The Czech Republic has approximately 2 126 MWp of photovoltaic installed power capacity, most of the capacity was installed during the "solar boom" period around year 2010. Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment led to the amendment of Act no. 185/2001 Coll. on Waste and the Decree no. 178/2013 Coll., which set the photovoltaic power plant operator´s obligation to pay a contribution for the module´s future recycling. The current rate for calculating the minimum total amount of the contribution is set at CZK 8.50/kg of module. The current amount of the contribution is a subject to criticism. The diploma thesis analyzes public administrations on issues of environmental protection and tools that may be used to motivate polluters. The thesis proposes a new amount of recycling contribution at the amount of CZK 5.2-7.8/kg. Huge temporal inconsistency is the most dangerous risk in determining the contribution, which may threaten many variables essential for the whole calculation.

Chinese environmental policy has been going through transition since 2006. This shift has been represented in investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and control of pollution. The theses tries to find out the factors of this dynamics through an analysis of potential influences. It comes to an conlusion that the shit in chinese policy has been driven mainly by its domestic issues, whereas the impact of the external milieu has been present but limited.

This thesis concerns the cultural and scientific practices involved with turn-of-the-century struggles to conserve the Maine Woods. Conservation was underwritten by the powerful and productive fiction that an essential nature exists as something completely apart from the elaborately organized exhibitions by which it has been staged for our benefit. The absolute distinction between nature and culture is profoundly problematic but tremendously productive as well. Drawing on a variety of historical and theoretical sources, this thesis describes the various ways in which the essential nature of the Maine Woods was set up and represented as something demanding protection and conservation. The thesis is divided into three parts. Part I sets the stage for the historical discussions that follow by assessing debates in geography and environmental history about the social construction of knowledge and nature. Recent scholarship has been caught on the horns of a theoretical dilemma: while understanding of the present environmental crisis and its historical roots seems to demand recognition of the independent agency of nature, social theory suggests the impossibility of stepping outside the bounds of culture to represent an independent nature as it really is. Different responses to this dilemma are discussed. It is argued that environmental critique demands a more humble approach to truth, one sensitive to the meanings of its metaphors and the politics of its practices. Part II assesses the forest conservation movement. The objects of scientific forestry depended fundamentally upon the ways in which the forest was framed as an object of knowledge. Very different programs of action flowed from competing metaphorical definitions of the Maine Woods as a crop, a mine, or a kind of capital. The ascendency of technical and quantitative knowledge of the forest and its displacement of local understandings are described as are public policy disputes in Maine about the regulation of private property, the institution of publicly owned forest reserves, and the role of the state in forestry. Part in deals with the conservation of wildlife for sport. Flocking to the forest to hunt, wealthy sportsmen articulated a variety of sexual, class, and racial anxieties about the debilitating embrace of modern life. The transfomation of the Maine Woods into a vacationland for their manly recreation demanded the institution of game laws and the criminalization of traditional lifeways to save the game for sport. In these struggles, conservationists had to contend not only with local residents, who resisted this construction of the Maine Woods, but also with a variety of non-human actors, such as deer, predators, and pathogens, whose presence, though difficult to deny outright, was culturally framed and mediated in materially significant ways. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

In the context of a deepening environmental crisis, there are growing calls for a planning framework informed by environmental ethics. In response, I locate this research in the ecocentric discourse and argue the need to challenge both ecological destruction and patriarchy. I raise feminist concerns about the marginalization of women from the processes by which we come to understand and respond to environmental concerns, and adopt a feminist methodology, qualitative methods, and a case study strategy to explore the subjective dimension of women's environmental activism in the context of growing concerns about the forests of Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. The purpose of this research is to identify: (a) the critical insights that these women bring to their activism; (b) the patriarchal barriers they face in the course of their activism; and (c) the implications of the research findings for an action-oriented ecofeminism and ethics-based planning for sustainability. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 women and their feedback (transcripts, workshop, draft research findings) incorporated into the final report. The research findings confirm that these women have critical insights to offer and that patriarchal barriers frustrate but do not totally constrain their activism. These women offer insight into the complex set of values and structures that protect the status quo, and the forest industry in particular, expose patriarchal structures and values that constrain their activism and protect the interests of a male-dominated industry, and suggest a normative foundation for sustainability that takes seriously the well-being of human and nonhuman nature, male and female. In analysing these findings, I argue for an action-based ecofeminism that moves beyond ideal notions of the ecological self, promotes a public ethic of care, challenges both constructs and structures, and critically supports the emergence of women's insights and contributions from the economic, political, and cultural margins. Furthermore, I argue that these women's insights and experiences have significant substantive and procedural implications for planning. I propose an ethics-based planning framework committed to the ecological and social integrity of 'place' and to the well-being of all who live there—human and nonhuman, male and female. In challenging the status quo, this ethics-based planning involves struggles with both external structures and internally held values. In doing so, it links the political to the personal and contributes to both structural and personal transformation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This dissertation contains three papers that contribute to the theory of international trade, political economy, and trade and environmental protection. The first paper develops a model to examine the costs and benefits of trade in differentiated products. It focuses on how relative ability in exporting variety between two countries determines economic welfare in both countries. The results shed light on the question of why export-promotion programs in many countries aim not only to help their existing exporting firms export more, but also to help domestic firms become new exporting firms or enter new foreign markets. The paper also discusses the possibility of over-provision of export variety and raises some questions regarding the benefits of trade in differentiated products. The second paper suggests some coherent explanations for tariff reductions and substitution of non-tariff barriers for tariffs, taking into account both organized special interests and unorganized consumer interests. It focuses on how the presence of informed consumers affects the political equilibrium choice of trade policy - both the level of protection and the policy instrument. The paper identifies three effects that interact with each other as an incumbent government substitutes a NTB for a tariff and finds, among other things, that an increase in foreign competition will not cause the government to substitute NTBs for tariffs but a rise in the government's valuation of political contributions might. The third paper shows that small or financially constrained environmentalist groups can compete indirectly through changing public preferences over environmental quality, though they may be in a weak position relative to polluting industries in the direct competition for political influence. It is also shown, however, that in a small open economy where the output price is exogenously determined, the value of domestic persuasion falls and government environmental policies will be determined by direct political competition. Moreover, direct competition for political influence in the open economy becomes more intense because positions of different groups on environmental policy become more extreme. The analysis also shows that moving to free trade would increase a country's environmental protection as long as the median voter were not very 'green'. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

My thesis examines the bioregional movement in North America; its vision, values, strategies and tools for community building and networking towards a more sustainable society. The interrelated problems of the over-consumption of natural resources, the dominant cultural construct of people as consumers, and the decline of human community provide the context for my research in radical planning. The goal of my inquiry into bioregionalism (which places cultural change at the center of its paradigm for societal transformation) is to reveal lessons for a "post-Marxist" theory of civil society. This latter theory proposes a dual strategy of horizontal communicative action among associations in civil society combined with strategic vertical campaigns to democratize both state and corporations. However, it offers no ecological or cultural critique of consumption. My thesis addresses this gap. A civil society theory that incorporated lessons about consumption and cultural transformation from bioregionalism might, in turn, have lessons about integrating horizontal and vertical strategies for bioregionalism which has not sufficiently theorized its political economic strategy. I use two concepts, "social capital" and "eco-social capital", to analyze bioregional experiences. Eco-social capital refers to social capital informed by an ethic of human kinship with the natural world. Using these concepts, I first show how ecological kinship corresponds with the conservative and respectful use of resources in aboriginal societies. My study of bioregional praxis shows that story telling, earth ceremonies, ecological restoration, etc. bond bioregional actors to each other and to the "community-of-all-beings" in particular places. Social and eco-social capital provides them with spiritual resources for dedicating lives to long-term societal transformation while eschewing commodity consumption. Bioregionalists' experiences and strategy support a diverse and democratic civil society which respects and cares for the natural world. An eco-centric civil society theory would strategize long-term generational transformation in both cultural and political economic terms. Bioregional horizontal community and networking would be complemented by strategic vertical campaigns to curb the power of both state and corporations over civil society, thus strengthening democracy and a sustainable strategy for greatly reduced consumption. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine elements of public participation in environmental decision-making and to propose that public participation processes may be made more meaningful through the provision of comprehensive and flexible procedural mechanisms coupled with a true ability to affect the outcome of the process, rather than through simply granting more rights. Over the years, natural resources management has grown as a response to ecological concerns over the state and future of our environment. The law too, has developed to accommodate environmental concerns and define legal rights and procedures. Public participation becomes a vehicle for ensuring that affected interests are taken into account in environmental decision-making. In Chapter 1, the established and traditional means of involving the public in environmental decision-making such as litigation and public hearings are examined; however, they have been characterized as too restrictive, not only in terms of the parties who are included, but also the issues. Furthermore, agency administration of complex resource management issues has fuelled public discontent, as many groups understand it is an inherently political process and doubt its legitimacy. In exploring this phenomenon, this paper is first placed in a theoretical context, drawing upon ecological, legal, and ethical philosophies. However, it is also informed by the perspectives of local environmental groups and residents. The turn to other techniques, or Alternative Dispute Resolution, may seem a logical and appropriate evolution, suggesting ways for all affected parties to be involved. Chapter 2 reviews different forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution which provide some principles about the use of mediation and agreements to supplement the regulatory processes of resource management. It is important to consider the mediation process itself, the desire to remedy what is considered to be the failings of the traditional adversarial system, the psychological dynamics of the process, and the parameters for successful negotiations leading to implementation. Chapter 3 commences with an analysis of the legal context of public participation in British Columbia. It determines the discretionary authority of the administrative agencies, and the formal window of opportunity for public input, under the (federal) Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the (provincial) British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act. This chapter also discusses an additional and interesting vehicle for public participation, although not yet implemented in British Columbia - the Environmental Bill of Rights. Chapter 4 provides a more concrete setting for the use of public participation processes, through the use of a case study - the British Columbia Transit Sky Train Extension Project. The "NIMBY", or "Not In My Backyard" scenario involved has the potential to facilitate negotiation; however, real inroads will be made through improving existing legal avenues of participation such as consultation. In fact, this key concern has been the sore point with respect to the Sky Train Project for many residents of Vancouver. In conclusion, the utility of public participation processes expressed in environmental legislation is reliant not only upon the ability of the law to be flexible enough to serve the various natural resource interests of all stakeholders, but also to be conducted in a manner that is inclusory and substantive. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The thesis "The Application of selected Instruments of Public Policy Aimed at Protecting the Environment on the Example of Prague" is focused on the issues of environmental policy of the city of Prague and instruments for environmental policy that are used in Prague. The main goal of this thesis is to describe the development of the living environment in the city area and its relationship to the environmental instruments used there. Second goal is to define factors that influence the environment and make it difficult to measure the effects of these tools. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, the topic of environmental policy and its instrument is explained. It explains the relationship between the environment, the economy and politics. It describes some instruments used to protect the environment and also factors influencing research of the relationship between these instruments and the current status of the environment. The second part focuses on the development of Prague's environment and analyzes the environmental policy and instruments used to improve it. The factors that make it harder to prove the benefits of using these instruments are described at the end of the second part. In the last part of this thesis there is a practical example of how the environmental instruments affect recycling.

The theme of the work is the preparation of the production company to ISO 14001 certification, which means describing organizational processes, description of jobs and making the necessary documents. Today, the high quality of products and services expected to increasingly demanding customer for granted due to growing competition. Considerable support for the education of various governmental and non-governmental organizations has also increased the number of customers who talks about his responsibility to the environment.

The thesis deals with the environmental policy of the European Union. It describes its basic principles and instruments, and characterizes the most important challenges related to the environmental protection. A part of the thesis is dedicated to the specific activities regarding the environmental protection within the European Union as well as on the international level. Particular attention is paid to the environmental policy implemented in the Czech Republic. The impact of the European Union on the Czech environmental policy is also included.