The role of Bioeconomy in the Czech national forest strategy: a comparison with Sweden

Abstract

The 2012 European Bioeconomy Strategy has been adopted in some European countries' national policies. However, it has not been officially included in the Czech Republic's national policy. In Sweden, the Bioeconomy Strategy has been adopted in the national policy and the National Forest Programme (NFP). The paper reviews the current forest policy in the Czech Republic in meeting the purposes of the forestbased bioeconomy by performing a comparative study between the Czech Republic and Sweden. As bioeconomy principles are core values in the Swedish NFP it aims not only to deliver sustainable forest products and ecosystem services to support forest enterprises but also to achieve a fossil-fuel-free Sweden. Although the Czech Forest Policy denotes the European Bioeconomy Strategy as one of the reference documents, it does not directly relate to shifting from fossil fuels to bioenergy. The implementation of the Czech document is limited to the forest-based sector. Bioeconomy principles are expected to be included in inter-ministerial committees at the government level in the Czech Republic. The challenges faced by the country include fulfilling the provision of sustainable forest biomass and high added-value products while harmonising forest policies and regulations.