Social forests will surround 14 largest Polish cities

The country’s government wants to make people remember what a forest actually is

The Polish climate ministry announced plans to create “social forests” around some of the country’s 14 largest cities. The aim of this reforestation effort will be to provide easy greenery access to more than a third of all Polish residents, together with the expected positive climate and environmental impact from the creation of such a large bio-infrastructure.

The social forests in essence will represent green rings surrounding the cities. The metropolises in question are Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia, Wrocław, Łodź, Poznań, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, Toruń, Szczecin, Kielce and Bielsko-Biała. Altogether they are inhabited by 13 million residents, which represents about 36% of the country’s population.

What is a social forest?

The climate ministry used the terms “social forest” or “community forest” when describing the large-scale initiative. However, this raises the question of what a social forest is and how it is different from any other forest.

The officials, represented by deputy climate minister Mikołaj Dorożała, explained that according to Polish law, forests are supposed to perform “economic, environmental and social” functions. And in this modern age, many urban residents have lost touch with the latter two aspects of wild nature.

“The economic function is very much developed,” he said, quoted by Notes from Poland. “The environmental one is largely fulfilled by national parks. As far as the social function is concerned – we have a great deal of room for improvement.”

In that regard, community forests in cities are needed so that urban residents can benefit from them in a multitude of ways. For instance, they would be good locations for people to go mushroom- or berry-picking and cycling. Most importantly, these forests need to exist not just as artificially managed spaces but rather as truly viable organic ecosystems providing an alternative reality to organized urban life.

The completion of work on the new form of forest protection will take place on 31 October 2024. The government is working on implementing the commitment from the coalition agreement, which states that"20% of the most valuable forest areas will be excluded from logging".