Evaluation of the Environmental Pressure of Economic Activityin Communities of the Poznań Agglomeration

Abstract

Human economic activity aff ects the quantity and quality of available resources, environmental values and ecosystem services as well. Th e article aims to identify and evaluate the nature and scale of the negative impacts of economic activity on the natural environment in the municipalities of the Poznan City Agglomeration. As the starting point the concept of ecosystem services was taken. At the beginning the state of research on this issue and a review of key literature was considered. Th en an analysis of the impact of the economic system on the natural environment in terms of spatial diversity of form and intensity of the pressure was made. Th e study included 17 district municipalities and the City of Poznan. Th e result confi rmed the assumed hypothesis of a non-uniform spatial distribution of the intensity of the pressure. Th e authors distinguished the components of the environment particularly vulnerable to the pressures of economic activity as well. Th e regularity that occurs in terms of the scale of the pressure exerted depending on the structure of the local economy (the largest entities) is also demonstrated.