The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

10. Sustaining rural landscapes and building civil society
initiatives elsewhere. Practical educational and training courses will be organized at the centre
for public authorities, representatives of local government, craftsmen, small- and
medium-sized businesses, students and the broader public. In contrast to traditional educational
facilities, the centre will be able to draw on the numerous model projects within the community
of Hosttín and in neighbouring communities of the White Carpathians, which offer an ideal
laboratory for learning by doing.
The facility, which will be located at the centre of the community next to the juice plant, will
be constructed according to basic principles of ecological architecture, (concept of the passive
house), with the construction phase serving as one of the training modules. The economic effect
of the Centre on the village of Hosttn will be significant. While currently some 2,000 people
visit the village of Hosttn each year, only a few stay for more than a day. It is anticipated that
the Centre will attract visitors to the community for extended stays, during which they will
spend money locally on accommodation, food and services.
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Hostetín – a model
The aim of all of these projects has been first and foremost to support local development that
responds both to the challenges, opportunities and risks of the 21 st century. These projects
provide a practical example of how reinforcing local people’s relationship to nature, supporting
their resources and traditions, and encouraging sensitive management of the landscape can
contribute to the economic strengthening of rural areas and produce employment.
The following simplified table shows how these model ecological projects contribute to the
local economy. Today, the pilot projects represent almost 16% of the estimated total income of
the local population; following completion of the Centre this figure could grow to 33%, not
counting the secondary effect of spending by visitors to the village.
Table 1. Financial contribution to the local economy
Project – income per year FTJ PTJ SJ CZK USD % *
Total net income of the village
(wages, benefits, pensions) **
83 20,000,000 700,000 100
Juicing plant (2002) 1 2 8 2,260,000 80,000 11.3
Biomass heating plant (2002) 0 1 0 735,000 26,250 3.7
Solar collectors 0 1 0 120,000 4,250 0.6
Reed bed sewage water treatment
plant
0 1 0 56,000 2,000 0.3
Future Centre 6 2 0 3,500,000 125,000 15.9
Subtotal yearly benefit of projects
today
After completing the Training
Centre
1 5 8 3,171,000 113,250 15.8
7 7 8 6,671,000 238,250 33.4
Key: FTJ – full-time job, PTJ – part-time job, SJ – seasonal job
* % of total net income of the whole village, **estimate
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