Rural areas have great potential, which properly supported can signifi cantly accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. However, the resources and values of individual areas are spatially diversifi ed, which means the diversity of development challenges and the necessity to diversify the instruments of local development policy as well as the territorialisation of development policy. The need to deal with development issues in connection with the development of urban functional areas and, more broadly, node regions, remains unchanged for all types of rural areas, which means the necessity of joint planning of spatial development, implementation of common development strategies of the entire functional area and pursuit of common socio-economic goals. The endogenous theory of local development remains valid, but it must be based on resources that go beyond the administrative boundaries of a single municipality. The need for network local development planning applies in particularly to peripheral rural areas, since rural municipalities often do not have sufficient economic potential to stay competitive even on a local scale. Only in partnership with other municipalities, within the framework of nodal regions, they can implement more eff ective competitive strategies. Another aspect of the network cooperation is the need to involve non-public entities into local economy. Establishing partnerships for the implementation of development goals may increase the chances of achieving a favourable competitive position and implementation of effective development strategies.

The paper raises the issue of optimizing the control of the rural low voltage microgrids. Microgrids can operate in a synchronous mode with grids of distribution system operators and in an island mode. We can distinguish two control strategies in microgrids: one approach based on centralized control logic, which is usually used, and another on decentralized control logic. In this paper we decided to present the approach based on the distributed control, combining the efforts of the distributed cooperative control and modified Monte Carlo optimization method. Special attention has been paid to the impact of the order of processing particular devices’ groups on results of optimization calculations. Moreover, different scenarios of behavior of the microgrid control system with respect to the communication loss have been also presented. The influence of the issue of continuity of communication between particular devices’ groups on the possibility of carrying out the optimization process has been investigated. Additionally, characteristics of power loads and generation of electricity from small renewable energy sources appearing in rural areas have been described and the sensitivity of the optimization algorithm to the changes of demanded power values and changes of values of power generated by renewable energy sources has been studied. We analyzed different objective functions which can be used as an optimization goal both in synchronous and island operation modes of microgrid. We decided to intensively test our approach on a sample rural LV microgrid, which is typical in the countryside. The observed results of the tests have been presented and analyzed in detail. Generally, results achieved with the use of proposed distributed control are the same as with the use of centralized control. We think that the approach based on distributed control is promising for practical applications, because of its advantages.

The Polish energy sector is, to a large extent, based on fossil fuels used in conventional energy, which is not entirely consistent with the current energy policy of the European Union. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the use of renewable energy sources that guarantee the preservation of the value of the natural environment in rural areas. It should be emphasized that in addition to the economic effect, the environmental effect is very important, understood as the impact of renewable energy on the natural environment and the quality of life of rural residents. The intensive development of RES raises a lot of controversy among politicians, as well as among rural residents, who are also associated with the myths regarding renewable energy as harmful to the natural environment.

Rural development should be connected with the socio-economic situation, and even more so with the socio-cultural situation of its inhabitants, because it assumes that the development of rural areas in Poland is associated not only with agriculture, but also with historical and natural values and their durability.

The aim of this work is to determine the attitudes of the inhabitants of rural areas of the Podkarpackie Province on the impact of renewable energy sources on the natural environment. The work assumes that the durability of rural areas is largely connected with the ability to preserve their natural values, as well as ensuring a satisfactory quality of life for residents. The basic source of data was surveys carried out in 2017 among 282 inhabitants of the Podkarpackie Province .

In 1981, Polish canoeists (members of the Bystrze Academic Travel Club) made the first journey along the waters of the River Colca in the section located in Arequipa Province (Peru), along which the waters flow in a deep canyon. Information on this sporting achievement – and a description of the Canyon and its surrounding area filled the Peruvian press and tourist publications around the world, ensuring that the Colca Canyon became one of the most important goals for tourists anywhere in Peru from that time on. However, mass infl uxes of tourists, noisy trips, the development of hotel infrastructure and other items required in tourism have generated permanent change in the character of the Colca Valley, and done much to influence the lives of its inhabitants.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD), whose basic aim was to create a legal back-ground for water bodies’ protection, undoubtedly affects all economic sectors. Being a specific and distinctly different water user, agriculture will have the greatest share in the implementation of WFD out of all sectors of national economy. This results from its special character (60% of the country area used by agriculture), large volume of water consumed by evapotranspiration, diffuse pollution etc. Implementation of WFD will call for undertaking of many activities to restrict an unfavourable im-pact of agriculture on water resources and water related ecosystems. It is assumed that agriculture should also protect water resources. Accomplishment of this task imposes significant changes in the land use of river basins. Water management can be an essential factor deciding about the sustainable development of rural areas and biological diversity of agricultural landscape. Actions undertaken so far to implement the WFD are mainly limited to the protection of water quality from agricultural pol-lution. It is also necessary to undertake implementation of other aims of WFD. This refers especially to the provision of good hydromorphological status of water bodies, protection of water related eco-systems and effective water use.

The author’s aim was to present actual conditions of rural primary schools functioning and the spatial differentiation of their network reorganization with particular emphasis on the consequences of those schools liquidation change their a governing body other from the local government units (LGU) to local community organizators. The study was focused on rural areas of the Małopolskie Voivodship over 2000–2016 period. In the paper were presented the number of pupils and schools (open and closed) and the school governing bodies structure too. Those data, obtained by the author from the Local Data Banks and the Board of Education in Cracow and were presented for each statistical locality. A population and settlement concentration in many rural areas made costs of schools maintenance higher and higher. Thus school governing bodies faced a difficult decision – either to reorganize the actual school network or to spend more on education from the municipal budget. Most complicated structures is observed in the rural areas showing depopulation and dispersed settlement, the zones of traditional agricultural. In all rural areas of the Małopolskie Voivodship, the number of pupils in primary schools during the analysed period decreased nearly by 30%. Thus 118 small rural schools were closed i.e. in the county Miechów, of 43 schools remained only 21. The number of closed schools would be much higher without a activity of the local communities, which began to take over their schools from the LGU. Within rural areas the Małopolskie Voivodship in 2016, 123 schools were run by local organization i.e. over 11,5% of all the rural primary schools.

Challenges with respect to potable water supply in Vhembe District threaten the health and welfare of local community. This paper is aimed at assessing the challenges and residents’ coping strategies to improve the potable water supply systems in rural areas in Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). Data for this paper was collected from households, councillors, traditional leaders and municipal officials through questionnaires, interviews and focus-group discussions. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used and thematic content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. The results showed that the main sources of water are ground water from boreholes which are used by about 45.3% of the communities, followed by tap water from the dams, by 35.3%, then rivers by 4.0%, fountains by 5.4% and water tankers by 10.0%. Among the identified challenges are: aged water infrastructure, system breakdowns, lack of funding, vandalism of infrastructure and lack of maintenance, operation of infrastructure by unskilled technicians, theft, and non-payment of water services, among others. To cope with water supply challenges, the study recommended that communities play active role in water projects which would include paying of water supply service for its sustainability. They should also play active roles in water committees that will manage, operate and maintain the water supply with the assistance of VDM officials. It was concluded that the rural water supply situation can be improved when communities, government and other relevant stakeholders cooperate and provide solutions and resources.

The scope of water management is to meet water demand by supplying water to the population and to the national economy; to provide water to the users in such sectors as agriculture, energy, navigation, tourism and recreation, as well as the environment; and to warrant water safety (including protection against floods and droughts). Health and well-being of the Polish population depends on the quality of the environment, therein access to water in adequate quantity and quality. The country struggles with management of low water resources whose quality is still inadequate. The present paper, co-authored by numerous Polish experts, leaders in research and in practice, presents a critical view on the water management in Poland. Among the specific topical areas covered by this paper are: water needs, policies and legislation, as well as governance. The authors specify recommendations for a range of necessary, and urgent, actions to be taken by decision makers and politicians, who are responsible for formulation of appropriate principles and their implementation. Development of adequate legal framework at various spatial levels (EU, national, regional, local, as well as at the river basin scale) is of essential importance for warranting people’s well-being. It is necessary to establish control aimed at keeping the subtle balance between the governance, legal acts, and adequate financing.