Czeskie parki narodowe - ich funkcjonowanie a ochrona przyrody

Czech national parks - their functioning and nature conservation

Summary: The paper presents the results of a survey carried out at three out of four National Park (NP) Authorities in the Czech Republic in March 2007. National parks (Table 1) have legal protection under the Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection Act of 1992 (Zákon č. 114/1992). The weakest point seems to be the low level of communication between NP Authorities and local communities which may result in serious conflicts. The parks' need to employ people with good communication skills is very important, as revealed in the survey. Additional employees with specialized skills in management, law, tourism or town and country planning would be also very helpful (Table 2). Almost 2/3 of the parks' income comes from the state budget. All of the parks discussed herein have been designated as both Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation within the "Nature 2000" protection framework (Table 3). Park authorities are responsible for protecting Nature 2000 sites within their parks' boundaries. The biggest threats to the parks' natural environment are excessive tourist activity and the related pressure to invest in tourist infrastructure in the NPs and their vicinity. Other threats include uncontrolled residential development as well as air, water, and soil pollution (Table 5). The first two threats, along with changing land use (intensifying agriculture, neglect of some areas, etc...), seem to pose the biggest problem for parks in the next five years. Social misconceptions about the real purpose of NPs and related tourist expectations tend to contradict the need for nature conservation. Such misconceptions were identified as the biggest obstacles to the effective functioning of NPs (Table 6). Out of the various social groups that can be designated as stakeholders, it is the media and scientists that NP Authorities cooperate most closely with (Table 7). Unfortunately, there is poor cooperation with local communities. Some volunteer work geared towards the protection of the NPs' natural environment is performed by school children, college students, and special brigades but the magnitude of the effort is relatively modest in comparison with what is found in Western Europe.

Słowa kluczowe: parki narodowe, Republika Czeska, zarządzanie środowiskiem, Natura 2000

Słowa kluczowe (w języku angielskim): national parks, Czech Republic, environmental management, Nature 2000

Prace Geograficzne, 2009, z. 121, s. 135-145.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1644-3586

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