Any sustainable system of environmental protection requires not only social acceptance of a thoughtful, ecologically friendly approach to nature and its ecosystems, but also systemic tools. Those are needed for enforcing regulations, investigating cases of environmental damage, monitoring of potentially hazardous areas and providing information to both the public and policy makers. The brochure - which is free to download via the yellow link below - shows an edifying example of how the Czech Republic created such an official body from scratch after the fall of the communist regime.
Using both open sources, including academic works, and the experience of various actors involved in environmental protection, the authors assess not only the history, but also the complicated development and continuously emerging tasks and challenges for the Czech Environmental Inspectorate. The publication also provides a solid set of recommendations for building and maintaining such an institution.
Particular attention is paid to the resilience of environmental authorities to corruption and political pressure. As such, the publication would be particularly useful in local contexts struggling with a structural lack of capacity to protect the environment through the means of law and officially mandated expertise with sufficiently strong competencies.
This material was created with a financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as part of the Transition program.
