1. INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGION The province of Lower Silesia is a melting pot of cities with district rights and 169 communities were various cultures, traditions, and customs, the region established within its area. with thousand years of history. At the map of Poland The province is inhabited by 2.879 million people the location of the province of Lower Silesia is with the density of 145 people per 1 square kilometre exceptional – at the intersection of three borders: which constitutes 8.2% of the Polish population in Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. The advantages total. 70.9% of the population live in towns and cities. of such location are numerous, among others, fair The province of Lower Silesia is recognisable with chances for direct access to the market – nationwide its diverse landscape and varied physical composition and abroad or relatively large concentration of foreign of the terrain. It results from the fact that several investments. Additionally, by establishment of euro geographical regions – varying one from another – are regions numerous cross-border operations are located at its area: Œl¹sko-£u¿ycka Lowlands (in the stimulated. Consequently, the province of Lower Silesia northern west), Œrodkowopolska Lowlands (in the is one of the most dynamically developing regions in northern east), West Sudety Foothills, Sudety Poland. Highlands and Sudety in the south. INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGION The province of Lower Silesia covering 19 848 km2 Location of the province in the geologically old range is the 7th province in Poland in terms of the area (it of mountains causes that various rocks and natural covers 6.4% of the Polish territory). 26 districts and 3 resources can be found within the region such as: Figure 1.1 The administrative division of the province of Lower Silesia G³ogów Góra Milicz Polkowice Lubin Wo³ów Boles³awiec Trzebnica Zgorzelec Legnica Oleœnica Z³otoryja Œroda Œl. Lubañ Wroc³aw Lwówek Œl. Jawor O³awa Jelenia Góra Œwidnica Wa³brzych Strzelin Kamienna Góra Dzier¿oniów Z¹bkowice Œl. K³odzko copper ore, coal (lignite, anthracite), nonferrous metals, is the one of the warmest areas in Poland. In the Sudety gas, high-value mineral resources. In some of the mountains, depending on the altitude, the climate is regions the mineral springs can be found. significantly harsher. Almost the whole area of the province is located in Communication network of the province of Lower the river basin of Odra which runs through its central Silesia is quite well developed. Road density (92.2 km part. The main inflows of Odra in the province of Lower per 100 km2) is significantly higher than the national Silesia are: Nysa K³odzka, O³awa, Bystrzyca, Kaczawa, average. It is similar in the rail network; its density is Barycz, Bóbr, Nysa £u¿ycka. Left inflows, apart from equal to 9.3 km per 100 km2 (in Poland 6.6 km). The A4 Œlêza and O³awa, behave like mountain rivers, which highway is the main transit route being also the part of lead to periodical, rapid water rises. On the other hand, the European passageway connecting Germany with right inflows are very calm lowland rivers. Ukraine. Wroc³aw is the important railway junction, The province is poor in water reservoirs. Apart from which has connections with international routes several natural lakes there are few artificial ones built, towards Warsaw and further to Moscow, Berlin, among others, as the countermeasure against floods Dresden and Prague. Its international airport plays a (for example the S³up Reservoir at the Nysa river, or the significant role and its importance increases in the Reservoir near Pilchowice at the Bóbr river) and course of time. Water communication along the Odra numerous fish ponds (the majority of them are located river has recently lost its importance but there are plans near Milicz). to restore its magnitude as one of the least expensive INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGION The landscape of the province of Lower Silesia is means of transport. The Odra river constitutes the greatly diverse. Riches of spatial forms go along with element of the European transport passage. exceptionally valuable vegetations and rare animal Mining industry plays a significant role in the species. In Sudety there are endemic species and relic structure of the economy of the province of Lower species typical to the north of Europe. Silesia. Mining of copper and silver ore in the Legnica The climate of the province of Lower Silesia is -G³ogów Mining Area, lignite in the Worek Turoszowski, characterised by its significant changeability and various kinds of road and building stones, fire-resistant irregularity of the course of meteorological parameters clay (from the Rusko-Jaroszów beds) as well as ground resulted from varied topography of the area. The gas are its primary resources. northern part of the region is located at the crossing of The province of Lower Silesia holds the first place in two climates which are characteristic to the mild zone: Poland in terms of both the volume of resources and oceanic and continental and the south is affected by the mining process of road and building stones (50% mountainous climate. The lowland part of the province of all the Polish resources). In the Strzegom-Sobótka massif there are the largest documented beds of Photo 1.1. Œnie¿ka (photo by Marek Potocki) granite. Recently, the development of investments has taken place in the province of Lower Silesia. The largest financial means were invested into the following sectors: banking, insurance, motorisation, food production, industrial machinery production, electronic, chemical, nonferrous metals, fuel stations, supermarkets and hypermarkets, hotels and restaurants. All these geographical, climatic and socio -economical conditions affect the quality of the natural environment and mark the direction of its changes..