National Parks—Areas of Economic Development or Stagnation? Evidence from Poland

Bernadetta Zawilińska, Patrycja Brańka, Karol Majewski and Marcin Semczuk
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Bernadetta Zawilińska: Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Faculty of Economy and Public Administration, Cracow University of Economics, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Cracow, Poland
Patrycja Brańka: Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Faculty of Economy and Public Administration, Cracow University of Economics, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Cracow, Poland
Karol Majewski: Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Faculty of Economy and Public Administration, Cracow University of Economics, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Cracow, Poland
Marcin Semczuk: Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Faculty of Economy and Public Administration, Cracow University of Economics, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Cracow, Poland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-24

Abstract: An increasingly popular approach to protected areas as places that should combine natural and socioeconomic goals, poses questions regarding the effects of achieving such goals, particularly in the context of generating local economic benefits. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) determining the level and diversity of the socioeconomic development of communes with national parks as compared with neighboring communes that are not protected because of national parks (treating them as a point of reference for comparisons), and (2) presenting the level of tourism development in communes with national parks as compared with neighboring areas and other components of socioeconomic development. The achievement of the research objectives is based on the use of 28 indicators which, following the standardization process, allow for constructing a synthetic index (Composite Development Index-CDI) that shows development disparities in the two analyzed groups of communes. The results indicate that communes with national parks are characterized by a slightly higher level of general development as compared with other communes and a considerably higher level of tourism development. However, it should be noted that the adopted indicators differ considerably in both groups of communes.

Keywords: national park; local economic development; conservation and development; paradigm shift; composite development index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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