Systematic protection of high biodiversity value forests in the Czech Republic

Challenge

In the project area, highly biodiverse forests are under threat from the use of heavy machinery. The shortage of timber resulting from the intensive logging of climate-damaged monocultures across the country is putting increased pressure on wood from old-growth forests. Large carnivores that play a key role in ecosystem regeneration along the Czech Green Belt are at serious risk from heavy machinery, vehicle-related mortality and poaching.

Objective

The project aimed to provide recommendations for sustainable management practices and initiate policy changes, particularly through the newly developed 'Plan for Healthy Forests'. The project aimed to engage numerous volunteers in the ongoing monitoring of large carnivores and to raise public awareness via press releases, social media, and websites. The project sought to empower local communities to become more involved in nature protection.

Approach

The project reached its objectives through:

• Collecting data on forest management and health status of forests and developed a set of targeted policy recommendations based on the consultation with local stakeholders within the Plan for the healthy forests.
• Sharing relevant monitoring data with local and national authorities.
• Communicating the project findings to policy makers during the numerous consultation processes to ensure proper implementation.

Achieved Results

The project provided science-based recommendations to more than 20 forest administrations along the European Green Belt in the Czech Republic. The project generated publicity with over 40 posts, trained more than 30 volunteers and ran 16 monitoring training events. Practical conservation actions, e.g. restoring 8 dams in mires, with volunteers during the “Week of Landscape” and legal actions involving numerous local NGOs were successfully carried out.