Czech Republic

C

Natural Resources

The Czech Republic has relatively poor mineral resources. Coal is the most common and profitable natural resource, particularly brown coal and lignite. Increased excavation and use of coal have wreaked environmental havoc on air and water quality, which has subsequently affected the health of the populace. Magnesite, iron ore, and a few non-metallic minerals are also common in parts of the republic. There are sizeable uranium deposits and smaller mercury, antimony, and tin deposits in the Ore Mountains (part of the Bohemian Mountains).

D

Plants and Animals

Spruce and fir trees are the most common trees in the republic’s forests, particularly at higher elevations, while mixed forests of oak, ash, and maple are characteristic in lower zones. The uncultivated lowlands are covered mostly with clover, reeds, and broom grass. Wildlife is becoming scarce because of pollution and deforestation, but wolf, brown bear, wild boar, wildcat, white eagle, chamois, and fox are found in the mountainous Carpathian region.

E

Environmental Concerns

The Czech Republic operates four nuclear reactors but produces most of its energy by burning domestic coal. Much of the coal burned is low quality with a high ash and sulphur content, producing high levels of air pollution. Partly as a result of this, the incidence of illnesses doubled in Prague between 1975 and 1990.

Forests in the Czech Republic are among the most seriously affected by acid rain in all of Europe—about 57 per cent had been damaged by air pollution by the mid-1980s. Fertilizer applications are uncontrolled; in some areas of the country the nitrate content is so high that the water is considered unsafe for human consumption.

Within the Czech Republic about 3,500 plant species and 60,000 animal species are known, including invertebrates. There are three national parks and about 190 other reserves and specially protected sites and the government has ambitious plans to increase the extent of the system. Five biosphere reserves have been designated under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program at Krivoklátsko (1977), Trebon Basin (1977), Palava (1986), Sumava (1990), and Bílé Karpathy; ten sites have been declared under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

III

Population

The population of the Czech Republic is predominantly Czech, or Bohemian. Indeed, the creation of the republic in 1992-1993 was partly justified by supposed ethnic tensions with the Czechs’ eastern neighbours, the Slovaks, though there are few historical cases of severe ethnic disputes. (The Moravians are often classed as Czech, though they consider themselves an independent group.) The Czechs are descended from Slavic tribes who appeared in Bohemia and Moravia in the 5th century ad and drove the Avars out of the region in the 7th century. Czechs constitute 81.2 per cent (1991 census figures) of the population of the Czech Republic. Moravians constitute 13.2 per cent, Slovaks 3.1 per cent, and 2.5 per cent of the population is made up of other ethnic groups, including Germans, Roma (Gypsies), Poles, and Hungarians. One formerly significant ethnic group now no longer in evidence is the once sizeable Jewish population of the region. Individuals emigrated or were killed by occupying German forces prior to and during World War II.

A

Population Characteristics

The Czech Republic has a population of 10,228,744 (2007 estimate). Average population density is 132 people per sq km (343 people per sq mi). Around 75 per cent of the republic’s population is urban (2005 estimate). Population is concentrated chiefly in the north and east, with the south-western areas towards the southern German and Austrian borders being relatively sparsely settled.