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Protection of Nature and Sport

Publication at Faculty of Law |
2015

Abstract

The article seeks to address the sometimes overlapping phenomena of sport and environment. It is self-evident that a big share of sport activities take place outdoors in the nature.

Therefore it is not suprising that the legal regulation of the general as well as of the specific protection of nature aims at the regulation of sport as well. It may be observed that there are different limitations of sport activities in the nature based on the various sport disciplines and types of the specifically protected area.

It is also important to consider whether the sport activity is carried out on an individual basis or if an organized sport event is involved. The legal framework is based especially on the Act on the Protection of Nature and Landscape (Nr. 117/1992 Coll.) and several special pieces of legislation, such as the Forestry Act (Nr. 289/1995 Coll.) or by-laws adopted by the government, Ministry of Environment or specialized state bodies, which are set up in order to safeguard the protection of environment.

The paper is finished with the conclusion that in case of conflicting interests on the protection of environment and on the freedom to exercise sport activities, the environmental concerns should prevail. This should hold true especially in cases of areas with highly vulnerable and rare ecosystems.

Such approach is primarily consistent with the current state of law in the Czech Republic.