Meadows and pastures occupy some 4 million hectares in Poland and constitute 21 per cent of arable land. Since they are man managed or made, their vegetation is most at risk. In recent decades, the meadow and peat-bog vegetation have decreased as a direct result of environmental contamination and degradation. The disappearing of flora has numerous implications. It leads to further relentless upsetting of the environmental balance. A loss of any species means decreased stability of the whole ecosystem as it disturbs the whole network of environmental interconnections.