National Forest Programme for the Period until 2013

The 1998 Community Forestry Strategy set the framework of activities for forestry with its main objective to support sustainable forest management. The Strategy underlines the importance of a multifunctional role of forests and defines the guiding fundamentals and principles decisive for the realization thereof.

NFPs are designed to provide a planning framework delimiting the influence of other sectors on forest policy, raise awareness concerning the significance of forests and ensure participation of the responsible government departments and interest groups in the problem-solving process with regards to forests and forestry. The Programmes shall further create prerequisites for safeguarding adequate capacities and concentrate on controversial issues being solved by various competent state institutions.

In Europe, forestry is perceived as pertaining to rural development and land use with its three pillars (groups of forest functions). These functions, the fulfilment of which is carried out in line with the principle of sustainable development, are economic, environmental and social.

Group of economic forest functions – their strategic objective is long-term enhancement of forestry competitiveness and increased utilization of forest products, goods and services in the life of the society.

Group of environmental forest functions – their strategic objective is to preserve and enhance biological diversity, integrity, health and resistance of forest ecosystems on the local scale with respect to a possible scenario of global and landscape changes.

Group of social forest functions – their strategic objective is to contribute to the quality of life by preserving and enhancing the social and cultural dimensions of forests and forest management.

The National Forest Programme for the period until 2013 (hereinafter “NFP II”) amends and complements the National Forest Programme passed by Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 53 of 13 January 2003 and respects the below stated international treaties, agreements, conventions and directives of the EU.

Within the preparations for the implementation of the measures of the 2003 National Forest Programme, a number of expert opinions were elaborated providing a detailed analysis of the factual and forest policy context and of the prerequisites for the solution of forestry-related issues as defined by the Programme. With different levels of detail and consistency, the expert opinions also proposed the necessary steps towards such amendments to legal regulations, economic measures, research programmes, and educational and awareness raising activities that would bring improvement in the state of the forests and increase the potential for their rational and multi-purpose utilization. The proposals of the expert opinions were practically implemented only to a limited extent due to the relatively short time available and the fact that they had neither undergone an interdepartmental debate, nor had they been subject to a wider expert discussion. One of the main circumstances delaying the potential realization of the decisive changes is the postponed amendment to (or potential new elaboration of) the Forest Act from which a series of other necessary steps might ensue. The results from the expert opinions together with the assignments were at a full disposal to the NFP II authors so that they could entirely adopt and incorporate into the NFP II measures all the suggestions that have not been sufficiently realized and are still not out of date. A summary report is also available, assessing the contribution of all prepared expert opinions related to the 2003 NFP.