DIFFERENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE LEVELS IN THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS OF THE WIELKOPOLSKIE VOIVODESHIP

The purpose of this paper is to assess the leveland spatial differentiation of selected environmental governanceparameters in the context of implementing the sustainabledevelopment concept in rural areas of the Wielkopolskievoivodeship districts in 2005 and 2015. The research procedurewas made up of three steps: review of the relevant literatureand selection of indicators to describe the environmentalgovernance topics; analyzing the changes in, and spatial differentiationof, specific environmental governance components;and ranking the districts. The basic source of data wasthe online database delivered by the Central Statistical Officein Warsaw, the Local Data Bank. As shown by the results,there is considerable spatial differentiation of specific environmentalgovernance components; however, when analyzedglobally, environmental governance proves to be a relativelynon-diversified process. In 2015, the highest sustainabilitylevels were recorded in rural areas of the following districts:Złotów, Kępno and Jarocin. In turn, the lowest levels werefound in Września, Wągrowiec and Śrem districts.