The protection and sustainable use of forests from the legal point of view

1 The protection and sustainable use of forests from the legal point of view Abstract The main goal of the dissertation is to provide a comprehensive analysis of fundamental sources of legal regulation of forest protection and sustainable use of forests, to identify main shortcomings of existing instruments and the possibilities to overcome these deficiencies in the future at the international level, European Union level, and the level of the Czech Republic. The dissertation deals first with the significance of the complex forest functions, through which the economic social, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of the whole society are satisfied and are indispensable for all life on Earth. The legal regulation should strive to ensure the balanced use of forest functions by promoting the principles of sustainable forest management, the protection of forest functions and the general use of forest by the public. In view of the importance of forests beyond the borders of a state, the dissertation deals also with the status of the forest as a natural resource, which is fundamentally influenced by the principles of international and environmental law. In order to increase the responsibility of states for forest protection, it would help to regard forests as a natural resource of "common concern", the..