State of Natural Disaster versus “Ecological” Postulates in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland – Correlations and Contexts

Abstract

The article analyses the constitutional aspects of the state of natural disaster in the light of the state's constitutional duty to protect the environment. The starting point is the flood in south-western Poland in autumn 2024, which led to the first declaration of a state of natural disaster under the current Constitution and exposed the vagueness of the concepts of "natural disaster" and "technical failure". The author considers whether a state of natural disaster could be declared in the case of extraordinary environmental pollution which does not directly threaten human health but may lead to an ecological disaster. The analysis covers Article 5 of the Constitution, with its principle of sustainable development, and the provisions on environmental protection (Articles 31, 68, 74 and 86), which may justify restrictions of rights and freedoms within broadly understood national security. The final reflection concerns a possible shift from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric constitutional approach, in which environmental protection could become an independent basis for introducing a state of emergency.