<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>Translation</title> </head> <body> <p>Naturalists and ecologists are against the construction of the Danube-Odra-Elbe canal.</p> </body> </html>

Source
Vladimír Klepáč
Publisher
ČTK
23.10.2014 14:00
Brno - Natural scientists and ecologists are against the planned construction of the Danube-Odra-Elbe shipping canal, as they believe it would cause significant damage to the environment. It would allow the expansion of non-native plants into Czech nature, lead to the desiccation of the landscape, and also result in a decline in groundwater levels and supplies. They stated this in their joint position on the project, which is supported, among others, by President Miloš Zeman. The position is available to ČTK. Scientists hope that the project remains only on paper.
    Representatives of the natural science and ecological faculties of Masaryk, Palacký, Charles, and South Bohemian universities signed the statement today in Brno. Representatives of the Czech Society for Ecology, the Coalition for Rivers, which brings together ten non-profit organizations, and the Czech Limnological Society (which deals with the study of continental waters) also added their signatures.
    "The impacts that the construction would have would be immeasurable," Martin Rulík, the chair of the Czech Limnological Society, told ČTK today. Non-native and invasive plant species - such as Japanese knotweed and touch-me-nots - could begin to spread uncontrollably on the banks of the canal and the streams it would connect. The canal would likely become an insurmountable barrier for migrating animals.
    According to scientists, it would be a significant problem to fill the canal with water. This would lead to the draining and drying up of rivers and landscapes, their statement says. Scientists reject the view that the construction of the canal would be a significant flood protection measure. Experts also point out that the Czech Republic is bound by international treaties to protect nature, and the construction of the canal would represent a harmful intervention.
    Their statement today is identical to the declaration of the Czech Academy of Sciences' Environmental Committee from this February. According to it, the construction currently lacks economic, social, or ecological justification. The president, on the other hand, believes that connecting the rivers by a canal would stimulate the Czech economy, as a water corridor for the transport of goods would be created in the center of Europe.
    The Danube-Odra-Elbe canal is a project that has existed for more than a hundred years. Experts point out that it would cost hundreds of millions of crowns. Scientists discussed it today in Brno in a debate on the Hydrobiological and Ecological Consequences of the Planned Construction of the Danube-Odra-Elbe Corridor. It was organized by the Department of Botany and Zoology of the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University.
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