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Pathways to a just landscape transformation
Nohlová, Barbora ; Sagapová, Nikola ; Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana
The Just Scapes project was officially launched in 2020 and is a consortium of three countries (UK, France and Czech Republic) researching three types of landscape: the Scottish Highlands, the French rural landscape of the south-eastern Pyrenees and the Czech cultural landscape of southern and eastern Moravia. The project focuses primarily on the mechanisms and processes of equitable transformation and answers the following questions, crucial for the future: How are the impacts of climate change distributed? How are impacts and effects distributed?\nof landscape management and climate change policies? The research was based on the approach of the so-called ,,just transformation laboratories,, (T-labs). This approach is specifically tailored to foster collaborative solutions to complex societal problems. The research also included extensive field visits and engagement with relevant key actors. Numerous interviews and workshops were also conducted. This text is the result of a long-term research collaboration with key actors managing the landscape in five wine and agricultural regions of South and East Moravia. The research focused on mechanisms of equitable transformation. If the current state of the landscape leads to its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, it is necessary to ask what changes are needed to increase its resilience. And this is exactly what the project has succeeded in defining.
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Social-ecological linkages in the practice of Czech development cooperation
Suchá, Lenka ; Dušková, L. ; Seidlová, Aneta ; Schlossarek, M. ; Harmáček, J. ; Bubák, Š. ; Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana
The Western Province of Zambia is one of the priority regions for Czech development cooperation. However, until now there has been a lack of comprehensive socio-ecological research carried out in this region, which would enable the actors of the Czech development cooperation to better work with the complex socio-ecological context within their projects. The research synthesis report presents in one place a comprehensive summary of the methodological approaches used and the results of their application. In this respect, the research synthesis report presents a unique perspective on socio-ecological linkages in the Western Province of Zambia. The research synthesis report also contains a simplified project methodology so that it can be used by Czech development actors themselves for planning and implementing development projects, if applicable. The research synthesis report also includes a summary of the main implications of the Coop4Wellbeing research for development practice, as well as a set of recommendations for Czech development donors.
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Methodology of participatory assessment of ecosystem services and their future scenarios in specially protected areas
Vačkářová, Davina ; Krpec, Petr ; Stella, David ; Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana
The aim of the methodology is to integrate ecosystem service assessment procedures into the processes of protection and management of specially protected areas. In particular, it is about expanding the assessment of ecosystem services of specially protected areas by the dimension of the involvement of local actors in the process of mapping and modeling ecosystem services. The methodology introduces procedures for participatory identification of benefits and values of nature, participatory creation of future development scenarios and participatory mapping and modeling of ecosystem services. These practices improve understanding and communication of the benefits and values of nature that protected areas contain and provide.
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Spatial heterogeneity of heaps and plant and soil development
Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Matějíček, Luboš (referee)
Spatial heterogeneity is an important ecological factor influencing the species diversity of a community. Research of spatial heterogeneity was carried at a spoil heap in a brown coal mining district near Sokolov, the Czech Republic. The study site was located in a non-reclaimed part of the spoil heap with a characteristic microrelief, consisting of terrain waves. This part of spoil heap has been overgrown by spontaneous vegetation. A detailed model of microrelief was made and soil pH of microhabitats and the distribution of wooden vegetation were mapped. The results suggest that spatial heterogeneity of the microrelief strongly influences the spatial heterogeneity of soil qualities. Three main sources of the spatial heterogeneity of soil qualities were identified: (1) the features of dumped substrate, (2) local transport and (3) the abundance of wooden vegetation. Spatial heterogeneity of microrelief also influences the way of vegetation establishment and leads to an irregular tree distribution. Wooden vegetation tends to establish at the north, leeward side of the wave and on the steeper slopes, the lengths of which are around 5 meters. Soil pH on individual waves and microhabitats is influenced by both microrelief and the number of wooden vegetation. Spatial heterogeneity of microrelief...
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Evaluation of ecosystem integrity and services on regional level with the use of participatory approaches
Zelený, Jakub ; Vačkářová, Davina Elena (advisor) ; Pechanec, Vilém (referee) ; Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana (referee)
TITLE: Evaluation of ecosystem integrity and services on regional level with the use of participatory approaches AUTHOR: Mgr. Jakub Zelený DEPARTMENT: Environmental studies SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The presented work proposes and applies a set of methods designed to describe ecosystem integrity, services and landscape values, including their interaction, on the example of several studied regions. The included publications describes 4 types of methods for evaluating these phenomena: remote sensing of the Earth, regional statistics, expert matrices, and qualitative interviews and mapping. Applied methods can be divided into natural sciences and social sciences, and part of the work is to evaluate the benefits and compare the compatibility between these very different methods in evaluating selected elements of landscapes. The methods are applied in a variety of ranges, ranging from urban areas (10 km2) to the federal states. Natural ecosystems and forests have been assessed best in terms of ecosystem integrity, with the relationship between ecosystem integrity and crop production being negative. Qualitative mapping of landscape values revealed that pristine and inaccessible areas, as well as single- purpose sites, had low societal value in terms of intensity and / or diversity...
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Assessing ecosystem services and the alternatives of their future development in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana ; Vačkářová, Davina Elena (advisor) ; Cudlínová, Eva (referee) ; Pechanec, Vilém (referee)
The provision of ecosystem services within social-ecological systems is influenced by multiple environmental and anthropogenic driving forces, affecting natural ecosystems. At the same time, the capacity of ecosystems to concurrently provide different types of ecosystem services is inherently limited. Thus, ecosystem changes and their effect on ecosystem services have direct implications for human existence and well-being. The aim of this thesis is to present a modelling approach to assess regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services and to quantify their potential trade-offs, illustrated by two case studies carried out in selected UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the Czech Republic, Třeboň Basin Biosphere Reserve and Šumava Biosphere Reserve. Both of the selected case study areas are characterized by high levels of natural and cultural assets and challenges regarding future landscape management. In this study, first the social-ecological dynamics within the study areas was analysed by creating participative scenarios through collaboration with local stakeholders, eliciting their preferences regarding future landscape development to 2050. Second, the impact of the scenarios on ecosystem services and their trade-offs were assessed using a combination of spatially explicit models and...
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Methodology for ecosystem accounting at the national level
Vačkář, David ; Grammatikopoulou, Ioanna ; Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana
The aim of this document is to provide methodological framework for ecosystem accounting at the national level. Ecosystem accounting is a coherent and integrated approach to the assessment of the environment through the measurement of ecosystems, and measurement of the flows of services from ecosystems into economic and other human activity. Therefore, ecosystem accounting enables to account for the supply and use of ecosystem services within the system of national environmental statistical accounts.This methodology provides framework for the measurement of ecosystem services flows from the environment to the economy, supply of ecosystem services by ecosystem units, use of ecosystem services by economic sectors, and accounting for monetary value of ecosystem service flows and assets. The methodology presents examples of ecosystem accounts and describes their structure. The methodology should support development and implementation of ecosystem accounts within satellite environmental accounts of System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) and serve as a reference for methodological developments in experimental ecosystem accounting
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Assessing ecosystem services and the alternatives of their future development in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana ; Vačkářová, Davina Elena (advisor) ; Cudlínová, Eva (referee) ; Pechanec, Vilém (referee)
The provision of ecosystem services within social-ecological systems is influenced by multiple environmental and anthropogenic driving forces, affecting natural ecosystems. At the same time, the capacity of ecosystems to concurrently provide different types of ecosystem services is inherently limited. Thus, ecosystem changes and their effect on ecosystem services have direct implications for human existence and well-being. The aim of this thesis is to present a modelling approach to assess regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services and to quantify their potential trade-offs, illustrated by two case studies carried out in selected UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the Czech Republic, Třeboň Basin Biosphere Reserve and Šumava Biosphere Reserve. Both of the selected case study areas are characterized by high levels of natural and cultural assets and challenges regarding future landscape management. In this study, first the social-ecological dynamics within the study areas was analysed by creating participative scenarios through collaboration with local stakeholders, eliciting their preferences regarding future landscape development to 2050. Second, the impact of the scenarios on ecosystem services and their trade-offs were assessed using a combination of spatially explicit models and...
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Spatial heterogeneity of heaps and plant and soil development
Harmáčková, Veronika Zuzana ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Matějíček, Luboš (referee)
Spatial heterogeneity is an important ecological factor influencing the species diversity of a community. Research of spatial heterogeneity was carried at a spoil heap in a brown coal mining district near Sokolov, the Czech Republic. The study site was located in a non-reclaimed part of the spoil heap with a characteristic microrelief, consisting of terrain waves. This part of spoil heap has been overgrown by spontaneous vegetation. A detailed model of microrelief was made and soil pH of microhabitats and the distribution of wooden vegetation were mapped. The results suggest that spatial heterogeneity of the microrelief strongly influences the spatial heterogeneity of soil qualities. Three main sources of the spatial heterogeneity of soil qualities were identified: (1) the features of dumped substrate, (2) local transport and (3) the abundance of wooden vegetation. Spatial heterogeneity of microrelief also influences the way of vegetation establishment and leads to an irregular tree distribution. Wooden vegetation tends to establish at the north, leeward side of the wave and on the steeper slopes, the lengths of which are around 5 meters. Soil pH on individual waves and microhabitats is influenced by both microrelief and the number of wooden vegetation. Spatial heterogeneity of microrelief...
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