Ecological Indicators 71 (2016) 377–387 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Indicators journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolind Selecting agri-environmental indicators for monitoring and assessment of environmental management in the example of landscape parks in Poland Kubacka Marta ∗ , Bródka Sylwia, Macias Andrzej Department of Landscape Ecology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna´ n, Poland a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 29 June 2015 Received in revised form 30 June 2016 Accepted 4 July 2016 Keywords: Agri-environmental indicators DPSIR framework Landscape park Natura 2000 Poland a b s t r a c t The objective of this article is to assess the condition of and hazards to the natural environment in selected landscape parks in Poland with respect to the impact of agricultural management using the DPSIR method. Our proposed set of indicators, based on generally available and applicable data, shows at the local scale, in a simple way, the condition of functioning of the balance between the natural environment and agricultural management and it assesses the level of repair works in the context of the records of the environmental protection program. The highest negative impact of agricultural management in the areas studied is noticed in the soil environment as well as the contexts of biodiversity and landscape. On the other hand, the lowest influence of agricultural economy was noted in the cases of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. The results of the aggregated indicators also showed lower or higher dependencies between the coverage and the use of the area in landscape parks and the condition of particular elements of the environment and the landscape. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Over the past 60 years, European agriculture has undergone a period of rapid intensification achieved through an increased application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, combined with implementation of best management practices, mechanization, irrigation, and with the use of improved seed varieties (Gaudino et al., 2014; Tilman et al., 2002). A low external-input and organic cropping system can provide a good compromise between intensity (level of input used per unit of surface) and efficiency (quantity of product obtained per level of input used) in the agricultural econ- omy (Michos et al., 2012; Pointereau et al., 2012; Alluvione et al., 2011). This is particularly significant for legally protected areas in which human activity is admissible. Agri-environmental instruments are needed to support the sus- tainable development of rural areas and to respond to society’s increasing demand for environmental services. The current trend of indicator-based sustainability evaluation (i.e. measurement of environmental and governance performance) and differences in decision-making problems are discussed by Hrebícek et al. (2013). Moreover, they showed that the sustainable development indi- ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: marta.kubacka@amu.edu.pl (M. Kubacka). cators can provide an early warning, sounding the alarm in time to prevent economic, social and environmental damage, which is very important in the example of landscape parks and other naturally protected areas. To help improve measurement of the environmental performance of agriculture, the OECD has estab- lished a set of agri-environmental indicators, with development of the indicators in cooperation with Eurostat and FAO. These indi- cators inform policy makers and society about the state and trends in agri-environmental conditions and can provide a valuable aid to policy analysis (OECD, 2012; FAO, 2010; EEA, 2005). The major objective of our research is the assessment of the con- dition of and hazards to the natural environment in the selected landscape parks in Poland with respect to the impact of agri- cultural management using the DPSIR method. Comprehensive assessment of the natural environment should consider struc- tural and functional links which occur between the components of that environment and human activity (Macias and Bródka, 2014). One method which makes the knowledge about these depen- dencies more orderly and integrated is the DPSIR method. An additional advantage of this method is that it puts the aforemen- tioned dependencies into cause and effect relationships. The sets of environmental indicators prepared so far in Poland, concerning agricultural management at the level of pressure, condition and reaction, were most often considered irrespective of one another and they were quite general in nature (Borys, 2011; Kistowski, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.004 1470-160X/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.