The territory covered by protected areas in Poland sums up to 33.1% and amount of it varies as far as single regions are concerned. The region with the highest percentage of areas covered by them is Świętokrzyskie voivodeship — 62%. There are 72 gminas in Świętokrzyskie voivodeship among which in 49 protected areas cover more than half of the territory. These areas are usually landscape parks and protected landscape areas. Financing economic development on the regional and local scale requires application of various indirect and direct instruments of structural and tax policy. The efficiency of local development financing is conditioned by both, external and internal factors. Among internal conditions the most important are: demographic, unemployment rate, infrastructure and expenditure on social welfare and investments. First part of the dissertation presents the protected areas and problem areas in Świętokrzyskie voivodeship in the aspect of local development. Second part of the paper describes local investments funded from Regional Operational Program of Swiętkorzyskie voivodeship for years 2004-2006.