A new edition of the five-day training courses on wetland restoration was held between the 2nd and 6th October 2023 in the Czech Republic, with a focus on restoration of mires affected by drainage, peatlands after peat extraction, drained spring areas and channelized or piped small streams.
The course was organised in support of the implementation of Ramsar Convention Resolutions adopted at COP8, COP12, COP13 and COP14 (listed below) and of the Work Plan of the Carpathian Wetland Rarmsar Regional Initiative:
- Resolution VIII.34: Agriculture, wetlands and water resource management
- Resolution XII.9: The Ramsar Convention’s Programme on communication, capacity building, education, participation and awareness (CEPA) 2016-2024
- Resolution XIII.19: Sustainable Agriculture in Wetlands
- Resolution XIV.7: Ramsar Regional Initiatives
The course was this year again organised by Libuše Vlasáková from the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, in collaboration with Martina Eiseltová, member of the Czech Ramsar Committee, who works for the Center for Theoretical Studies of the Charles University and Ján Kadlečík from the Carpathian Wetland Initiative (CWI), State Nature Conservation Agency of the Slovak Republic. Financial support was provided by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic and the CWI.
The course was attended by 10 participants from countries of the Carpathian region and Central Europe, including two colleagues from international NGO based in Austria, and one participant from Colombia.
During the course participants visited on-going restoration projects in three Czech Ramsar sites: Šumava mires, Springs and mires of the Slavkovský les Forest, and Mires of Krušné hory Mountains.
The course was dominated by practical demonstrations in the field supplemented by theoretical lectures in the evenings presenting the broader aspects of the restoration projects, project planning and designs, monitoring data on hydrology of the sites, vegetation changes, etc. All the course participants were given an opportunity to present projects that they are involved in within their organisations.
Big thanks go to the guides of the field excursions and lecturers: Ivana Bufková, Lukáš Linhart (Šumava National Park), Přemysl Tájek (Slavkovský les Forest Protected Landscape Area) and Vladimír Melichar (Krušné hory Mires). We thank also to all participants for their dedication and interest.
The course was very well received and thanks to an overwhelming interest we expect to convene a similar course in the coming years.
Key presentation on wetlands restoration in the Šumava NP and presentations of participants you can find here:
- LIFE for MIRES Ramsar Training October 2023 (I. Bufková) [PDF, 38.71 MB]
- CWI Training CZ October 2023 (J. Kadlečík) [PDF, 2.18 MB]
- Ecohydrological restoration peatlands in the Carpathians (P. Polák) [PDF, 7.72 MB]
- Restoration of wetlands Danube River (A. Kušíková) [PDF, 6.55 MB]
- Wetlands restoration in PLA Kysuce (Z. Vaclavová) [PDF, 4.31 MB]
- Wetlands Protection in Poland (A. Borucka) [PDF, 4.78 MB]
- Peatlands in Orawa – Nowy Targ Basin (Ewelina Zając) [PDF, 6.16 MB]
- Presentation ALFAwetlands (I. Shchoka) [PDF, 7.13 MB]
- BiodiverCities (María Mejía) [PDF, 21.83 MB]