Jakie czynniki mogą wpływać na poszerzanie obszarów chronionych na świecie w kontekście międzynarodowych celów środowiskowych oraz rozwojowych

The protection of biodiversity is an integral part of sustainable development. All the major international environmental and development programs – Aichi Biodiversity Targets, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals – have committed countries to conserving valuable ecosystems by ensuring that a certain proportion of their terrestrial and marine areas are protected. While many countries have registered improvements in their coverage of protected areas, a significant number are behind in their targets. This paper attempts to shed light on the role of various factors in nature conservation which go beyond the performances of individual countries. Regression analyses were performed on variables that could influence the coverage of protected areas. The main findings point to the significance of economic development, whereas other factors remain less relevant. Although the level of economic development corresponds to the protected areas on an individual country level, it does not automatically ensure a slowdown in biodiversity loss.Ochrona bioróżnorodności jest nieodłączną częścią zrównoważonego rozwoju. Wszystkie znaczące międzynarodowe programy ekologii i rozwoju – Cele Aichi (Aichi Biodiversity Targets), Milenijne Cele Rozwoju (Millennium Development Goals) oraz Cele Zrównoważonego Rozwoju (Sustainable Development Goals) – zobowiązały kraje do ochrony cennych ekosystemów poprzez zapewnienie, że pewne części ich lądowych oraz morskich obszarów będą podlegały ochronie. Wiele krajów zanotowało wzrost zasięgu ich obszarów chronionych, jednak wiele innych nie osiąga zamierzonych celów. Niniejszy artykuł koncentruje się na ogólnej próbie analizy różnych czynników wpływających na ochronę środowiska związanych z ochroną środowiska. Wykorzystano analizę regresji zastosowaną wobec zmiennych, które mogą wpływać na przyjmowaną powierzchnię obszarów chronionych. Przeprowadzone badania wskazują na znaczącą rolę rozwoju ekonomicznego, podczas gdy inne czynniki wydają się mniej znaczące. Chociaż stopień rozwoju ekonomicznego odpowiada wielkości chronionych obszarów na poziomie poszczególnych krajów, nie oznacza to automatycznie spowolnienie tempa ubytku bioróżnorodności

The influence of the Danube-Odra-Elbe water canal project on the geobiocoenoses of floodplain forests (Czech Republic)

This arcticle deals with influence of the proposed Danube-Odra-Elbe (DOL) water canal on the floodplain forests in the Czech Republic. The project of the DOL water canal is evaluated with using GIS methods and reference assessment of environmental effects. Biogeographic differentiation of the landscape in a biogeocenological concept have been also utilized in this paper. The presented paper has shown the possibilities of use of the GIS analysis for the assessment of the assumed effect of the DOL project on the hydrological regime of floodplain forests. It has been proven that this method is much more efficient in objectivizing the presupposed influences of the DOL canal on the water regime of floodplain forests than the previous assessments. The method employed in this paper for the purposes of the preliminary percentage quantification of the extent of the hydrological in­fluen­ce on individual types of geobiocoenoses of floodplain forests is used generally for the purposes of the environmental assessment of effects on investment plans concerning the landscape (the so-called EIA). It is clear that the assessment of the influences of the DOL project on floodplain forest geobiocoenoses primarily concerns the response of vegetation to changes in the soil moisture regime, which can be compared to the amount of data material (for a summary see PRAX et al., 2008). Results indicate that the potential construction of the DOL canal would significantly, i.e. with an influence value exceeding 50 %, affect 634 km2 of the area of inundations in lowland floodplains in the Czech Republic. Results are discussed in the frame of knowledge about water regime of floodplain forests ecosystems

Assessment of Forest Management in Protected Areas Based on Multidisciplinary Research

The remnants of primeval Norway spruce forests in the European temperate zone are crucial for maintaining forest biodiversity in high mountain landscapes. This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research and evaluation project on the management practices for mountain spruce forests in the Natura 2000 site (National Nature Reserve Serak-Keprnik in the Hruby Jesenik Mountains, the Czech Republic). Results are based on combining research on the historical development of the forest ecosystem and predictions of future dynamics using a forest growth simulation model. The presented results show that a non-intervention management strategy for mountain spruce forest in the next 50 years complies with the Natura 2000 requirement to maintain the existing character of the forest habitat. Thus, the results indicate that the current management plan for the spruce forests does not require significant corrections in the context of its conservation goals (i.e., maintaining biodiversity and current character of the forest ecosystem dominated by Norway spruce). The results of this study suggest that combining the knowledge of historical development with forest inventory data using forest growth simulation represents a suitable support tool for the assessment of management practices for forest habitats in protected areas

Local place names as a part of landscape memory (Case study from Haná region, Czech Republic)

Local place names in the landscape represent an important part of the spiritual component of the landscape memory and form an essential part of the intangible traditional folk culture on the local scale. This paper presents the research results regarding the level of knowledge of the landscape place names in the Hana region (Czech Republic) in children belonging to the age group of primary school pupils. It was revealed by the method of questionnaire survey that the majority of pupils in rural schools in Hana do not currently know the specific local names in the landscape. In the investigated sample of respondents, we found a statistically significant correlation between the knowledge of local names and active use of the Hana dialect. At present, a large share in maintaining the knowledge of landscape local names can be attributed to local and regional social activities aimed at conservation of the traditions of folk culture and at maintaining the relationship of the young generation to the landscape

Distribution of Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) in the Ramena řeky Moravy National Nature Reserve (Czech Republic) in Relation to the Coppice-with-standard Forest Management

The paper brings results of a long-term monitoring of a breeding population of the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) carried out at the Morava River (an 11.11 km long section) in the Ramena řeky Moravy National Nature Reserve (Litovelské Pomoraví SPA, Czech Republic) in the years 1987–2012. Monitoring of breeding sites of the Common Kingfisher was performed using a modified nest searching method. In the study area, numbers of Common Kingfishers fluctuate significantly between 1 and 15 breeding pairs (i.e. between 0.09 and 1.26 breeding pairs per 1 km of the river). In a statistical analysis of data from the period 2005–2012, factors affecting distribution of Kingfisher nests in the study area were assessed. A statistically significant relationship was found between the distribution of Kingfisher breeding sites and the distribution of riparian stands of the floodplain forest in a coppice-with-standards forest. This finding is discussed in relation to the current tendencies to apply coppicing in areas of high conservation value

Assessment of Management Strategy for Hardwood Floodplain Forest Ecosystem in Protected Area

The floodplain forests of lowland rivers in the temperate zone of Europe are an important biota refuges in the cultural landscape. Most of these forest ecosystems are included to the national systems of protected areas and ecological networks. The paper deals with innovative method for assessment of management strategy for hardwood floodplain forest ecosystems. The presented method is based on a combination of results from historical research with the application of growth simulation model. This method enables to predict a future development of the forest ecosystem studied and assess the forest management strategy. This can be a useful tool for correction of management plan of protected area. The method was applied in study site Vrapac National Reserve within the Morava River basin (Litovelske Pomoravi Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic)

Application of geoecological concept of the alluvial landscape in the creation of nature reserve (case study from Czech Republic)

The geoecological concept of the alluvial landscape describes the variability and consecutive character of alluvial ecotopes and biocenoses, which are interrelated in terms of their homeorhetic development, in their dynamic ecological stability. This article deals with application of this landscape concept in the frame of creation of nature reserve as core zone of the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area (Czech Republic). Complex protection of the whole floodplain ecosystem, which comprised all components of the fluvial succession series of alluvial habitats, was proposed on the basis of determination of geomorphological type of the river system. Analyses of the floodplain forest stands status within the study area were performed using methods that are normally used in the elaboration of management plans of protected areas within forest land on the basis of data from Forest Management Plan. The area of the proposed NNR was created by the overlay of the special map layers using method gap-analysis in the frame of GIS

National Limits of Sustainability: The Czech Republic’s CO₂ Emissions in the Perspective of Planetary Boundaries

Building on the planetary boundaries (PB) concept and recent studies on assessing the PB at the national level, this paper proposes a new method for addressing the growing need to conceptualize the national environmental limits in the global perspective. The global and national limits for the climate change PB are set using the GDP-adjusted model that represents an innovative and fairer CO2 emissions distribution mechanism. It elaborates on the equity principle and distributes the remaining global emission budget to countries on the basis of their past, current, and future population; past emissions; and current state of economic development. The results point to insufficient global efforts to reduce the CO2 emissions to avoid a global temperature rise of more than 2 °C by 2100. When examining the data in accordance with this climate change scenario, we see that some countries have already spent their CO2 budget and most high-income countries will spend their remaining budget by the end of the decade. This is also the case for the Czech Republic, which exceeded the limit for the period from 2017 onwards in 2018. While the result clearly points to the urgency of the decarbonization process, it also shows that some high-income countries, including the Czech Republic, are currently emitting at the expense of other countries. On the policy level, the findings could contribute to the re-evaluation of the GHG reduction plans as well as setting more appropriate and fairer national targets

Changes in the Secondary Landscape Structure in Hruby Jesenik Mountains (Czech Republic)

This study deals with the analysis of changes in the secondary landscape structure of the territory of the Jeseniky Mountains (Czech Republic) monitored in the years 1946, 1953, 1962, 2000, and 2016. The study analysed georeferencing aerial geodetic images in the QGIS 2.18 program. On the basis of the land use classification key that was created, historical changes were identified in the following categories of land use; forest, arable land, orchards, water surfaces, wild life refuges and scattered greenery, river networks, permanent grass stands, meadows and pastures, gardens and built-up areas, courtyards and hard surfaces. The surface areas of land use categories were utilized for the calculation of change indicators regarding the structure of the landscape (landscape similarity index, coefficient of ecological stability, and change index). The maps for land use created for individual historical periods functioned as the starting point for a comprehensive assessment of the landscape by means of a SWOT analysis, which created the basis for a proposal for permanently sustainable utilization of the landscape in the area that was monitored. The study results indicate that the analysis of the historical development of the secondary landscape structure may be utilized as a decision support tool when planning sustainable landscape management

Long-term decline in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in the Czech Republic: a case study of a population trend at the Chomoutov lake

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the long-term trend in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) at the Chomoutov lake, Czech Republic. In the period 1978-2014 (always between April 22 and May 10), we conducted 14 nest counts in the bird colony using the direct nest search method. In total, we counted 57,860 nests, from which 2,174 nests were found in the initial year 1978, the maximum number of nests (8,371) in 1993 and 3,304 nests in the last counting year 2014. The nests were located on the ground on an island elevated 2-3 m above the water level. In 1997, we found an unusually located nest on a nesting pad in a poplar tree (Populus sp.), 821 cm above the water level. In this paper, we point out the long-term decline in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull in major breeding colonies in the Czech Republic, where the abundance declined by up to 95%, while numerous colonies have vanished completely. We discuss factors influencing the negative population trend of Black-headed Gull on the monitored site and in the entire Czech Republic