1991 - 2006. EUROBATS celebrates its 15th anniversary

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44 EUROBATS Publication Series No 1 Countries Bat conservation in the Czech Republic by Eva Cepakova and Libuse Vlasakova It can justly be said that among the countries of Europe the Czech Republic has one of the longest traditions of bat research. Modern Czech chiropterology dates back to the 1940s and 19 0s, and is associated especially with the names of Jiri Gaisler and Vladimir Hanak. It is a striking fact that extensive bat ringing began in this country as early as 1948, and regular counts in hibernacula have been carried out continuously since 1969, becoming a unique source of valuable long-term data on bat population trends. While the level of bat research has also been kept high by succeeding generations of scientists at universities, at the Czech Academy of Science and in museums, bat conservation in the Czech Republic has had a less dynamic development. On the one hand, basic legislative protection of bats was endorsed in the 1960s and markedly strengthened in 1992 by the new Act on Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection, which provided general protection to all bat species and special protection to 13 species. However, in actual practice, conservation of bats and their roosts is something that cannot be simply imposed by law. In the wake of legislation, it is the enthusiastic commitment of particular individuals working for governmental authorities and in NGOs that supply the driving force when particular conservation cases need to be solved. Interestingly, the year 1991, when the EU- ROBATS Agreement was signed by the first Parties, also witnessed a major step forward by bat conservation in the Czech Republic. In that year, Ceska spolecnost pro ochranu netopyru (CESON, “The Czech Bat Conservation Trust”) was established. It was, and still is, the only non-governmental organisation in the country specialising in bats. The society was founded by a group of professional zoologists, and in the first years of its existence the focus was mostly on research activities such as co-ordination of winter counts, but as the number of CESON members gradually increased over the years, the scope of the organisation has grown accordingly. Nowadays, CESON has Field trip of CESON members to National Nature Reserve Krive jezero in South Moravia: Professors Hanák and Horácek are preparing a net for bat monitoring.
some 110 associates, including many ama- teur and ‘hobby’ bat workers, active in both research and practical conservation of bats. Together with a partner organisation in Slo- vakia, CESON issues an international jour- nal, Vespertilio. Joining EUROBATS From its very beginning in the early 90s, Czech chiropterologists considered EURO- BATS as a highly important international Agreement, providing essential support to bat conservation efforts at national level. As a result of their activity, as well as the favourable political environment of that pe- riod (which saw the collapse of the commu- nist system), the Agreement was accepted by the Parliament without further problems, and in 1994 the Czech Republic became one of the first Eastern European Parties to EU- ROBATS. Unlike some other international treaties of a more general nature, EUROBATS has produced noticeable effects in the Czech Republic and resulted in concrete actions. Once EUROBATS became a part of national legislation, it was used as a cogent argu- ment for more consistent bat conservation, e.g. in cases where bat roosts were threa- tened by plans for infrastructural development or tourism facilities. Moreover, new obligations arising from the EUROBATS resolutions have encouraged research and data collection in some fields where hither- to little information was available. For example, a new project aimed at stu- dying the use of various types of forests by bats was launched by the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno with financial support from the Ministry of the Environ- ment. Similarly, the cooperation between 1991-2006 • EUROBATS celebrates its 15 th anniversary Czech bat workers and veterinary experts on the issue of bat rabies has been strengthened. The German brochure on bat-friendly practices resulting from sustainable forest management, which was made available to EUROBATS Parties, has been translated into Czech and distributed among forest managers throughout the country. There is one scene of action where the contribution of EUROBATS is especially ap- parent. The European Bat Night has been organised annually in the Czech Republic since 1999 and has met with surprising success. Non-governmental organisations (including CESON) work together here with the administrations of protected landscape areas and national parks, as well as with na- tural history museums in the different regi- ons, but the event has also proved to be a great attraction to the media. Currently, the number of EBN locations has reached 20, with a visitor count of about 1,900. Thus the EBN has become one of the country’s main enterprises for raising public awareness of environmental issues, beating even the tra- ditional bird-watching events organised by a Czech BirdLife partner. Expanding the influence of EUROBATS Viewed overall, the positive influence of EUROBATS can be traced in many areas of bat conservation in the Czech Republic. However, implementation of the Agreement and its resolutions could be made more effective in our country if a larger number of people was involved. Thanks to the initiative of Ms. Libuse Vlasakova, the administrative focal point for EUROBATS, a small working group consisting of representatives from the Ministry of the Environment, the Agen- cy for Nature Conservation and Landscape 4
Page 1 and 2: EUROBATS Publication Series No 1 19
Page 3: When one tugs at a single thing in
Page 7 and 8: Contents Foreword 1991-2006 • EUR
Page 9 and 10: Foreword 15 years of EUROBATS, a mo
Page 11 and 12: On the eve of the 1 th anniversary
Page 13 and 14: monitoring activities and advising
Page 15 and 16: Happy Birthday EUROBATS! NABU, the
Page 17 and 18: an Agreement on the Conservation of
Page 19 and 20: Signing of the Bats Agreement: Rt.
Page 21 and 22: Just over 1 years ago, I got a new
Page 23 and 24: was finalised by using part of the
Page 25 and 26: the conservation of Schreiber´s ba
Page 27 and 28: were adopted with some amendments w
Page 29 and 30: and non-governmental organisations
Page 31 and 32: 1991-2006 • EUROBATS celebrates i
Page 33 and 34: at conservation programs. The Agree
Page 35 and 36: fauna is represetned. At present 28
Page 39 and 40: Monitoring Bats are extensively stu
Page 41 and 42: the EUROBATS Agreement, in conjunct
Page 43 and 44: different villages in the Bulgarian
Page 45: Myotis capaccinii © Boyan Petrov N
Page 53 and 54: an unacceptable rate of injuries ca
Page 57 and 58: International exchange If we look a
Page 59 and 60: The Bat House The Bat House was fou
Page 63 and 64: Participants at a bat detector trai
Page 67 and 68: Future challenges Looking to EUROBA
Page 69 and 70: to develop effective conservation s
Page 75 and 76: the 28 th September 2004, when the
Page 79 and 80: Recent conservation activities In r
Page 83 and 84: • establishing a national databas
Page 87 and 88: lionidae family, so the number of p
Page 89 and 90: an ongoing data-processing and -upd
Page 93 and 94: (in 1997 turned to new name “Vesp
Page 95 and 96: Lehotska, B. & Lehotsky, R. (200 )
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ing protection to bats was the decr
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ist use of cave roosts and on renov
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Presentation of bats at the element
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1991-2006 • EUROBATS celebrates i
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Investigations Project conti- nues
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at conservation high up in governme
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FFPS Flora and Fauna Preservation S
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Holy See 1991-2006 • EUROBATS cel
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Myotis hajastanicus (Argyropulo, 19
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1991 - 2006. EUROBATS celebrates its 15th anniversary

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