Focusing on the Public

A founding meeting of the National Platform on Ecosystem Services (NPES) was held within the framework of the integrated LIFE project One Nature in Prague in October 2022. The establishment of the Platform reflects a long-term development in ecosystem service assessment both in the Czech Republic and abroad. We are at present witnessing a shift in nature conservation goals and ways which have been increasingly including ecosystem services, nature´s contributions to people and in a broader context nature´s values. The aim of this article is to take a closer look at the present NPES context and objectives especially from the perspective of plural natural values and ecosystem service assessment in relation to ecosystem conservation and restoration following the international context. 

On 20–25 June 2022, the jubilee 50th National Round of the Golden Leaf natural history competition took place. Not many youth competitions can boast of such a respectable age, so it is a good opportunity to have a look at its past and present. 

With its patronages, the Scout Institute helps scout troops and school classes engage in landscape restoration and nature conservation. In collaboration with expert guides and stewards, participants learn not only about natural values but also about the importance of building relationships with all stakeholders. In this way they develop two basic civic competences: responsibility for the condition of public space and awareness of the opportunity which everyone has to positively influence their environment. At present, patronages are running in the capital city of Prague and in eight regions of the Czech Republic. To date, more than 55 troops and school classes have been engaged in them. 

National parks are large, specially protected areas. They aim to protect natural ecosystems, support undisturbed natural processes, as well as human-determined biodiversity. However,  as the national park mission, in addition to the above mentioned, also includes enabling sustainable development, national park management authorities urgently need to ensure long-term monitoring of the fulfilling both the conservation goals and the mission. A transboundary project of the administrations of the Šumava/Bavarian Forest Mts. has mainly addressed the latter point.

The Elbe Canyon is unique not only for its landscape and natural values, but also represents a huge potential for tourist and recreational use. While the German side realised this long ago, on the Czech side there is still an effort to transform the Elbe into an industrial transport channel. The history of tourist use of this landscape dates back to the 19^th century, when one of the oldest tourist associations in Europe was established, and the Elbe Canyon became the cradle of European and world tourism together with the Alps. The fascinating landscape of Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland inspired renowned romantic artists. Today their works and later old postcards can tell us about the natural appearance of the Elbe.

The Grey wolf (Canis lupus), similarly to the other Central European large carnivores (i.e., the Brown Bear Ursus arctosand the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx) had been severely persecuted in Bohemia and Moravia for centuries.

In the article, Miroslav Bobek, the Prague Zoo Director describes activities conducted by the zoological garden in Central Africa aiming at Western lowland gorilla protection and tropical rainforest conservation.

The author analyses the power and impacts of online social networking services and he advices how the tools can be handled for nature conservation aims.

The Lužnice River flows through the Třeboň Basin and its Protected Landscape Area (PLA) northward, being a natural axis of the region.

The Czech Society for Ornithology (CSO), in collaboration with other partners including the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic and private companies, declared the Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) as the Bird of the Year 2013.