Water and vegetation are of primary importance for the global climate. Human activities cause large deforestation, desertification and urbanization rates of hundreds of square kilometers daily. Unsustainable land use causes huge impacts on vegetation, water and the climate. These effects are overlooked in the common climate change debate. A group of Slovak, Czech and German activists, the authors of this civic protocol, has decided to make its voice heard and to draw attention to this problem.
The authors set out from the background of thought developed by the People and Water NGO and the Association of Towns and Villages in Slovakia, the ENKI public benefit corporation (Czech Republic) and the Technical University in Berlin (Germany). Apart from mutual friendship, what links the authors is their interest and several years of work spent in investigating the impacts of human activity on the water cycle, vegetation and changes in energy flows in the land, which all have their effect on the climate. The authors are in regular contact with both scientific and expert communities, and they are aware of the growing amount of research material which, in the shadow of popular theories, draws attention to those aspects of climate change which are also the subject of this protocol.
The text of the protocol itself is not exhaustive. It makes no claim of establishing the ultimate truth. The authors share the awareness that “knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more” (W.Cowper). The attached texts are intended to draw attention to the comprehensive nature of climatic change, paying homage to the considerable perfection of natural systems, but also criticizing human arrogance which does not respect the holistic character of natural processes.
The immediate impulse for compiling this protocol is the approaching summit on climate change in Copenhagen, in particular the tendency in the preparations for this conference indicated by the negotiation text, which, despite protests from some professional organizations, ignores water and vegetation as essential components in the Earth’s climatic system. In this sense the attached text is an urgent appeal to remedy this situation, to have water and vegetation placed at the centre of attention of the responsible institutions at the summit and after it.

Water, Vegetation and Climate Change – KoĹĄice Civic Protocol in pdf.

Presentations for Download:
Wiliam Ripl 3Mb
Ján Čermák 98Mb
Michal Hnatič 1Mb
Martin Buchholtz 5Mb
Rafael Ziegler 1Mb
Jozef Ĺ olc 9Mb
Viktor NiŞňanský 2Mb
Juraj Kohutiar 2Mb
Michal Kravčík 1Mb
Jan PokornĂ˝ 41Mb
Marco Schmidt 6Mb