DESCRIPCIÓN DE LA MUESTRA

Area are threatened by overgrowing with trees, especially Scots Pine and Black Locust. Such overgrowing results in serious changes in the structure of these habitats and furthermore decreases the diversity of their unique flora and fauna. The second project does however deal directly with land used for military training and exercises. Therefore, since 2006 to 2011 the Military Technical and Testing Institute Zahorie, in cooperation with the State Nature Conservation of the Slovak Republic and the Regional Association for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (BROZ), implemented the project ‛Restoration and Management of Sand Dunes Habitats in Zahorie Military Training Area’ (ZAHORIE SANDS, LIFE06NAT/SK/000115) [6]. The main objective of the project is to contribute to the development of the European network of protected areas NATURA 2000 in the Zahorie Military Training Area, especially through the enhanced conservation of the sand dunes and dry heaths habitats, their restoration and improvement of the living conditions for their characteristic species. [2] Project area is formed by three Sites of Community Importance (SCI Bežnisko, SCI Kotlina and SCI Šranecké piesky). All three SCIs are actively used as shooting ranges and located in Zahorie MTA.

The following activities have been performed as a part of project implementation: - Elaboration and testing of new methods and approaches to the habitat

management in military areas to reconcile Natura 2000 conservation requirements with their military use;

- Elaboration and implementation of comprehensive Management Plans for 3 Sites of Community Importance (SCI Bežnisko, SCI Kotlina and SCI Šranecké piesky) - Implementation of specific restoration and management measures and

improvement of habitat conditions for the most threatened plant and animal species at the total area almost 500 ha;

- Favourable conservation status of the habitats and species of Community interest was reached at all 3 project sites;

- Education and training of project personnel, including excursions, seminars and workshops for staff of partner organizations participating in the project;

- Raising awareness of military personnel on nature conservation topics and improvement of cooperation between military and nature conservation institutions on nature conservation management in Zahorie MTA and other military areas in Slovakia;

65 - Raising public awareness on nature conservation in military areas and other project issues through project presentation in the media, publishing information and education materials, organizing lecture and excursions and installing information panels at project sites. [7, 8]

5 Conclusion

There are some deep differences between the Central and Eastern Europe countries, as well as some remarkable parallelisms. Between those countries which are now members of the EU and those which are not. In the former, there is an obligation to designate Natura 2000 sites, which can include military areas, and to ensure that species and habitats from the Habitats and Birds Directives are kept in a favourable state of conservation. In the other countries, there is no such legal and enforceable obligation to designate ecologically valuable military lands as conservation areas. Only the more or less voluntary international conventions such as Bern, Bonn, Ramsar or CBD are applying here. Countries like Croatia which are candidates for EU accession are however already aligning their environmental and nature policies to the EU models, and the Council of Europe-sponsored Emerald network is in many ways parallel to Natura 2000 in its scientific concept and strategy.

The transformation programs affecting all the Armed Forces of the countries mean that some training areas and other facilities have been, or will be, decommissioned, while other training areas will be modernized and the training program itself will be changed. The shift away from a conscript army means less basic training, but the target of building up a professional army implies more training, especially more advanced training. Wherever training programs are being transformed, there is an opportunity to introduce principles of ecological care into the new training schemes.

Slovakia is interesting because it appears that here the obligation to designate Natura 2000 areas as a result of Slovakia’s accession to the EU in May 2004, has been a powerful catalyst in bringing together environment agencies, NGOs and military authorities to starting nature conservation work on military land. In the 1990s, after the foundation of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, cooperation began between military and environment authorities, mainly at a local level. An example of this was a project to restore the original hydrological regime in a section, six kilometres long, of the Rudava River, which flows through the Zahorie military training area. With Latvia and Hungary, Slovakia appears to be the CEE/SEE country where practical nature restoration and management work within military areas, and the collaboration between defence and environment authorities and NGOs, is most advanced. Thus, these three countries can act as role models and examples.

References

[1] GAZENBEEK, A. LIFE, Natura 2000 and the military. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities : Luxemburg, 2005. ISBN 92-894- 9213-9, ISSN 1725-5619.

[2] KLIMOVÁ, K. a ŠÍBL, J. Tajomný svet pieskových dún vo vojenskom obvode Záhorie. Štátna ochrana prírody SR : Banská Bystrica, 2009. 28 str. ISBN 978-80- 89310-50-0.

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[3] HÖNTSCH, K. and JOHST, A. Military training areas of high nature conservation value in Central and Eastern Europe – first analysis of database and networking process. Available on the Internet [online] http://www.adazinatura.lv/~/media/Fotogalerija/Adazi/Sarolta_Tripolsky.ashx. [4] NATURE FOUNDATION DAVID: Nature conservation and the military in

Central and South-Eastern Europe. Available on the Internet [online] < http://www.naturstiftung.de/uploadfiles/documents/Militaer/2806_095349_Overvi ew_total_engl_15_2012_06_28.pdf>.

[5] VALACHOVIČ, D. Mokrade európskeho významu vo vojenskom obvode Záhorie. Štátna ochrana prírody SR : Banská Bystrica, 2006. 30 str. ISBN 80-89035-70-1. [6] EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG ENVIRONMENT – LIFE UNITS. LIFE

country factsheet – Slovakia 2012. Available on the Internet [online] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/countries/documents/slovakia_en_jun12.pdf. [7] ŠÍBL, J. a KLIMOVÁ, K.: Obnova a manažment biotopov pieskových dún vo

vojenskom výcvikovom priestore Záhorie. VTSÚ, ŠOP SR a BROZ : Senica - Bratislava, 2011. 28 str. ISBN 978-80-89310-64-7.

[8] DIRECTORATE GENERAL ENVIRONMENT, UNIT E.4. LIFE: Ex-Post Evaluation of Projects and Activities Financed under the LIFE Programme Country-by-country analysis - Slovakia. July 2009. Available on the Internet [online]

<http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/evaluation/doc uments/eval_slovakia.pdf>.

67

SECURITY CULTURE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Miroslav Mareš

Abstract: The aim of this paper is a basic analysis of security culture in the Czech Republic

within the general conceptual framework elaborated by James Sperling (worldview of the external environment, national identity; instrumental preferences; interaction preferences). The author focuses on important actors and ideological streams within the security debate in the Czech Republic and their perception of security culture. Four short case studies are included in this analysis.

Keywords: Security culture, Czech Republic, Kosovo crisis, NATO-summit, radar base.

1 Introduction

Security culture is a concept used in contemporary security studies for the analysis of security governance and security development. It refers to the a broader environment of security debates and decisions. Research on security culture in various countries was carried out [5], however, up to now not in a comprehensive form in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, many publications deal with partial issues in this research field [3,7,9]. This paper aims to a description of the basic concept and categories of security culture (elaborated by James Sperling because the concept of this author seems to be influential and suggestive within this scientific discipline) and its use for a basic analysis of the Czech situation.