System of Protected Areas (in Polish: Ekologiczny System Obszarów Chronionych) and System of Open Spaces (in Polish: System terenów otwartych). There is some disagreement regarding the origins of green infrastructure in cities. Analysis of defi nitions of green infrastructure seen in both scientific publications as well as guides and formal documents leads to a single conclusion – we should accept the diversity of interpretations and approaches. A similar diversity in approaches can also be found when looking at the presented typologies. By analyzing the rationale behind the typologies, we can discern three major criteria used by the authors: land cover, land use and ecological value, which is usually associated with formal protection of specifi c areas. The principles of green infrastructure development can be divided into planning-related (multi-functionality, connectivity, multi-scale approach, multi-object approach, cost-effective approach) and governance-related (strategic approach, integration, social inclusion, transdisciplinarity, stakeholder inclusion).

Green infrastructure provides people with a multitude of more or less measurable benefits. For the last several years they have been identified and quantified using a concept of ecosystem services. These services are always provided in certain confi gurations, which means that it is only possible to obtain the benefits if the services generating those benefi ts are not contradictory to each other. For several years now, the European Commission has been conducting research on the scope, possibilities and methods of implementing the concept of green infrastructure in the member states. However, the EU’s offi cial position on this subject was declared only in 2013 via Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Green Infrastructure (GI) — Enhancing Europe’s Natural Capital.

In both EU member states and the United States, non-governmental organizations are the main advocates of the concept of green infrastructure. They have been recently joined by governmental and self-government agencies. The case studies of already developed strategies and designs of the concept of green infrastructure presented in this book illustrate a great diversity of approaches. It is particularly noticeable in the way of identifying specific components and principles of planning and implementation of green infrastructure networks. These differences come mainly from the varying scale of development, adopted interpretations of the notion of green infrastructure as well as specifi c natural, social and sometimes economic conditions in particular areas. Based on the knowledge and experience gathered from the analysis of those cases, we can point out the following problems that Polish planners need to face in order to develop and implement green infrastructure for Polish rural communes, cities and regions:

• good selection of the formula and defi nition of green infrastructure that is appropriate for the scale, specifi c conditions of the area, needs of the inhabitants and ambitions of the authorities;

• good identification of areas with potential for green infrastructure development that is appropriate for the scale and problems of a specific area (city, village, region)

• identification of the scope and degree of confl ict between ecosystem services provided by individual components of green infrastructure;

• development of a spatial concept that includes the problem of the inherent conflict between the expected benefits (especially regulation and maintenance versus cultural) coming from individual components of green infrastructure;

• proposal of appropriate instruments for implementing the concept and resolving the problem of its coexistence with other concepts of shaping the ecological structure of cities, rural communes and regions in Poland.

Summing up, the concept of green infrastructure can be viewed as the ultimate synthesis of all former ideas dealing with the development of ecological structure of cities, open landscapes and regions. In most European countries, apart from Great Britain, the concept of green infrastructure is currently in its implementation phase. Therefore, its true – not paper – history is about to begin and it will probably look diff erent in every country. It will be aff ected by various traditions of development planning, the already developed concepts, degree of involvement of the authorities and – probably above all – the will of those that expect quantifiable benefits from green infrastructure.

Biodiversity conservation cannot operate in Central Eastern European countries without a well-established monitoring system, that is dependent on the citizen scientists input. Here we analyse, based on a Polish case: (1) The contribution of NGOs to the national nature monitoring scheme and their collaboration with governmental and scientific institutions and (2) the motivation of citizen scientists to volunteer for NGOs’ monitoring activities. The study comprises a focus group interview, 30 in-depth interviews with coordinators, citizen scientists, experts and a 23 days long participant observation of a model NGO. We have assessed the monitoring input of NGOs as being a contributory factor influencing the biodiversity conservation effectiveness. The cooperation between governmental, scientific institutions and NGOs exists, but is dependent on national funding. Although NGOs highlight the lack of coherence in monitoring methodology, they are willing to join the biodiversity monitoring, especially at the European Ecological Network – Natura 2000 sites. On the other hand the trust concerning cooperation with citizen scientists is limited. However, despite this, they still turned out to be trustworthy partners. The most effective way to maintain cooperation with citizen scientists is to create a bond in a group and to provide them with the opportunity to develop their passion for nature. Our findings have shed light on the growing importance of citizen scientists in biodiversity governance, providing recommendations for development of the effective monitoring schemes based on the volunteer work of citizen scientists.

This article deals with the issue of home-country receptivity towards social remittances from the pro-fessional diaspora. Social remittances from the highly skilled depend on a favourable context for knowledge and skills transfer in their home countries, a context that could be summarised by the term ‘country receptivity’. This article is based on the case of Lithuania. The data comes from a series of semi-structured interviews with members of the skilled diaspora and representatives of institutions that are involved in programmes targeted at the diaspora. The analysis reveals several groups of obstacles to successful knowledge and skills transfer that may be understood as issues of country receptivity: mistrust of government by diaspora members, expressed as a belief that it is not interested in results and thus involvement of the diaspora, but rather in pursuing particular political objectives; lack of openness towards other experiences (unwillingness of institutions at different levels and in various fields to open up to new opinions, approaches and experiences brought by Lithuanians from abroad); bureaucratic and institutional impediments (inability of institutions to adapt their procedures in the interests of co-operation; slowness and ineffectiveness when dealing with requests or reacting to initiatives from the diaspora); and a perceived negative opinion (unwelcoming attitude) in society towards Lithuanians from abroad. The interviews also provide some tentative evidence of a ‘feedback loop’, through which the involvement of the diaspora causes changes in the home-country institutions. In the discussion part of the article, possible causes and implications of these obstacles are considered.

The aim of this article is to analyze both the motivations of foreign scholars to come to work in Poland – specifically Kraków – and their ways of adapting to this significant Polish academic center. Most studies on highly skilled migrants (HSMs) concentrate on the flows between developing and highly developed countries. We concentrate on Central and Eastern Europe. This paper, based on in-depth interviews with 23 foreign scholars working full-time at four universities in Kraków, is a follow-up to a study presenting a 2015 analysis of websites of universities from Kraków. We look closely at barriers to and facilitators of foreign scholars’ adaptation to Poland and their perceived image of Poland and Polishness, their national identification and international contacts. We propose a typology comprised of “cosmopolitans”, “status seekers”, “enthusiasts”, and “commuters”. Our investigations reveal who decides to move to a semi-peripheral country such as Poland, and why. Certain parts of the narratives can be used in building a strategy of attracting more international scholars to academic centers such as Kraków.

Father Marceli Dziurzyński (1861–1945) was a noted publisher and editor of a number of magazines, mainly for the country people. The most successful of them was Nowy Dzwonek (The New Hand Bell) that appeared continually from 1892, under altered names and at various intervals, until 1932. This article surveys the first phase of its history and its thematic range (religion, Polish history, current events in Poland and abroad, stories and poems). In that period the magazine also carried a number of supplements.

States and individuals are the essential building blocks of international law. Normally, their identity seems to be solidly established. However, modern international law is widely permeated by the notion of freedom from natural or societal constraints. This notion, embodied for individuals in the concept of human rights, has enabled human beings to overcome most of the traditional ties of dependency and being subjected to dominant social powers. Beyond that, even the natural specificity of a human as determined by birth and gender is being widely challenged. The law has made far-going concessions to this pressure. The right to leave one’s own country, including renouncing one’s original nationality, epitomizes the struggle for individual freedom. On the other hand, States generally do not act as oppressive powers but provide comprehensive protection to their nationals. Stateless persons live in a status of precarious insecurity. All efforts should be supported which are aimed at doing away with statelessness or non-recognition as a human person through the refusal to issue identity documents.

Disputes about the collective identity of States also contain two different aspects. On the one hand, disin tegrative tendencies manifest themselves through demands for separate statehood by min ority groups. Such secession movements, as currently reflected above all in the Spanish provin ce of Catalonia, have no basis in in ternational law except for situations where a group suffers grave structural discrimin ation (remedial secession). As the common homeland of its citizens, every State also has the right to take care of its sociological identity. Many controversies focus on the distin ction between citizens and aliens. This distin ction is well rooted in domestic and in ternational law. Changes in that regard cannot be made lightly. At the universal level, international law has not given birth to a right to be granted asylum. At the regional level, the European Union has put in to force an extremely generous system that provides a right of asylum not only to persons persecuted in dividually, but also affords “subsidiary protection” to persons in danger of bein g harmed by military hostilities. It is open to doubt whether the EU in stitutions have the competence to assign quotas of refugees to in dividual Member States. The relevant judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 6 September 2017 was hasty and avoided the core issue: the compatibility of such decisions with the guarantee of national identity established under Article 4(2) of the EU Treaty.