The Importance of Tourism for the Nature Conservancy and Sustainable Development in the Catchment Basin of the Czarny Dunajec River The article concerns problems of the sustainable development in the catchment basin (370 sq. km) of the Czarny Dunajec River (Western Carpathians). The first part presents biodiverisity, ecological and cultural values of the studied area, with the focus on existing and projected protected areas. Economic and social conditions have been also described . Basing on above data, the possibility of sustainable development has been evaluated, using i.a. SWOT analysis. The conclusion is that tourism can play important role in the balancing protection of biodiversity and economic and social development, however, not any kind of tourism, but only such its forms like: walking, biking, horse-riding, cross-country skiing, nature-tourism etc. combining with accommodation in farms and production of natural food. The paper contains also several propositions regarding new nature reserves and landscape parks.