Review of Polish practices used in landscape assessment in the environmental impact assessment with a recommended procedure

The landscape impact assessment of planned developments is an important tool that supports landscape protection. As part of the analysis, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports were reviewed in terms of the methods of landscape impact assessment (LIA) and landscape visual impact assessment (LVIA). The study was conducted in two stages, which made it possible to compare analyses prepared in Poland in 2004-2017 and 2018-2022. The conclusions of the review, supported by our scientific and practical experience, were the basis for developing a diagram for preparing landscape impact assessments. Considering the specificity of the given location and the type of the planned development, we recommend taking a reliable inventory and conducting a valuation of the landscape and creating alternatives of possible changes caused by anthropogenic interference and assess them in terms of landscape consistency.