Tomáš Hák

Material flow accounts, balances and derived indicators for the Czech Republic during the 1990s: results and recommendations for methodological improvements

Abstract The economy and the environment are connected through material and energy flows. These flows are the key cause of environmental problems (together with land use and other biological and social factors) and can serve as an indirect indicator of pressure on the environment. The leading method for assessing material flows and dematerialisation at a macroeconomic level was developed during the 1990s by a number of research institutes and organisations. The result of this effort was the guide [‘Eurostat (2001) 92’]. This is a guide for the analysis of the total mass of annual material inputs and outputs for the whole economic system, using accounts, balances and derived indicators of material flows. The manual touches only briefly on the flows between various sectors of the economy. This article describes the application of material flow analysis (MFA) to the economy of the Czech Republic. Relevant indicators were derived on the basis of accounts and balances of material flows compiled for the Czech Republic for 1990–2000. The indicators and analysis of material flows presented here are the first results covering a long time period and a comprehensive set of material flow accounts in a transition economy. The results show that indicators of material flows decreased during the 10-year-period analysed by approximately 30–40%. Material intensity also dropped by 30% (i.e. material efficiency increased by 30%) while the material intensity of other countries such as Germany dropped by 30% in the 15-year-period. Finally it has been possible to demonstrate that economic growth as expressed by GDP has been decoupled from environmental pressure as expressed by material flow indicators. The article proposes further work that should be undertaken in MFA at macroeconomic level in the Czech Republic. In conclusion, recommendations are made on how to improve the methodology used.

The Earth Charter and the ESDinds initiative: developing indicators and assessment tools for Civil Society Organisations to examine the values dimensions of sustainability projects

This descriptive report outlines an innovative project in which Earth Charter International is actively involved. The project aims to develop approaches, indicators and tools for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be able to measure values-based aspects and impacts of their work at the project level. Many CSOs have an intuitive feeling that their projects are more successful when there is a resonance of values with those involved; this project aims to make such aspects tangible, measurable and transferable to other CSOs. The two year, EU-funded project called ESDinds is characterised by a collaborative partnership between a geographically and culturally diverse consortium consisting of four CSOs (including the Earth Charter International Secretariat) and two universities. The research design takes an iterative, grounded research approach to indicator development.

Material Flow Indicators in the Czech Republic in Light of the Accession to the European Union

This article deals with the economy-wide material flows in the Czech Republic in 1990–2006. It presents in brief the overall trends of the material flow indicators in 1990–2002. The major part of the article is focused on the years 2002–2006, which immediately preceded and followed the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union in 2004. It is shown that this accession had quite a significant impact on the volume and character of the material flows of the Czech Republic. The accession was beneficial from an economic point of view, as it allowed for an increased supply of materials needed for economic growth. Furthermore, it was accompanied by an improvement in the efficiency of material transformation into economic output. From an environmental and broader sustainability point of view, however, this accession brought about some controversial outcomes. There was a significant increase in the net export of environmental pressure, on one hand, and an increase in net additions to the physical stock of the economy, on the other. Although the former is controversial from the viewpoint of equity in sharing area and resources, the latter places an additional burden on future generations because all physical stocks will turn into waste and emissions at some point, when their life span expires.

Economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Republic: trends, decoupling analysis and uncertainties

Material and energy flows (together with human appropriation of land) are considered the key cause of environmental problems. This paper describes the application of economy-wide material flow accounting and analysis to the economy of the Czech Republic for 1990-2002. The results show a decrease of material intensity and decoupling of the economic growth from environmental pressure. The second part of the paper treats an important issue of uncertainties related to economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Republic. The results point out that the high uncertainties related to some material flow indicators may be an obstacle to their applicability.

Measuring Rich-Country Policies Toward the Global Environment: A Critical Analysis of the Environmental Component of the Commitment to Development Index

The Commitment to Development Index has been developed to assess seven policy areas of rich countries that affect the development of poor countries and to rank the rich countries from this perspective. This article aims to analyze the environmental component of this index. The environmental dimension is a legitimate part of the concept behind the index because preserving global environmental resources is essential for the future development prospects of poorer countries. The operationalization of the dimension, however, gives rise to several issues, such as the combination of policy and practice indicators, data availability and credibility, and other specific aspects that affect the information value of individual indicators and the component as a whole. Acknowledging the difficulty of constructing such a component, we suggest several options for its modification.

Environmentální bezpečnost: Návrh koncepčního rámce pro aplikace v České republice

This article aims to provide an integrated overview of the environmental security concept. Moreover, the article frames interpretation of environmental security in the historical context and also provides information regarding current understanding of this concept in environmental security studies. Objective of this article is to propose a conceptual framework of environmental security that cover all relevant environmental security areas and provides comprehensive overview. Conceptual framework of environmental security in the proposed conception contains four main components: energy security, raw material security, ecological and biological security and dimension of traditional security. In addition, purpose of this article is to establish a conceptual framework that can be applied in decision-making processes and assist in design of appropriate strategies concerning environmental security issues.

Values and Sustainable Development: Reflection on Selected Czech Policy Documents 1988–2010

A coherent value system and attitude towards the social and natural environment are considered to be a basic condition for the implementation of sustainable development as implicitly contained in the Rio+20 Declaration ‘The Future We Want’. The importance of human values such as justice, equality, shared responsibility, empowerment, solidarity or tolerance also need to gain appeal anew because of the ongoing economic crises. Although politicians have often taken advantage of the powerful concept of values, extensive research in this field is still lacking. The main goal of the study is to analyse the meaning of values and how their importance has changed over time. The values under scrutiny were identified in selected national policies relating to environmental protection and sustainable development covering the period 1988–2010. The study presents a method for the operationalization of values to understand their meaning and to obtain the first quantitative findings on changes of values in selected policies over the past two decades. The results of the analysis revealed the absence or low representation of sustainable development values (e.g. solidarity or tolerance) which may open up a discussion on the role of values in policy-making and possibly improve new, relevant Czech policies accordingly.

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC MATERIAL FLOWS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: PRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT

The conducted clinical and instrumental study revealed that the aggregate group of the patients with chronic diseases of throat differs by increased frequency of isolated and combined disorders of gastrointestinal tract. If a patient has such symptoms as hoarseness, tickling, scratching, burning, feeling of dryness in throat, frequent variant of gastro-intestinal tract disorders is gastroesophageal reflux disease with pharyngolaryneal reflux. There are such severe pathologies of throat as pachydermia of vocal cords and nodules of vocal cords among more frequently met disorders at gastro-intestinal tract diseases. High probability of accompanied pathology of throat in the form of pachydermia and nodules of vocal cords at patients with gastro-intestinal tract disorders stipulates for the necessity of conducting fibrorhynolaryngoscopy in combination with fibergastroscopy.Study presents short overview of drug situation’s indicators during the first, or heroin decade of drugs, and then during the second, soft and synthetic drugs decade of drugs in Slovakia. Then the results of series of nation-wide school surveys, mapping development of licit and illicit drugs use among children and youth during nineties are outlined. The results indicated constant growth of licit and illicit drugs consumption among primary school pupils, and secondary school students until the fourth wave of nation-wide school surveys in the years 2006 – 2007. However, the next wave after four years has detected profound change in the expected pattern of further growth in the case of illicit drugs. Instead of this decline of use or at least stabilization occurred among Slovak youth. At the same time we have found growth of use in the case of licit drugs – alcohol and tobacco, more profoundly among girls. Also the use of new synthetic drugs among young people was revealed via traditional school survey.

The nature of indicators for sustainable development and education for sustainable development on the international level

Clanek se zaměřuje na přistupy, jimiž jsou monitorovany a vyhodnocovany vzdělavaci aspekty v koncepci udržitelneho rozvoje a vzdělavani pro udržitelný rozvoj na mezinarodni urovni. Na zakladě obsahove analýzy řady dokumentů vztahujicich se jak ke koncepci udržitelneho rozvoje, tak ke koncepci vzdělavani pro udržitelný rozvoj, a sad indikatorů, ktere tyto dokumenty doprovazeji, dochazeji autoři k tomu, že indikatory vzdělavani monitorujici implementaci a dosahovani cilů, ať už strategii udržitelneho rozvoje nebo strategii vzdělavani pro udržitelný rozvoj, převažuji proceduralni indikatory, zpravidla kvantitativniho charakteru. Autoři v textu zdůrazňuji skutecnost, že koncepce udržitelneho rozvoje uzce souviseji s lidskými postoji a hodnotami a jejich proměnami vyvolanými mj. různými formami vzdělavani. V zavěru clanku proto autoři navrhuji, že by bylo velmi žadouci doplnit existujici indikatorove sady o indikatory popisujici pravě proměnu lidských postojů a hodnot.