Agriculture and environment - Overview
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The quality of environment in the Hradec Králové region is to a large extent influenced by its natural and geographical circumstances. In comparison with other regions in the whole country the quality of environment is relatively very high (the foot of the Krkonoše and Orlické mountains), satisfactory and slightly disturbed (ridge parts of the mountains and part of the Elbe plain). The quality of air is however higher in relation to other parts of the country and the level of pollution is lower. The region is rich in subterranean and surface water sources (the piedmont and mountain regions in the northern and eastern parts of the region). The subterranean water reserves are linked also to the lower-lying chalk hydrogeological structures. One of the most important is the Police basin. |
The extreme amount of hydrological precipitations in the years 1997, 1998 and 2000 (melting snow) were a clear example that flooding is a natural phenomenon to be taken into consideration even in the Hradec Králové region. The disastrous amount of rainfall that caused floods in the area of Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Dvůr Králové and elsewhere stimulated works that should contribute to the improvement of anti-flooding protection.
The forested surface is 146.7 ha large, which is 30.8 per cent of the whole area of the region. Besides that, there is a whole range of unique territories and localities of great natural worth. From the point of view of the beauties of nature, the most valuable areas are situated in the northern and north-eastern part of the region - the Krkonoše national park, the protected landscape areas of Broumov and Orlické mountains. Besides that, there are a number of smaller protected landscape areas, among which there are five most valuable national nature reserves and monuments - Trčkov, Bukačka, Adršpašské skály and Teplické skály, Broumovské stěny and the Babiččino údolí.
The agricultural tradition of the region is long-standing and it is concentrated mainly into the Elbe plain Polabí. The foothill and mountainous regions are less favourable for that type of activity. A new type of private enterprise has been coming into existence there though, and that is agrotourism (mainly in the Broumov promontory). Agricultural land for primary production is abundant in the region and the connected processing industries are also available close at hand. As opposed to the second half of the 20th century, when the original agricultural traditions of the region were disrupted, the recent trends are focused towards the development of ecological agriculture aiming at the preservation of the functions of the landscape and at a higher rate of employment of the rural population. |
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