RESUME
National Certifying Centre of the Czech Republic
Jaroslav Tymrák
The National Certifying Centre (NCC) started its work in September 1998 as an independent unit of the state Institute for Forest Management residing at Brandýs nad Labem. The sustainable forest management certification can be ranked among the instruments of safeguarding the public interest in forest management. Its importance stems from the very market principle of the instrument, from the fact the demand party may significantly form the bid party’s behaviour. This means an increased demand of the public - consumers for ecological production may, by the means of certification, notably affect forest owners and their way of forest management. The system of Czech national certification ensures to business partners as well as to the wide public by a transparent and reliable manner the forests of the Czech Republic are managed properly without any negative impacts upon the environment.
Goals of the NCC:
- To support sustainable management in forests, economically feasible, environmentally appropriate, and socially beneficial,
- To promote and improve positive image of forestry,
- To provide guarantees the certified forests are managed sustainably to the consumer of timber products and the wide public,
- To establish and develop a certification system adequate to and respecting the Czech conditions and corresponding with the international certification activities.
The certification system designed and implemented in the Czech Republic is adapted to the Central European conditions, it considers the ownership structure and economic conditions of owners. There are more than 150 thousand private owners of forests sized no more than 5 ha in average. Therefore one of basic principles of the NCC and its certification system is to allow also this kind of ownership to use the certificate as a market and marketing tool. It means to keep the bureaucracy and expenses for certificate as low as possible. This condition can be fulfilled only by application and appropriate linking of current and functional instruments of the Czech forestry policy, i.e. of the legislation, government and administrative, forestry planning, and information system in forestry. The fundaments of NCC include voluntariness, credibility, transparency, cost effectiveness, independence, non-discriminatory approach, openness to all interest groups, use of already existing information sources on management of forests (state administration execution, observance of legal regulations, information system in forestry, planning, e.t.c.).
The NCC considers an owner’s management sustainable only if:
- The owner follows a valid and authorised forest management plan or its equivalent.
- The owner keeps a forest management records and provides it to the state administrative.
- The quality of management is in accordance with or exceeds provisions of legal regulations applying to forest management.
National Park České Švýcarsko
David Vaca
On June 2, 1999 the House of Representatives approved of the act establishing the National Park České Švýcarsko (Czech Switzerland). As the Senate had approved of the act before, the NP will probably start its operation from January 2000. The 75-km2 territory of the NP is located in the district of Děčín along the state border with Germany. As there already exists the NP Saxon Switzerland in Germany after the declaration of similar status on the Czech side there will be a widespread territory with a considerable degree of protection. The mission of the designed NP is to conserve and improve the natural environment, to conserve unique geomorphologic values (sandstone rock formations and basalt effusive rocks), wild plants, wildlife and a typical landscape character.