Minister Tomáš Chalupa presented the Report on the Environment in the Czech Republic in 2010 at a meeting of the Government

Press release: 11.01.2012

The Report on the Environment in the Czech Republic is an informative publication that summarises current knowledge of the state of and trends in the individual components of the environment. This material is prepared in co-operation with a number of institutions inside and outside of the sector.

The Report points out that the air quality in the Czech Republic in 2010 was worse than in the previous year. In addition to an increase in industrial pollution, a substantial contribution came from meteorological and climatic conditions in 2010, which was characterised by a colder heating season and frequent occurrence of unfavourable dispersion conditions for pollutants in the air. The situation in the Moravian-Silesian Region remains worst in this respect and is a result mainly of the industrial burden in the entire Ostrava-Katowice basin, i.e. including transboundary impacts from Poland.

On the basis of data from this Report, the Ministry of the Environment presented a new Air Protection Act, with greater emphasis on polluters including small sources. The new legislation also includes the potential for delimitation of low-emission zones.

It also follows from the Report that households utilise environmentally sound means of heating to a greater degree (e.g. natural gas, biomass or a central heat source). An increasing number of homes are also heated by solar collectors. Nonetheless, household heating remains one of the most important sources of air pollution.

Consequently, in co-operation with the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Ministry has announced a programme of replacement of old heating units. It is intended to reduce air pollution from small combustion sources – local heating units. The Ministry is also planning an extensive information campaign for the Moravian-Silesian Region.

The Report also points out that approximately 10% of all the inhabitants of Prague, Brno and Ostrava live in locations where the hygiene limits for noise are exceeded. In some municipalities, more than a quarter of the population is burdened by excessive noise, mainly from road traffic, affecting the quality of life in these municipalities and complicating further development. In the Czech Republic, an average of approx. 600 persons per km of highway live around main roads where there is excessive noise; this is approximately twice the average for the European Union countries.

Consequently, in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and other sectors, the Ministry of the Environment is preparing an anti-noise law. Noise constitutes a serious problem, both from the environmental viewpoint and also for human health. Consequently, the Ministry of the Environment also provides an opinion on anti-noise measures within the EIA process and recommends the construction of noise barriers along highways and railways.

The energy intensity of the economy has been decreasing substantially – an overall reduction of 22.8% was recorded in the 2000 – 2010 period. This trend means that, in a period of economic growth, the final energy consumption (and thus the burden on the environment from energy production) will increase more slowly than the rate of economic growth.

The length of the sewer network is growing and an increasing fraction of the population is connected to sewers leading to waste water treatment plants. Compared to 2000, the sewer network has been lengthened by 89 % and the number of waste water treatment plants has doubled (source: the CSO).

The Ministry is concentrating highly on nature conservation and protection of the landscape. It improves administration of protected territories so that the individual national parks and protected landscape areas can be used by people while fully respecting conservation of nature. A wide range of stakeholders in this area participate in the discussions on specific projects. Preparation of the Act on the Šumava National Park is an example.

Other areas that warrant attention include flood protection measures, waste management, soil protection and increasing energy efficiency on the part of both energy production and energy consumption.

All these tasks will require both legislative and non-legislative solutions, as well as practical solutions through projects implemented in the context of the Operational Programme “Environment”.

Michaela Jendeková, tiskové oddělení MŽP