Environmental conference to discuss the EU's impact on the Czech landscape

This week, the Society for Czech Landscape and the Czech Chamber of Architects announced that preparations were underway for their third conference on the state of both the urban and rural environment in the Czech Republic. The conference, which was first held on the initiative of former President Václav Havel, provides a discussion platform for those who have a professional or personal interest in the Czech landscape.

Environmental conference to discuss the EU's impact on the Czech landscape

This year, the Society for Czech Landscape and the Czech Chamber of Architects' regular conference on the state of the Czech environment is going to focus on the impact that EU accession will have on the Czech countryside. In particular, the conference will be looking at how the Czech landscape can be reintegrated with that of the European Union.

The conference assumes that this continent has typical unique "European" features, which need to be recognised and preserved. The ecologist and Chairman of the Society for Czech Landscape, Ivan Dejmal, is one of the organisers of the event. In view of the sheer size of the EU, I asked Mr Dejmal whether it was possible to say that a distinct European landscape actually exists:

"Of course a European landscape exists. Around the time of the early Middle Ages, a unified European culture evolved throughout the continent. It was effectively a Christian agrarian culture, which had a universal influence on the European region. Naturally, it has lots of local flavours but, in terms of the landscape, there has indeed been a unifying European element here."

With its arable green fields and mountainous forests, the Czech countryside does bear some of the hallmarks of these age-old agricultural practices. Although it is hoped that some EU funds will help protect and improve the Czech environment, accession to the Union could also have a negative impact. For example, the need to modernise the Czech Republic's transport infrastructure so that it is comparable to that of the EU could result in major public works projects, which may have a detrimental effect on the Czech landscape. The Czech Republic's Deputy Minister for the Environment, Ladislav Miko, acknowledges this fact, but believes that the EU has policies in place to ensure that no lasting damage occurs:

"Generally, I believe we are able to carry on with the European way of landscape use and that we are able to face this danger. There is a European policy for transport development, but at the same time there is a European policy for landscape protection and nature protection. What I have seen and found is that European legislation for nature protection is very strong and this could help us in protecting our landscape."

Mr Miko also pointed out that sharing knowledge and experiences with other EU countries would also help ensure that a common European landscape was both nurtured and preserved. The fact that a lot of EU agricultural funding was linked to certain environmental criteria should also protect the Czech countryside.

The conference also hopes to tackle the issue of urbanisation. One concern that has been voiced is that perfectly good agricultural land in the vicinity of large cities has been used for building suburban housing estates and hypermarkets. Mr Miko recognised this problem and said that his ministry was now striving to ensure that only "brownfields" or derelict industrial land was used for this purpose in the future.

Anyone interested in the Czech Landscape conference can get further information by visiting the Society for Czech Landscape's website at www.prokrajinu.cz