Czech forestry subsides coherence with environmental policy objectives

1 Vojtěch Kotecký Czech forestry subsides coherence with environmental policy objectives Abstract: Public bodies in the Czech Republic spend on average about CZK 1.2 billion (€ 44 million) a year on subsidy schemes in forestry. Subsidies are an important instrument of public policy; they also have major environmental consequences and may influence ability of forests to contribute towards ecosystem services. Consistency of forestry subsidies with the government's environmental policy goals in the Czech Republic is investigated in this thesis. Almost half of Czech subsidy budget is appropriated to schemes that have got an element of conflict with environmental policy goals incorporated in their design; thus, a range of environmentally harmful subsidies is potentially identified here. However, a number of schemes - and, in 27% of subsidy expenditure, even the same schemes, also contribute towards the same policy objectives. Farmland afforestation payments, contributing to the government's goal of forest expansion but shown in a statistical analysis to be focused primarily on regions with high forest cover, and involving a surplus of Norway spruce with a deficit of both European beech and silver fir, are an illustration of complex nature of forestry subsidies