null Czech Presidency to the Council of the EU

NCA CR

Czech Presidency to the Council of the EU

15. 7. 2022

The Czech Republic took over its already second presidency in the Council of European Union on July 1, 2022.

The Presidency (CZ PRES 2022) provides an important possibility to present success stories from nature conservation and landscape protection in the Czech Republic, but at the same time it reveals ability to coordinate the EU Member States during global negotiations on current as well as future approaches to nature and landscape heritage protection, conservation and management.

Priorities in nature conservation

  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): pushing the EU positions on international trade with fauna and flora at the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CITES.
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): adopting the Strategic Plan for 2030 (post2020 Global Biodiversity Framework) providing global priorities in biodiversity conservation formulated as quantitative goals/targets at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD.
  • Nature restoration targets – discussion on ecosystem restoration goals/targets in the terrestrial, freshwater and marine/coastal environment.

The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic´s (NCA) staff has been involved in developing expert/technical background and deliberations dealing with biological diversity, CITES and whaling.

Appart of its expertise, the NCA together with the Ministry of Environment will organize various events and excursions related to the meeting of Environmental Ministers on July 13-14, and during the Nature Directors’ Meeting on September 28-30.

International co-operation

Besides co-operation within institutions of the European Union, the Czech Republic has been developing its bilateral ties with neighbouring states as well as other countries – e.g. in the framework of the Czech-German Joint Commission on the Environment, the Czech-Polish Intergovernmental Commission for Cross-border Cooperation or the Visegrad Group. The Czech Republic has also been active in several twinning projects helping candidate and Eastern Partnership countries to harmonize their legislation with the EU environmental acquis. For example, NCA is recently implementing a project on legal and institutional development in line with European standards in Armenia – www.biodiversity.am. Other international activities of NCA are listed here.

Priorities in other environmental issues

From a point of view of the environment related issues, negotiations on Fit for 55 Package will be the most important priority for the Presidency of the Czech Republic in the Council of the European Union.

In addition to adaptation to climate protection and biological diversity conservation, other topics include circularity management and pollution reduction. Another significant task will be finding the consensus among the Member States on long-awaited proposal of the EU.

During the CZ PRES 2022, the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic wishes to draw attention to light pollution which has been within the EU rather omitted. Moreover, increasing light pollution caused by excessive or unsuitable during the night has become a serious global issue negatively influencing both humans and nature.   

For more details on the CZ PRES 2022 in relation to the environment, please visit the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic website.

Photo: Květa Černohlávková