Organization of nature protection system and the quality of management in national parks - contribution to the discussion

The aim of the article is to compare the legal and administrative foundations of the functioning of national parks as factors determining the quality of management. National parks in Poland and Ukraine, representing different nature protection systems, were selected for the comparative analysis and evaluation. The data was obtained from published sources. The most important were legislations that create the legal basis of the nature protection systems in both countries. The available data were used for analysis using the Desk Research method. There are numerous differences between the Polish and Ukrainian systems of protected areas, mostly based upon the position in the government structure (what is the way of creating the national park and which ministry is responsible for it). Despite those differences, general conclusions can be drawn. Due to the separate legal entity of individual units, as well as subordination to various ministries, there is no clear link between the institutions. This hinders the flow of information and reporting and complicates the decision-making process both at individual units and between national parks.