Syndrome approach applied in Ore Mountains: Difference between revisions

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== Syndromes of "use" ==
== “Use” syndromes ==
=== Syndrome of Sahel desert - excessive cultivation of marginal areas ===
=== The Sahel syndrome - excessive cultivation of margins ===
The Ore Mountains saw a boom in mining for metals, semiprecious and decorative stones, fluorite, and logging in the Middle Ages and modern times, and uranium mining in the post-war period, they used to have much more population than today, meaning more intensive farming, but overuse of the Ore Mountains may only refer to the post-war large-scale opencast lignite mining, which has directly threatened both the stability of their southern mountainsides by landslides into Čs. armády mine pit southwest of Černice and Horní Jiřetín, and the beech forest stands on these slopes by direct destruction by the mining, draining the groundwater, and drought from underneath due to exposing south-facing rock plates. This is therefore not a conventional case of overuse by excessive “cultivation” of margins in the sense of intensive farming or forestry.


The Ore Mountains were mined for metals, gemstones and decorative stone, wood, and fluorites in the Middle Ages, and uranium during the immediate post-war years. The area was significantly more populated than today and therefore intensively used for agriculture but in terms of excessive use we can speak for Krušné hory just about postwar grand quarry surface lignite mining, which imminently periled and still threatens both the stability of the southern slopes of the Krušné hory, landslides in the mining pit quarry Cs. Army located in the southwest of the Upper and Cernice Jiretin, secondly growths of beeches on the slopes of both the direct disposal of mining and demolition of groundwater, but also from under humidification and overheated exposed rock "plates" can be reversed to the south. We can’t speak about classic over cultivated peripheral areas in effect of intensive agricultural or forest production.  
=== The overuse syndrome - excessive use of natural ecosystems ===
The destruction of indigenous natural forest stands “en masse” in the Ore Mountains began already in the Middle Ages with the development of mining, towns, early factories and industry in the basin, for which wood was used as construction timber and an energy raw material used before and alongside coal. Like elsewhere, the indigenous mixed species and age forests in the Ore Mountains were gradually partly turned into age-identical “plantations” of spruce monoculture: much less ecologically stable, more prone to pest outbreaks, less resistant to windbreaks, less capable of performing non-production functions of forest, especially the water accumulation and soil protection functions and that of a refuge for a wide variety of other plant and animal species, thus much seriously impoverished concerning biodiversity. This first step towards destruction was then made complete by the pollution from opencast coal mining, high-density power and heating plant development, heavy metallurgical and chemical industries located in the basin below the mountains after World War II, when the spruce monoculture in the upper parts of the Ore Mountains began to die slowly: it was also exposed to the emissions as a consequence of the height of the smoke stacks; on the other hand, the beech forests in the transverse valleys and on the southern slopes survived as they were more resistant to the pollution. In an effort to conserve those at least, foresters have extended the felling interval of the beechwood, on the southern slopes in particular, meaning they are seriously overage today and it is high time they were rejuvenated. Attempts to renew the sprucewood were made in the 1970s where they had been destroyed by the pollution in the upper reaches of the mountains. However, plantings of domestic spruces failed due to continuing pollution, and the stands died again a few years later. That was why an attempt to plant the more resilient, non-indigenous blue spruce was made; it survived in some places but died in many others, and it is a far worse substitute for the domestic spruce as concerns its usability. Efforts to restore a full-fledged logging forest were therefore abandoned and, until the pollution problem would be resolved, foresters acceded to planting trees such as birches, rowans and other so-called “pioneer species”, whose task is to improve the soil, enrich it with humus, reduce its acidity and break up the crust that has formed near the ground as a result of condensation of neutralization of acid rain in a reaction with the alkaline soil components. There is no need to speak about other large-scale destruction of natural ecosystems in the Ore Mountains: if at all, it only occurs locally in connection to mining and development on a small scale so far; yet there are some potential risks, especially in connection with the development of wind and solar power plants, occupation of large areas of meadows and pastures, endangerment of wetlands and peat bogs by the amelioration effect of trenches for cables to transport the electricity generated to the grid, the need to build new access roads to these facilities, and finally, the return of sports and recreational facilities after the major air pollution sources in the basin were desulphurized or phased out in the 1990s and the situation on the Ore Mountains ridges and plateau has improved noticeably.


=== The syndrome of excessive use of over-exploitation of natural ecosystems ===
=== The countryside depopulation syndrome - environmental degradation due to abandonment of traditional farming practices ===
Depopulation of the entire border area after WWII – degradation, soil acidification, etc. Observable in the full width of the border area, comparison with the situation across the border.
Destruction of primary forest natural communities that began in the Krušné Hory in the large scale in the Middle Ages with the development of minerals mining, cities, factories and industry first in the foothills, for which the timber was first, as well as building material, both the energy resource used coal simultaneously. Natural mixed forests and all-aged the Krušné hory were like elsewhere gradually converted to partially even-aged stand spruce monocultures, much less ecologically stable and more prone to calamities pest, wind resistant to calamities, a lower-performing, non-productive forest functions, especially functions water-accumulative, soil protected, the role of refugium varied mix of other plant and animal species and thus significantly depleted in terms of biodiversity. This entering to the destruction was accomplished by exposure of exhalations from the surface mining of coal, a large concentration of power and heating plants, heavy metallurgical and chemical industries located in the foothills after World War II, when there was a gradual decay of the pine plantations at higher elevations of Krušné hory.  They were exposed to these emissions as well as chimney height, while beech forests in the cross valleys and on the southern slopes against emissions survived. In order to maintain those at least, the forest manager in particular the southern slopes of the Ore Mountains, crossed the rotation period of the beeches, but they are now very elderly, so it is high time to start restoring them. On the site, where the spruces were destroyed by pollution, there have been made attempts to restore the spruces in the 70th past century. Planting spruce original provenance, however, due to ongoing stress by pollution was not successful and stands a few years back were perished. Therefore, an attempt was made by planting more resistant non-original blue spruce, which survived in some places, but often also killed, and certainly it is not full-value substitute for spruce in terms of domestic use. Therefore, it was gradually resigned to a full economic recovery of forest and time to solve the problem of air pollution and foresters started to plant trees of types such as of birch, rowan and other so-called "pioneer species" that are designed to improve the soil profile, to bring more humus, to lower its acidity and excite crust, which is shallow beneath the surface created by precipitation and neutralization of acid rain reactions with bases of soil. It is not needed to mention any other serious destruction of ecosystem in Krušné hory - if at all, it occurs only locally in connection with mining and construction in the meantime on a small scale, although it still face to some danger - particularly with the development of the construction of wind and solar power, occupation of wide areas of pasture, wetlands and peat lands threats of ameliorate effect digs for cable-related leads of electricity to the networks, the need to build new roads to those facilities, and finally in connection with the return of equipment for sport and recreation. The biggest sources of air pollution in the foothills in the nineties of 20th century were desulphurized or shut down and the situation on the edge and the tableland of the Krušné hory is significantly improved.  


=== Syndrome of rural depopulation - caused by environmental degradation through abandonment of traditional agricultural practices ===
This syndrome after World War II was much more effective than the border guards leaving their posts after 1990. The eviction of the German population deprived the area of true managers, attached to the place and its natural conditions for centuries and several generations, who had managed the farmland and the forests relatively intensively given the climate conditions; on the other hand, the farming was reduced to extensive cattle grazing after the War, arable land and plant production almost disappeared except meadow keeping, and the intensity of forestry and logging also decreased. The country received insufficient new population regarding both quantity and quality; they were recruited in part among “prospectors” who only burgled the homes abandoned by the evicted Germans and then returned home to the hinterland, in part among Slovaks, Volhynian Czechs, Ruthenians, Hungarians and Roma, relocated after the War as part of a scheme to recruit new workforce and lured with a vision of easy acquisition of housing and property, but incapable of taking over the local economy at the same level that it had attained under the original German population. Strangely enough, the formerly relatively intensively managed territory and its vegetation cover have partly returned via natural succession to “quasi-natural” ecosystems – in the non-forested areas as well as on the sites of abandoned villages and hamlets – while the forests remained much more affected by the unnatural monoculture spruce afforestation. Therefore, one can now come across enclaves of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs amidst forest, whereas the country conceals now almost disappeared remains of cellars and foundations of ruined houses, frequently used as targets in military training after the War.


Depopulation of entire border zone after WWII - degradation, acidity of soil, etc. observable in the whole width of border, compared with the situation abroad.  
=== The dustbowl syndrome - unsustainable agricultural-industrial exploitation of soil and water resources ===
This syndrome has not been observed in the Ore Mountains historically or currently. Not even in the most populous times in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century did the farming production exceed the area’s sustaining capacity limits, and the water resources were not exploited excessively. As in other parts of the country, the early 20th century saw the development of some hydraulic structures intended for accumulation of water for the industry and the population, protection of the basin from torrential rainfall; they were proportionate to the area’s landscape character and fit in well with the ecosystem (e.g., Křižatky, Křímov, Jirkov). The same does not apply with the same degree of certitude to the larger reservoirs built after World War II, motivated by the same needs of the developing industry in the basin as well as growing flood prevention efforts, as the forests were losing – for the reasons described above – their capacity to retain water, delay the drainage and so reduce the effect of torrential rainfall and the resulting flood surges on the watercourses running towards the country’s interior, such as reservoirs Přísečnice north of Klášterec nad Ohří and Fláje north of Litvínov and Meziboří. However, protection of the huge strip mines in the basin required enormous interference with the original natural drainage system of the Ore Mountains: the water flows have been intercepted above the mine pits and conducted around the mines via man-made ducts up to tens of kilometres long. Of course that altered the hydraulic conditions in the basin, which lies in the rain shadow of the Ore Mountains and as such is  highly dependent on water feed off them. In consequence of the described mine protection measures, parts of the basin suffer from a lack of water, while others have excess water. That has forced water managers to build some of the largest drinking water delivery systems in the basin by connecting both surface and groundwater sources into the large North Bohemia water supply system, based on transfers of water among several catchment areas and provides reliable water supplies in spite of the above described interference with the hydraulic systems of both the mountains and the basin.


This syndrome undoubtedly toke effect after World War II, much seriously than leaving the positions of officers after 1990. While the expulsion of German population of the territory lost the true landlords, connected with the territory and its natural conditions for hundreds of years in many generations, who worked intensively under the climatic conditions on agricultural land, forests, after World War II the agriculture reduced to extensive livestock grazing, arable land and crop production up to meadow farming and grassland almost disappeared, forest management and wood production decreased in intensity as well. There was the lack of occupation not only in quantity but also quality of new people, recruited partly from the "gold-diggers", who just robbed an abandoned farm houses, expelled Germans and then returned "home" in the inland part of Slovaks, Volyň Czechs, Podkarpaty Russians, Hungarians and Gipsies, who moved there after the war in the kind of a recruitment, attracted to come there for simple possibility of acquisition of housing estates, but unable to take over the local economy at the same level as those achieved with the original German population. Ironically, as previously intensive used land and vegetation cover, especially in the woods, but in places abandoned settlements and they began to return to the natural succession of close to nature, ecosystems, while the forests have remained more marked by unnatural monoculture spruce forestation. That is the reason why we can now found in many places in the middle of forest enclaves, paradoxically, fruit trees, ornamental trees, while in the there are no visible cellars and foundations of demolished houses after the war, often serving as targets in exercises of the army.  
=== The Katanga syndrome - environmental degradation due to consumption of non-renewable resources ===
The Ore Mountains are past their heyday marked with mining for metallic ores, semiprecious stones, fluorite and uranium, and have been stained with no major environmental burdens with the exception of the uranium mining (spoil banks emitting increased radioactivity in particular). The area does not suffer from any large-scale construction stone quarrying. The same cannot be said about the North Bohemian Basin, where underground coal mining used to take place immediately adjacent to the southern sides of the Ore Mountains, and opencast strip mining is still in progress. Not only does it directly compromise the stability of the mountainsides and the beechwood around Jánský vrch and Chateau Jezeří, where it comes close to their bases; it also causes secondary damage due to the fact that the use of bucket-wheel excavators for removing the roof earth and the coal seam with intermediate layers does not allow any selective extraction of ceramic clay, gravel and other raw materials, which are mixed beyond all hope in the spoil heaps, meaning they are degraded and lost for any successive rational use.


=== Dust bowl syndrome - unsustainable agro-industrial use of land and water resources ===
=== The mass tourism syndrome - development and destruction of nature sites in consequence of recreation ===
Any high concentration of seasonal visitors, whether in the summer or winter seasons alone, is unnatural and potentially dangerous for a balance in the economic, social and environmental areas. Unlike the Giant Mountains, Jeseníky or Šumava, however, the Ore Mountains have not had an opportunity to achieve any overload due to sporting and recreational activities after decades of environmental degradation. Most of the facilities for tourism, sports and recreations built in the latter half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century as factory holiday facilities, as well as the additional recreational capacities in the basin spa towns, are overage and disappointing, requiring expensive renovation or replacement with new facilities. Notable crowds have been received in the winter season by the skiing resorts at Klínovec in the west and Buřňák and Telnice in the eastern part of the Ore Mountains. The chairlift from Bohosudov up to Komáří vížka north of Teplice is an attractive yet solitary tourist destination. New cross country skiing trails are being developed and maintained on the Ore Mountains plateau and mushing races are taking off, but developed  facilities for summer recreation are lacking, including good cycling paths, public baths (the attempt to build an aqua park in Bublava was a fiasco), etc. Therefore, the Ore Mountains do not suffer from the mass tourism syndrome. The contrary is true: they still have a great unused potential, which is even boosted by the opening of the German border and better transport links and co-operation with German tourist destinations in the northern parts of the mountains, such as (west to east) Klingenthal, Johann-Georgenstadt, Oberwiesenthal, Annaberg-Buchholz and Bärenstein, Olbernhau, Kurort Seiffen, and Zinnwald-Altenberg-Geising. This might attract clients from abroad to the Czech part of the Ore Mountains, only it would require offering the visitors something attractive, of which there is not much at present.
This syndrome did apply in the Krušné hory neither in the past nor at present time. Even during the largest growth of population in the late 19th and in the first half of the 20 century in the agricultural production did not exceed the carrying capacity of the landscape, not even the local water resources were overused. As in other parts of the country, there were some water creations established in the early 20th century designed to hold water for industry and population, to protect against the foothills of the torrential rainfall, which was a reasonable measure of the countryside and good "fit" into the surrounding ecosystem (eg Křižatky, Křimov, Jirkov). We cannot say with the confidence the same about the higher accumulation built after World War II. World War II, motivated by the same needs of the developing industry in the foothills, but increasingly the effort to protect against floods, where forests, due to the reasons described above, lost their ability to retain water, protect drainage and reduce the course of torrential rain and flood waves caused by the flow towards in the foothills, such as VD Přísečnoce north Klášterec nad Ohri or Flaje north Litvinov and Meziboří. However protecting large quarries in the foothills required major interventions in the original natural drainage situation, water from the Krušné hory, consisting in the interception of the mine shafts and lead away this work on artificial channel lengths up to tens of kilometers. This is obviously due to changing water conditions in the foothills, which is in the "shadow of collision" Krušné hory, and is highly dependent on the inflow of water from them. This led to the need of building water mains in the foothills of one of the largest drinking water supply systems, linking surface and groundwater resources in major water systems of North Bohemia, which is based on water transfers between river basins, and few resources, and ensure reliable supply in spite of the interventions in the water regime of the mountains and foothills.  


== Syndrome Katanga - environmental degradation caused by consumption of non-renewable resources ===
=== The scorched earth syndrome - environmental destruction due to wars and military actions ===
Since time immemorial, the Ore Mountains have been a natural protective bulwark for the Bohemian Basin and thus all of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the northern frontier of Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia later on; even the Czech Republic; however, military campaigns usually averted their ridges and plateau via nearby passes, especially Nakléřov Pass in the east. That was the point of penetration for Napoleonic French, Prussian, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian troops, and one of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place in the area in 1813, as attested by memorials of the involved armies at Přestanov, Chlumec and Telnice; it was through here that one of Nazi Germany’s line of troops arrived to occupy Sudetenland in 1938 and the rest of Bohemia in 1939; this was the way for the USSR’s tank army at the end of WWII when liberating Czechoslovakia in May 1945 and the occupation armies of the GDR and USSR in 1968. Oddly enough, most damage and death toll in the Ore Mountains were caused by the Napoleonic battles in the early 19th century; the largest amount of devastation was done by evicting the German population after WWII, resulting in the abandonment and destruction of many former settlements, homesteads, houses, factories, small water reservoirs, spring wells, association and cultural facilities, hiking paths, lookout towers, tourist inns, lookouts, churches, chapels, crucifixion columns, etc., which had belonged to the way of life and seal of responsible exploitation of the country, its natural resources and man-made reservoirs by the original population. The new arrivals often regarded this wealth as enemy acquisitions, loot, something that could be destroyed without remorse. That also made it easier to permit such an enormous devastation of the landscape, nature and settlements by the opencast lignite mining in the basin, associated with the destruction of more than 100 villages and towns, fertile land and enormous natural wealth including spa towns (formerly Klášterec nad Ohří, later on Kyselka near Karlovy Vary and recently also Bílina).
Krušné hory themselves regarding its mining of metal ores, precious stones, fluorite and uranium, are old-fashioned and to the consequences of uranium mining (including piles of increased radioactivity) after they left a greater environmental burden in the country. Territory suffers any over-extraction of aggregates for construction purposes. The same can be said about the foothills region, where in direct contact with the southern slopes of the Krušné hory ran deep, and has continued to surface coal mining. This is not only at areas close to the foot of the slopes around the castle and the hill Jansky Jezeri directly threatens the stability of slopes and vegetation cover beech, but there are secondary damages thanks to mining technology of trench hoes, which overburden overlying soils and their own coal seam with sloams not allowing selective mining of ceramic clay, gravel and other raw materials, which are hopelessly mixed with hoppers, thereby undermining and lost for some more rational use.  


=== Syndrome of mass tourism - development and destruction of nature as a result of recreation ===
== “Development” syndromes ==
Any large concentration of seasonal visitors, even if only in the summer or just winter, is unnatural and potentially dangerous to the balance of economic, social and environmental areas. However, unlike the Giant, or Jeseníky Sumava Ore Mountains, not yet after decades of environmental degradation, the opportunity to reach an overload sports and recreational activities. Most facilities for tourist use, sport and recreation, which was built in the second half of 19th and in the first half of the 20 century as a recreation industry background, but also offer variegate cruise offer spa towns in the foothills, the elderly and poor, requiring costly reconstruction or replacement by new buildings. Greater inflow of visitors have only experienced in the winter ski resorts in Klínovec in the western part, in Buřňák and Telnice in the eastern part of the Krušné hory. Solitaire attractive tourist destination in the offer is to climb the Bohosudov tower north of Teplice. On the plateau of the Krušné hory are currently building and maintaining new ski tracks, developing the dog races, but there is still a lack of more facilities for summer recreation, from high-quality cycling trails, facilities for swimming (financial mess ended in an attempt to establish the Aquapark Bublava) etc . Krušné hory therefore does not suffer from mass tourism syndrome - on the contrary are still significant untapped potential, and enhanced open borders with Germany and the possibility of better transport links and cooperation with the German tourist destinations on the north side of the mountains, such as from west to east Klingenthal, Johann- georgenstadt, Oberwiesenthal, Annaberg - Buchholz and Bärenstein, Olbernhau, Kurort Seiffen, Zinwald - Altenberg - Geising. This could bring to the Czech part of the Krušné hory and foreign clientele, just be there for something attractive to offer visitors and know what to expect.
=== The Aral Sea syndrome - environmental damage to landscape due to large-scale projects ===
The scale of the projects and the degree of areal burden are crucial. If they exceed the adaptation and regeneration capacities, the damage is irreversible. It is therefore crucial for controlling human activities to define the “degree” properly, which is usually difficult to do and difficult to defend against the pressure of business interests and money unless we learn to make a routine use of tools such as Seják’s or Dejmal’s economic assessment of ecosystem services and comprehensive project assessment in light of inputs and utilities, including externalities and throughout the effective period, not only the investor’s initial investment. The tolerable threshold has been fatally exceeded in the Ore Mountains as concerns the method, scale and extent of lignite mining, high density of power and heating plants, heavy industry in the basin, and their negative environmental impacts on both the basin and the mountains, impacts on the health of their population, the nature and landscape, the hydraulic system, the social composition of the population. The implications last to this day, and the battle is not over: see the attempts to break through the “territorial ecological mining limits” by the ČSA mine towards Černice and Horní Jiřetín and Litvínov. So far the efforts have failed to reverse the thinking of the North Bohemian business circles and public administrators and to refocus the region’s economic profile away from mining, power generation and heavy industry towards the tertiary sector: growth in services, healthcare, spa care, social welfare, tourism, and partial return of the primary sector to reclaimed mining areas and more sophisticated secondary-sector products and technologies that are less material and energy-intensive and achieve a higher valuation of inputs with less adverse implications for the environment and public health. The region has not come to that yet.


=== Syndrome scorched earth - environmental destruction due to wars and military actions ===
=== The green revolution syndrome - environmental degradation due to introduction of inappropriate management techniques ===
It seems nothing of this kind is a risk for the Ore Mountains, unless the attempt to change the current mixed forest stands in place of the dead spruce monocultures back to a spruce monoculture logging forest, and unless farmers try to drain the existing wetland on the plateau or change the existing meadows and pastures into fields on a large scale, as their permanent grassland protects the soil from wind and water erosion. A potential risk may arise from intensified cattle farming or expansion of farm or preserve artificial game production, as has been the case from time to time in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, I do not know about anything of this kind in the Ore Mountains (as opposed to the Lužické Mountains).
Krušné hory has always been a natural protective rampart of Czech part of borders and thus the Bohemian kingdom, the northern border of Austria-Hungary and later Czechoslovakia and finally the Czech Republic, but wars with their ridges and plateaus usually avoided by close passes, especially to pass on their Nakléřovského East side. Troops passed through here Napoleonic France, Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia and here in the foothills saw one of the battles of the Napoleonic wars, as was demonstrated today at the memorial of the participating armies Přestanov, Chlumec and Telnice of 1813, facing one way stream of Nazi troops Germany during the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938 and the rest of Bohemia in 1939, passed Panzer Army broke the end of the 2nd USSR World War II during the liberation of Czechoslovakia in May 1945 and occupying armies GDR and the USSR in 1968. Most of the damage and human casualties caused by all but those military operations here in the Erzgebirge, paradoxically, the Napoleonic battles of the 19th century and the greatest devastation occurred to the deportation of the German population after World War II, coupled with no occupation and destroying many of the earlier settlements, farms, houses, factories, small water reservoirs, wells, and federal cultural facilities, hiking trails, observation towers, a restaurant, prospects, churches and chapels, etc., which were way of life and the seal of the responsible use of land, natural resources and man-made fund of ancestral people. Newcomers have seen this wealth often as enemy property, plunder, for something that is not a shame to destroy it. Also, because it was easier to commit the huge devastation of the landscape, nature and housing surface mining of brown coal in the foothills, associated with destruction of more than 100 villages, fertile land and vast natural resources, including a spa (formerly Klasterec N. O., and later Kyselka near Karlovy Vary and recently also Bílina).  


== Syndromes of “development” ==
=== The Asian tiger syndrome - ignoring of environmental standards in the process of rapid economic growth ===
The Ore Mountains did not undergo any such era in the Middle Ages or the early modern times, where intensive mining was going on and mining towns were founded, and let us hope that the Basin is now past the era as well. New risks of this type might arise from developing recreation and tourism as well as transport if the public administrators fail to responsibly define and enforce observation of adopted regulations for human activities using land-use planning and environmental impact assessment as tools. Another important factor will be which way the Basin industries will focus: whether they choose to keep their existing products and technologies or refocus on technologies and products that do not harm the environment. I cannot think of any other risks.


=== Syndrome of the Aral Sea - environmental damage as a result of large-scale landscape projects ===
=== The favela syndrome - environmental degradation due to unrestrained urban growth ===
In the Ore Mountains as such, there are no major settlements with a development potential that would attract as many new people as to having to build favela-type makeshift accommodation. Nothing like that is a threat in the Basin either. However, in some towns immediately adjacent to the mountains such as Rotava, Nejdek, Chodov, Ostrov, Klášterec n. O., Kadaň, Chomutov, Jirkov, Most, Litvínov, Lom, Osek, Bílina, Duchcov, Teplice, Krupka and Ústí nad Labem, some parts may turn into ghettos for Romany and other less adaptive and less easily integrated populations, which may result in both a degradation of their accommodation facilities (see Chanov housing estate near Most) and major coexistential defects and even open conflict (Chomutov council distraining debtors’ social allowances, the recent open conflict with violence in Janov housing estate in Litvínov, Romany violence on a Gadjo in Krupka-Bohosudov with a racial undertone, and more). These issues call for solutions: you could as Milan Šťovíček, the new MP for Věci veřejné and former mayor of Litvínov (then ODS).
The decisive factor is the scale of projects and the burden rate. Whenever the area has an ability to adapt and regenerate, the damage might be irreversible; therefore the human activities are crucial for the regulation of correct identification of that "degree", which is heavy and against the pressure of business interests and the money hardly defensible, if we learn how to routinely use tools such Seják’s and Dejmal’s method of economic evaluation of ecosystem services, and comprehensive assessment of projects in terms of contributions and benefits, including externalities, and the entire period of operation, not just the initial investment of the investor. For the Krušné hory was a fatal excess of reasonable rate in this manner, scale and scope of lignite mining in the high concentration of power, heating, heavy industry in the foothills and their negative impacts on the environment surrounding the nearby Krušné hory, on the health of their inhabitants, nature, landscape, water regime and the social composition of the population. Consequences persist to this day, and yet all ended - see attempts re-breakthrough so-called "territorial limits of ecological exploitation" in the space of quarry VČSA towards Cernice and Horní Jiretin and Litvinov. The fail to achieve a turnover in the business community in North Bohemia heads or representatives of public administration and the reorientation of the economic profile of the region from mining, energy, heavy industry to the Tertiary, therefore, to develop services, healthcare, spa, social welfare, tourism, a partial return primer the reclaimed areas after mining and secondary then to more sophisticated, the raw material and less energy-intensive products and technologies with a higher evaluation of inputs and lower negative impact on the environment and public health. This is still waiting to be done in this particular area.


=== Green Revolution Syndrome - environmental degradation due to the introduction of inappropriate farming methods ===
=== The urban sprawl syndrome - destruction of landscape due to planned expansion of urban infrastructures ===
But for hints of such developments around Karlovy Vary and near Teplice to Ústí nad Labem along the eastern foothills, nothing of this kind is a real risk in and below the Ore Mountains at the moment, although things may change if the environment improves even more and the economies of the Basin towns revive so that the area again becomes attractive for new settlers. Only locals have been building so far: in Skorotice and Božtěšice in Ústí nad Labem; areas around Karlovy Vary are newly settled by a specific group of investors: a numerous Russian community, taking residence on an unprecedented scale, using funds probably illegally acquired in Russian and elsewhere to corrupt local public administrators and ignore the country’s regulations, which somehow irritates not only locals. An alarming case is a Mr. Styepanov, who is building a Russian village inside Slavkovský les PLA illegally; corrupt Karlovy Vary building authority has “whitewashed” it properly for him.
It seems that something like this does not threat the Krušné hory, unless renewed attempt to alter the mixed stand today on the ground dead spruce monocultures again monocultural pine forest and economic, if not in agriculture Attempts to drain the plateau existing wetlands or to a greater extent zornit existing grassland and pastures, where the permanent grass protects the soil against wind and water erosion. Potential danger could be the intensification of livestock extension or farming industry of artificial forest animals for meat, as sometimes occurs in the CR. But so far nothing of this in the Erzgebirge (unlike the Lusatian Mountains) I know about.


=== Syndrome of the Asian tigers - to ignore environmental standards in the course of rapid economic growth ===
=== The serious accident syndrome - unique human-induced environmental disasters with long-term impacts ===
The Ore Mountains saw its environmental disaster in the latter half of the 20th century, when the spruce forests died as described above. The consequences of the soil acidification will last for decades, and full-fledged forest may be expected to return in a hundred years. A potentially dangerous factor is the growing climate fluctuations, more frequent thunderstorms, torrential rains, and destructive winds, because the Ore Mountains are the first major terrain obstacle in the generally north-westerly flow of humid and (in summer) warm ocean air across the German plains to Central Europe, and their deforestation has reduced their natural accumulation capacity and ability to extend the drainage period into longer periods. There is thus a potential risk of floods in the Basin rather than one for the Ore Mountains as such. If we ignore the risk of rupture of the dams in a seismic event or as a consequence of detonations caused by the lignite mining below the southern mountainsides, leaks of dangerous chemicals or fires in the chemical plant in Litvínov-Záluží or the chemical and metallurgical compound in Ústí nad Labem, practically no other natural or human-induced disaster with potential impacts away in the Ore Mountains can be taken into account.
Krušné hory hadn´t experienced such a period of both in the Middle Ages, both the beginning of modern times, when it carried out extensive exploration and mining town was formed, and hopefully it is the foothills of this phase of development as well as themselves. Recently such risk may involve the development of recreation and tourism and transport, where the failure to provide the public administration responsible and to enforce respect for the regulator to human activity planning tools and assessment environment. It will be important how the foothills of the industry will be directed and whether it will retain the existing manufacturing and technology programs, or redirecting the technology and products harmful to the environment. There are no other threats which I can think of now.


=== Favela syndrome of environmental degradation due to uncontrolled urban growth ===
== “Slump” syndromes ==


In the Krušné hory there are large settlements with development potential such as to attract as many new residents who would have to rise apartment provisional favelas. Nothing similar to what we can observe in the foothills. However in some cities, close to the foothills as Rotava, Letterkenny, Chodov Island, Klasterec n. O., Kadan, Chomutov, Jirkov, Most and Litvinov, Lom, Osek Bilina, Duchcov Teplice, Krupka and Usti nad Labem, there is the conversion of some parts of the Roma ghettos and other less adaptable and less integrable population, which could lead to the degradation of construction funds (controlled by Chánov settlement in bridge), but also to significant disruptions in living up to the open conflict (with the government of Chomutov confiscation of social support debtors, recently open conflict with violence on a housing estate in Litvinov Genoa, Roma violence in the Gadje Krupka - with racial overtones Bohosudov and others). The attention should be paid on ths – a person whom might share his experience the best is Šťovíček Milan, a new member for public affairs and a former mayor Litvinova (formerly ODS).
=== The smokestack syndrome - environmental degradation due to large-scale spread of substances surviving in the environment for a long time ===
Syndrome bush settlement - destruction of the landscape as a result of the planned expansion of urban infrastructure .
The Ore Mountains have been experiencing this syndrome since the beginnings of the industrial development in the Basin in the 19th century and, on a slightly increased scale, until the end of the First Republic; it escalated after World War Two, and the soil contamination with pollutants from both air and precipitation caused by it has continued until this day, although the pollution concentrations and compositions have less adverse effects now. The situation has not been relieved by airplane lime application either, as it has had other secondary adverse impacts, because it does achieve a neutralization of the acidified soil, but it introduces a foreign element into the environment to which neither the local plants nor animals, whether indigenous or not, are not adapted; as a result, the lime application has some beneficial effects but it also contributes to a destruction of those autochthonous societies that have survived. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.


Besides the signs of such developments around Carlsbad and in the eastern parts of Teplice and Usti nad Labem is no such thing, in the Krušné hory and their foothills there yet, but it may change, improve when more significantly the environment and boost the economy if cities foothills so that the area is becoming attractive again for new habitants. Nowadays, just the ancestral habitants are living there - as in Usti nad Labem in Skorotice or Božtěšicích around Karlovy Vary is a specific group of investors large community of Russians who are settled in an unprecedented scale, using apparent in Russia and elsewhere improperly obtained funds which corrupt local governance and comply with our regulations, which somewhat irritates not only "natives." A warning case of Mr Stepanov, one involving the Russian village in the Slavkov Forest Protected Landscape illegally by corrupting his office building in Carlsbad later robbed of.  
=== The waste deposition syndrome - environmental degradation due to controlled and uncontrolled waste disposal ===
A newly occurring risk in the areas along the German border is the attempted illicit deposition of waste the proper disposal or deposition of which is subject to payment in both German and the Czech Republic. There are some entrepreneurs-idiots who will cover up such “waste imports” with a fictitious design to recycle or reuse such waste without really intending to, so they develop no capacities for such handling and only cash in remuneration for their barbarism and lack of respect to their country. When caught, they will try to set the imported “intermediate repository” on fire to get rid of the waste on the spot. Unfortunately, the sparsely populated Ore Mountains, being a vast area with no effective public supervision by the population, visitors, mountain rescue and police, are a destination for such efforts by both Germans and Czechs. Perhaps you could ask some freshly elected MPs: Rudolf Chlad, Head of Ore Mountains Rescue Service, or David Kádner, a former staffer of the security service in Nová Ves v Horách; our common friends include Petr Pakosta from Hora Sv. Kateřiny and perhaps above mentioned Milan Šťovíček and PaeDr. Jiří Roth from Chomutov back when they were still in public administration.  


=== Syndrome of severe accident environmental unique man-made disaster with long-term impact ===
=== The contaminated soil syndrome - local contamination of environmental assets in industrial areas ===
See above comments.  
In the Krušné hory they experienced an environmental catastrophe in the second half of the 20 century, when the pine woods died, as described above. Consequences of soil acidification persist even decades, and a full return of the forest is expected to be a hundred years. Potentially dangerous fluctuations in climate are growing, more frequent storms, torrential rain, winds destroying because Krušné hory are the first major obstacle on the field mainly from northwest to southeast flow converting wet summer and warm ocean air across the German plains of central Europe and reduce the deforestation of their natural storage capacity and ability to prolong the period of run-off over a longer period. It is therefore a potential risk of flooding in the foothills, and the fact that the Krušné hory. Leaving the risk of disruption such as tanks, built in a seismic event or due to vibration caused by coal mining under the southern slopes, leaks of dangerous chemicals or fire at chemical plant in Litvinov - Záluží, the Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production in Usti nad Labem other natural or man-made disaster, with possible consequences to the Krušné hory probably comes practically into account.  


== Syndromes "slump" ==
== Other conflicts not described above ==


===Chimney syndrome environmental degradation due to the extensive spread of longterm substances ===
=== Conflict between generations concerning the perception of possible coexistence with Germans ===
In the area along the German border, there are noticeable differences in how Germany and Germans are perceived by people who witnessed the end of the First Republic and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the War, the generation born right after the War and raised by the previous one under a communist government, and the younger, not post-war generations, who are impeded by neither their own adverse memories nor the communist indoctrination. The young ones no longer lend an ear to threats of Sudeten Germans returning or claiming compensations for their eviction and lawlessly confiscated property and impose a collective blame on the entire German Sudeten population, whereas the old ones are still sensitive to that, and many Czech politicians still succeed in playing that game and ghosting around (all of the Communist Party, Klaus, Bobošíková, and others). Yet cross-border co-operation with neighbouring municipalities and people in Germany, who are now recovering from the much similar heritage of the communist (SED) rule in former East Germany and also need to pick up somehow, is a chance for revival in this country too. The West German, Bavarian side, which is richer than Saxony and took up patronage over the interests of the evicted Germans after the War, shows evident efforts to help restore at least parts of the shared natural and cultural heritage in the Czech borderland. However, it should not be one-sided aid from Germans to Czechs. We should show an effort to restore the disrupted relations, forgive, admit errors, claim the common heritage and contribute our share instead of just accepting aid from the outside without adequately protecting proofs of mutual forgiveness, as has been the case around Broumov. We do want to be Europeans together and live in peace, or do we not?
This syndrome Krušné hory have experienced since the early industrial development in the foothills in the 19 century, increasingly slightly to the end of the 1st Republic, for its escalation occurred after the World War II, and contamination with pollutants from air and precipitation caused by the deposition continues today, although the concentration and composition of air pollution are no longer what the adverse effects of currently lower. So far it does not help either air liming, which again has secondary negative effects, because it achieves while neutralizing acidity of the soil, but it brings to an environment alien elements, which are adapted to local or indigenous and conservation of the flora or fauna, and so in addition to favorable effects, unfortunately, contributes to the disruption of liming still surviving indigenous communities. It's breaking wedge.


=== Syndrome dumping of waste environmental degradation due to controllable and uncontrollable disposal ===
=== Conflict of conservation status in the Ore Mountains versus economic development, e.g. wind and photovoltaic power plant development ===
Newly found dangers in border areas with Germany, are attempts to impose on us black waste, for whose the proper disposal or storage in Germany must also pay the CR. There are also entrepreneurs – dumbs who have such "import waste" a fictitious cover such intent to recycle waste or use something, without it they really intend to, so it does not build any capacities and withheld a "reward" for their barbarism and disrespect for their own country . When caught tries imported "interim storage" of waste and burn it gets rid of on the spot. Sparsely populated Krušné hory are a vast territory with no effective public control of residents, visitors, Mountain Rescue Service and Police, unfortunately, to these efforts from the Czech and German sides. The newly elected Members of Parliament may have something to tell about - Chief Mountain Ore Mountains Rudolf cold or former employee of Security Services at Nova Ves Kádner David Hills, from our mutual friends Peter Pakosta from Mount St. Catherine, and perhaps already mentioned Milan Šťovíček or PaeDr. George Roth from Chomutov of his work in public administration.


=== Syndrome soil contamination of local environmental assets in industrial areas ===
A crucial problem when handling these conflicts and problems in this country is the irreconcilability of views, lingering in extreme and one-sided opinions, continuing overt specialization, inability to communicate in civilized ways, and failure to search for mutually acceptable solutions even if each party would have to back off a bit from their so-called “rights and powers”. When protecting the landscape character, the MoE underrates not only the economic and social pillars of sustainability but, strangely enough, even some aspects of the environmental pillar: an inability to distinguish between areas and admit that the new structures may enrich the country in some places rather than ruining it, while they cannot be admitted in other places for various reasons. It is a question of measure and case-by-case assessment as well as a nation-wide consideration: no other place in the Czech Republic has such favourable wind conditions outside the two highest-level protected nature sites (national parks and protected landscape areas) that the Ore Mountains have.


See the notes already mentioned above.
Prague, 2 June 2010
 
== Other conflicts of blank ==
 
=== Conflict between the generations in understanding the possible coexistence of Germans ===
At the border with Germany is a significant difference in the perception of Germany and the Germans among people who experienced the end of 1st Republic and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the war. The postwar generations immediately, brought the one preceding and during the communist rule and the youngest, no more post-war generations, imaginative own sinister or memories, or communist indoctrination. Those young people already hear the Sudeten Germans, the threat of the return or the required compensation for evictions and possessions seized without a court applying the principle of collective guilt on all of the Sudeten German population, while the elderly are still sensitive to this and many Czech politicians with this card and still successfully play haunts (a KSCM , Klaus, Bobošíková and others). While cross-border cooperation with neighboring communities and people in Germany, which emerged in this part of the increase much like legacy of communist rule (SED) in the former GDR, and also needs to recover, is a chance for revival in our country. Respectively on the (West) Germany. Bavarian side, which is richer than Saxony after the war and took over the patronage of the interests of Germans displaced, there is a clear effort to help restore at least some common natural and cultural heritage in the Czech border. But it should not be just one way we help them. We should also express their desire for restoration of damaged relationships, forgive, admit mistakes, subscribe to the common heritage and contribute your own work, not just accept outside help, and preserve sufficient evidence of mutual forgiveness, as the case happened to Broumovsko. We want to be together and Europeans live in peace, don’t we?
 
=== Conflict of protective regimes in the Krušné hory - to economic development such as construction of wind or photovoltaic power ===
The fundamental problem in dealing with these conflicts and problems in our inflexible positions, holding extreme views and one-sided, lasting inability to communicate and civilized unawareness of mutually acceptable solution, even if everyone had 'something' to backtrack on its so-called "rights and powers". By the Ministry is in the defense of the landscape character of the underestimation of both the economic and social pillars of sustainability, but, paradoxically, some aspects of the environmental pillar, territorially the inability to differentiate and recognize that sometimes these new objects rather than a obstruction, but even enrich the landscape and elsewhere is really allow for various reasons can not. It's a matter of degree and individual assessment, but also considering the national context - nowhere else in the CR is not as favorable wind conditions outside the top two categories of nature that is outside national parks and protected landscape areas, just as in the Krušné hory.


{{License cc|Martin Říha}}
{{License cc|Martin Říha}}

Revision as of 14:43, 23 September 2011

“Use” syndromes

The Sahel syndrome - excessive cultivation of margins

The Ore Mountains saw a boom in mining for metals, semiprecious and decorative stones, fluorite, and logging in the Middle Ages and modern times, and uranium mining in the post-war period, they used to have much more population than today, meaning more intensive farming, but overuse of the Ore Mountains may only refer to the post-war large-scale opencast lignite mining, which has directly threatened both the stability of their southern mountainsides by landslides into Čs. armády mine pit southwest of Černice and Horní Jiřetín, and the beech forest stands on these slopes by direct destruction by the mining, draining the groundwater, and drought from underneath due to exposing south-facing rock plates. This is therefore not a conventional case of overuse by excessive “cultivation” of margins in the sense of intensive farming or forestry.

The overuse syndrome - excessive use of natural ecosystems

The destruction of indigenous natural forest stands “en masse” in the Ore Mountains began already in the Middle Ages with the development of mining, towns, early factories and industry in the basin, for which wood was used as construction timber and an energy raw material used before and alongside coal. Like elsewhere, the indigenous mixed species and age forests in the Ore Mountains were gradually partly turned into age-identical “plantations” of spruce monoculture: much less ecologically stable, more prone to pest outbreaks, less resistant to windbreaks, less capable of performing non-production functions of forest, especially the water accumulation and soil protection functions and that of a refuge for a wide variety of other plant and animal species, thus much seriously impoverished concerning biodiversity. This first step towards destruction was then made complete by the pollution from opencast coal mining, high-density power and heating plant development, heavy metallurgical and chemical industries located in the basin below the mountains after World War II, when the spruce monoculture in the upper parts of the Ore Mountains began to die slowly: it was also exposed to the emissions as a consequence of the height of the smoke stacks; on the other hand, the beech forests in the transverse valleys and on the southern slopes survived as they were more resistant to the pollution. In an effort to conserve those at least, foresters have extended the felling interval of the beechwood, on the southern slopes in particular, meaning they are seriously overage today and it is high time they were rejuvenated. Attempts to renew the sprucewood were made in the 1970s where they had been destroyed by the pollution in the upper reaches of the mountains. However, plantings of domestic spruces failed due to continuing pollution, and the stands died again a few years later. That was why an attempt to plant the more resilient, non-indigenous blue spruce was made; it survived in some places but died in many others, and it is a far worse substitute for the domestic spruce as concerns its usability. Efforts to restore a full-fledged logging forest were therefore abandoned and, until the pollution problem would be resolved, foresters acceded to planting trees such as birches, rowans and other so-called “pioneer species”, whose task is to improve the soil, enrich it with humus, reduce its acidity and break up the crust that has formed near the ground as a result of condensation of neutralization of acid rain in a reaction with the alkaline soil components. There is no need to speak about other large-scale destruction of natural ecosystems in the Ore Mountains: if at all, it only occurs locally in connection to mining and development on a small scale so far; yet there are some potential risks, especially in connection with the development of wind and solar power plants, occupation of large areas of meadows and pastures, endangerment of wetlands and peat bogs by the amelioration effect of trenches for cables to transport the electricity generated to the grid, the need to build new access roads to these facilities, and finally, the return of sports and recreational facilities after the major air pollution sources in the basin were desulphurized or phased out in the 1990s and the situation on the Ore Mountains ridges and plateau has improved noticeably.

The countryside depopulation syndrome - environmental degradation due to abandonment of traditional farming practices

Depopulation of the entire border area after WWII – degradation, soil acidification, etc. Observable in the full width of the border area, comparison with the situation across the border.

This syndrome after World War II was much more effective than the border guards leaving their posts after 1990. The eviction of the German population deprived the area of true managers, attached to the place and its natural conditions for centuries and several generations, who had managed the farmland and the forests relatively intensively given the climate conditions; on the other hand, the farming was reduced to extensive cattle grazing after the War, arable land and plant production almost disappeared except meadow keeping, and the intensity of forestry and logging also decreased. The country received insufficient new population regarding both quantity and quality; they were recruited in part among “prospectors” who only burgled the homes abandoned by the evicted Germans and then returned home to the hinterland, in part among Slovaks, Volhynian Czechs, Ruthenians, Hungarians and Roma, relocated after the War as part of a scheme to recruit new workforce and lured with a vision of easy acquisition of housing and property, but incapable of taking over the local economy at the same level that it had attained under the original German population. Strangely enough, the formerly relatively intensively managed territory and its vegetation cover have partly returned via natural succession to “quasi-natural” ecosystems – in the non-forested areas as well as on the sites of abandoned villages and hamlets – while the forests remained much more affected by the unnatural monoculture spruce afforestation. Therefore, one can now come across enclaves of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs amidst forest, whereas the country conceals now almost disappeared remains of cellars and foundations of ruined houses, frequently used as targets in military training after the War.

The dustbowl syndrome - unsustainable agricultural-industrial exploitation of soil and water resources

This syndrome has not been observed in the Ore Mountains historically or currently. Not even in the most populous times in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century did the farming production exceed the area’s sustaining capacity limits, and the water resources were not exploited excessively. As in other parts of the country, the early 20th century saw the development of some hydraulic structures intended for accumulation of water for the industry and the population, protection of the basin from torrential rainfall; they were proportionate to the area’s landscape character and fit in well with the ecosystem (e.g., Křižatky, Křímov, Jirkov). The same does not apply with the same degree of certitude to the larger reservoirs built after World War II, motivated by the same needs of the developing industry in the basin as well as growing flood prevention efforts, as the forests were losing – for the reasons described above – their capacity to retain water, delay the drainage and so reduce the effect of torrential rainfall and the resulting flood surges on the watercourses running towards the country’s interior, such as reservoirs Přísečnice north of Klášterec nad Ohří and Fláje north of Litvínov and Meziboří. However, protection of the huge strip mines in the basin required enormous interference with the original natural drainage system of the Ore Mountains: the water flows have been intercepted above the mine pits and conducted around the mines via man-made ducts up to tens of kilometres long. Of course that altered the hydraulic conditions in the basin, which lies in the rain shadow of the Ore Mountains and as such is highly dependent on water feed off them. In consequence of the described mine protection measures, parts of the basin suffer from a lack of water, while others have excess water. That has forced water managers to build some of the largest drinking water delivery systems in the basin by connecting both surface and groundwater sources into the large North Bohemia water supply system, based on transfers of water among several catchment areas and provides reliable water supplies in spite of the above described interference with the hydraulic systems of both the mountains and the basin.

The Katanga syndrome - environmental degradation due to consumption of non-renewable resources

The Ore Mountains are past their heyday marked with mining for metallic ores, semiprecious stones, fluorite and uranium, and have been stained with no major environmental burdens with the exception of the uranium mining (spoil banks emitting increased radioactivity in particular). The area does not suffer from any large-scale construction stone quarrying. The same cannot be said about the North Bohemian Basin, where underground coal mining used to take place immediately adjacent to the southern sides of the Ore Mountains, and opencast strip mining is still in progress. Not only does it directly compromise the stability of the mountainsides and the beechwood around Jánský vrch and Chateau Jezeří, where it comes close to their bases; it also causes secondary damage due to the fact that the use of bucket-wheel excavators for removing the roof earth and the coal seam with intermediate layers does not allow any selective extraction of ceramic clay, gravel and other raw materials, which are mixed beyond all hope in the spoil heaps, meaning they are degraded and lost for any successive rational use.

The mass tourism syndrome - development and destruction of nature sites in consequence of recreation

Any high concentration of seasonal visitors, whether in the summer or winter seasons alone, is unnatural and potentially dangerous for a balance in the economic, social and environmental areas. Unlike the Giant Mountains, Jeseníky or Šumava, however, the Ore Mountains have not had an opportunity to achieve any overload due to sporting and recreational activities after decades of environmental degradation. Most of the facilities for tourism, sports and recreations built in the latter half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century as factory holiday facilities, as well as the additional recreational capacities in the basin spa towns, are overage and disappointing, requiring expensive renovation or replacement with new facilities. Notable crowds have been received in the winter season by the skiing resorts at Klínovec in the west and Buřňák and Telnice in the eastern part of the Ore Mountains. The chairlift from Bohosudov up to Komáří vížka north of Teplice is an attractive yet solitary tourist destination. New cross country skiing trails are being developed and maintained on the Ore Mountains plateau and mushing races are taking off, but developed facilities for summer recreation are lacking, including good cycling paths, public baths (the attempt to build an aqua park in Bublava was a fiasco), etc. Therefore, the Ore Mountains do not suffer from the mass tourism syndrome. The contrary is true: they still have a great unused potential, which is even boosted by the opening of the German border and better transport links and co-operation with German tourist destinations in the northern parts of the mountains, such as (west to east) Klingenthal, Johann-Georgenstadt, Oberwiesenthal, Annaberg-Buchholz and Bärenstein, Olbernhau, Kurort Seiffen, and Zinnwald-Altenberg-Geising. This might attract clients from abroad to the Czech part of the Ore Mountains, only it would require offering the visitors something attractive, of which there is not much at present.

The scorched earth syndrome - environmental destruction due to wars and military actions

Since time immemorial, the Ore Mountains have been a natural protective bulwark for the Bohemian Basin and thus all of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the northern frontier of Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia later on; even the Czech Republic; however, military campaigns usually averted their ridges and plateau via nearby passes, especially Nakléřov Pass in the east. That was the point of penetration for Napoleonic French, Prussian, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian troops, and one of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place in the area in 1813, as attested by memorials of the involved armies at Přestanov, Chlumec and Telnice; it was through here that one of Nazi Germany’s line of troops arrived to occupy Sudetenland in 1938 and the rest of Bohemia in 1939; this was the way for the USSR’s tank army at the end of WWII when liberating Czechoslovakia in May 1945 and the occupation armies of the GDR and USSR in 1968. Oddly enough, most damage and death toll in the Ore Mountains were caused by the Napoleonic battles in the early 19th century; the largest amount of devastation was done by evicting the German population after WWII, resulting in the abandonment and destruction of many former settlements, homesteads, houses, factories, small water reservoirs, spring wells, association and cultural facilities, hiking paths, lookout towers, tourist inns, lookouts, churches, chapels, crucifixion columns, etc., which had belonged to the way of life and seal of responsible exploitation of the country, its natural resources and man-made reservoirs by the original population. The new arrivals often regarded this wealth as enemy acquisitions, loot, something that could be destroyed without remorse. That also made it easier to permit such an enormous devastation of the landscape, nature and settlements by the opencast lignite mining in the basin, associated with the destruction of more than 100 villages and towns, fertile land and enormous natural wealth including spa towns (formerly Klášterec nad Ohří, later on Kyselka near Karlovy Vary and recently also Bílina).

“Development” syndromes

The Aral Sea syndrome - environmental damage to landscape due to large-scale projects

The scale of the projects and the degree of areal burden are crucial. If they exceed the adaptation and regeneration capacities, the damage is irreversible. It is therefore crucial for controlling human activities to define the “degree” properly, which is usually difficult to do and difficult to defend against the pressure of business interests and money unless we learn to make a routine use of tools such as Seják’s or Dejmal’s economic assessment of ecosystem services and comprehensive project assessment in light of inputs and utilities, including externalities and throughout the effective period, not only the investor’s initial investment. The tolerable threshold has been fatally exceeded in the Ore Mountains as concerns the method, scale and extent of lignite mining, high density of power and heating plants, heavy industry in the basin, and their negative environmental impacts on both the basin and the mountains, impacts on the health of their population, the nature and landscape, the hydraulic system, the social composition of the population. The implications last to this day, and the battle is not over: see the attempts to break through the “territorial ecological mining limits” by the ČSA mine towards Černice and Horní Jiřetín and Litvínov. So far the efforts have failed to reverse the thinking of the North Bohemian business circles and public administrators and to refocus the region’s economic profile away from mining, power generation and heavy industry towards the tertiary sector: growth in services, healthcare, spa care, social welfare, tourism, and partial return of the primary sector to reclaimed mining areas and more sophisticated secondary-sector products and technologies that are less material and energy-intensive and achieve a higher valuation of inputs with less adverse implications for the environment and public health. The region has not come to that yet.

The green revolution syndrome - environmental degradation due to introduction of inappropriate management techniques

It seems nothing of this kind is a risk for the Ore Mountains, unless the attempt to change the current mixed forest stands in place of the dead spruce monocultures back to a spruce monoculture logging forest, and unless farmers try to drain the existing wetland on the plateau or change the existing meadows and pastures into fields on a large scale, as their permanent grassland protects the soil from wind and water erosion. A potential risk may arise from intensified cattle farming or expansion of farm or preserve artificial game production, as has been the case from time to time in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, I do not know about anything of this kind in the Ore Mountains (as opposed to the Lužické Mountains).

The Asian tiger syndrome - ignoring of environmental standards in the process of rapid economic growth

The Ore Mountains did not undergo any such era in the Middle Ages or the early modern times, where intensive mining was going on and mining towns were founded, and let us hope that the Basin is now past the era as well. New risks of this type might arise from developing recreation and tourism as well as transport if the public administrators fail to responsibly define and enforce observation of adopted regulations for human activities using land-use planning and environmental impact assessment as tools. Another important factor will be which way the Basin industries will focus: whether they choose to keep their existing products and technologies or refocus on technologies and products that do not harm the environment. I cannot think of any other risks.

The favela syndrome - environmental degradation due to unrestrained urban growth

In the Ore Mountains as such, there are no major settlements with a development potential that would attract as many new people as to having to build favela-type makeshift accommodation. Nothing like that is a threat in the Basin either. However, in some towns immediately adjacent to the mountains such as Rotava, Nejdek, Chodov, Ostrov, Klášterec n. O., Kadaň, Chomutov, Jirkov, Most, Litvínov, Lom, Osek, Bílina, Duchcov, Teplice, Krupka and Ústí nad Labem, some parts may turn into ghettos for Romany and other less adaptive and less easily integrated populations, which may result in both a degradation of their accommodation facilities (see Chanov housing estate near Most) and major coexistential defects and even open conflict (Chomutov council distraining debtors’ social allowances, the recent open conflict with violence in Janov housing estate in Litvínov, Romany violence on a Gadjo in Krupka-Bohosudov with a racial undertone, and more). These issues call for solutions: you could as Milan Šťovíček, the new MP for Věci veřejné and former mayor of Litvínov (then ODS).

The urban sprawl syndrome - destruction of landscape due to planned expansion of urban infrastructures

But for hints of such developments around Karlovy Vary and near Teplice to Ústí nad Labem along the eastern foothills, nothing of this kind is a real risk in and below the Ore Mountains at the moment, although things may change if the environment improves even more and the economies of the Basin towns revive so that the area again becomes attractive for new settlers. Only locals have been building so far: in Skorotice and Božtěšice in Ústí nad Labem; areas around Karlovy Vary are newly settled by a specific group of investors: a numerous Russian community, taking residence on an unprecedented scale, using funds probably illegally acquired in Russian and elsewhere to corrupt local public administrators and ignore the country’s regulations, which somehow irritates not only locals. An alarming case is a Mr. Styepanov, who is building a Russian village inside Slavkovský les PLA illegally; corrupt Karlovy Vary building authority has “whitewashed” it properly for him.

The serious accident syndrome - unique human-induced environmental disasters with long-term impacts

The Ore Mountains saw its environmental disaster in the latter half of the 20th century, when the spruce forests died as described above. The consequences of the soil acidification will last for decades, and full-fledged forest may be expected to return in a hundred years. A potentially dangerous factor is the growing climate fluctuations, more frequent thunderstorms, torrential rains, and destructive winds, because the Ore Mountains are the first major terrain obstacle in the generally north-westerly flow of humid and (in summer) warm ocean air across the German plains to Central Europe, and their deforestation has reduced their natural accumulation capacity and ability to extend the drainage period into longer periods. There is thus a potential risk of floods in the Basin rather than one for the Ore Mountains as such. If we ignore the risk of rupture of the dams in a seismic event or as a consequence of detonations caused by the lignite mining below the southern mountainsides, leaks of dangerous chemicals or fires in the chemical plant in Litvínov-Záluží or the chemical and metallurgical compound in Ústí nad Labem, practically no other natural or human-induced disaster with potential impacts away in the Ore Mountains can be taken into account.

“Slump” syndromes

The smokestack syndrome - environmental degradation due to large-scale spread of substances surviving in the environment for a long time

The Ore Mountains have been experiencing this syndrome since the beginnings of the industrial development in the Basin in the 19th century and, on a slightly increased scale, until the end of the First Republic; it escalated after World War Two, and the soil contamination with pollutants from both air and precipitation caused by it has continued until this day, although the pollution concentrations and compositions have less adverse effects now. The situation has not been relieved by airplane lime application either, as it has had other secondary adverse impacts, because it does achieve a neutralization of the acidified soil, but it introduces a foreign element into the environment to which neither the local plants nor animals, whether indigenous or not, are not adapted; as a result, the lime application has some beneficial effects but it also contributes to a destruction of those autochthonous societies that have survived. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The waste deposition syndrome - environmental degradation due to controlled and uncontrolled waste disposal

A newly occurring risk in the areas along the German border is the attempted illicit deposition of waste the proper disposal or deposition of which is subject to payment in both German and the Czech Republic. There are some entrepreneurs-idiots who will cover up such “waste imports” with a fictitious design to recycle or reuse such waste without really intending to, so they develop no capacities for such handling and only cash in remuneration for their barbarism and lack of respect to their country. When caught, they will try to set the imported “intermediate repository” on fire to get rid of the waste on the spot. Unfortunately, the sparsely populated Ore Mountains, being a vast area with no effective public supervision by the population, visitors, mountain rescue and police, are a destination for such efforts by both Germans and Czechs. Perhaps you could ask some freshly elected MPs: Rudolf Chlad, Head of Ore Mountains Rescue Service, or David Kádner, a former staffer of the security service in Nová Ves v Horách; our common friends include Petr Pakosta from Hora Sv. Kateřiny and perhaps above mentioned Milan Šťovíček and PaeDr. Jiří Roth from Chomutov back when they were still in public administration.

The contaminated soil syndrome - local contamination of environmental assets in industrial areas

See above comments.

Other conflicts not described above

Conflict between generations concerning the perception of possible coexistence with Germans

In the area along the German border, there are noticeable differences in how Germany and Germans are perceived by people who witnessed the end of the First Republic and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the War, the generation born right after the War and raised by the previous one under a communist government, and the younger, not post-war generations, who are impeded by neither their own adverse memories nor the communist indoctrination. The young ones no longer lend an ear to threats of Sudeten Germans returning or claiming compensations for their eviction and lawlessly confiscated property and impose a collective blame on the entire German Sudeten population, whereas the old ones are still sensitive to that, and many Czech politicians still succeed in playing that game and ghosting around (all of the Communist Party, Klaus, Bobošíková, and others). Yet cross-border co-operation with neighbouring municipalities and people in Germany, who are now recovering from the much similar heritage of the communist (SED) rule in former East Germany and also need to pick up somehow, is a chance for revival in this country too. The West German, Bavarian side, which is richer than Saxony and took up patronage over the interests of the evicted Germans after the War, shows evident efforts to help restore at least parts of the shared natural and cultural heritage in the Czech borderland. However, it should not be one-sided aid from Germans to Czechs. We should show an effort to restore the disrupted relations, forgive, admit errors, claim the common heritage and contribute our share instead of just accepting aid from the outside without adequately protecting proofs of mutual forgiveness, as has been the case around Broumov. We do want to be Europeans together and live in peace, or do we not?

Conflict of conservation status in the Ore Mountains versus economic development, e.g. wind and photovoltaic power plant development

A crucial problem when handling these conflicts and problems in this country is the irreconcilability of views, lingering in extreme and one-sided opinions, continuing overt specialization, inability to communicate in civilized ways, and failure to search for mutually acceptable solutions even if each party would have to back off a bit from their so-called “rights and powers”. When protecting the landscape character, the MoE underrates not only the economic and social pillars of sustainability but, strangely enough, even some aspects of the environmental pillar: an inability to distinguish between areas and admit that the new structures may enrich the country in some places rather than ruining it, while they cannot be admitted in other places for various reasons. It is a question of measure and case-by-case assessment as well as a nation-wide consideration: no other place in the Czech Republic has such favourable wind conditions outside the two highest-level protected nature sites (national parks and protected landscape areas) that the Ore Mountains have.

Prague, 2 June 2010

Creative Commons Author: Martin Říha. This article was published under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. How to cite the article: Martin Říha. (28. 03. 2024). Syndrome approach applied in Ore Mountains. VCSEWiki. Retrieved 13:40 28. 03. 2024) from: <https://vcsewiki.czp.cuni.cz/w/index.php?title=Syndrome_approach_applied_in_Ore_Mountains&oldid=2099>.