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Area under study: Map of the Czech Republic with the current state of coal mining. Source of data: Czech Geological Survey (2013); Map adapted from Frantál & Nováková (2014)
Source publication
Focusing on coal energy from a geographical perspective, the regional consequences of coal mining in the Czech Republic are investigated and discussed in terms of the resource curse and environmental injustice theories using. A comparative analysis revealed prevailing differences in the quality of the environment and well-being between coal-affecte...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... chapter investigates and discusses long-term negative consequences of coal energy production on the regional level in terms of the resource curse and environmental injustice theories using an example of the Most region in the Czech Republic (see Fig. 1). The Czech Republic is a country with significant coal mining tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. The industrial development of coal mining is associated with the construction of the railway network in the country in the mid 19 th century, which connected major industrial regions with the locations of coal deposits. The biggest ...
Context 2
... coal mining currently affects the area of six Czech districts (see Fig. 1). Brown coal mining takes place at eight quarries within the Most and Sokolov basins, with the annual production in 2013 accounted for 40.6 million tons. Underground mining of black coal takes place in four mines in the Ostrava-Karvina basin only, whose total production in 2013 amounted to 8.8 million tons (Energostat, ...
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Citations
... The Czech Republic has a notable historical legacy in coal mining that can be traced back to the medieval period. When the country's railway network was built in the middle of the nineteenth century, it connected the country's major industrial areas with the sites of coal reserves, which led to the industrial expansion of coal mining (Frantál, 2017). However, coal's golden period came after World War II when it supplied most of the fast-expanding demand from West Germany's post-war recovery and communist countries' heavy industry development (Sram, 2012). ...
... Regions rich in lignite, such as Northern and Western Bohemia, were transformed into power production sites (Korski et al., 2016). Several areas especially in Northern Bohemia, including the areas of Most and Sokolov, experienced environmental destruction as a result of this planning tendency (Frantál, 2017). ...
Coal mining activities are causing an extensive range of environmental issues at both operating and abandoned mine sites. It is one of the most environmentally destructive practices, with the capability to eliminate fauna and flora, impact the groundwater system, and pollute the soil, air, and water. The Czech Republic relies almost exclusively on coal as its primary domestic source of energy. The combined reserves of hard and brown coals in this country are 705 million tons. About 50 million tons of coal is produced annually, making it the 14th biggest producer in the world. Soil degradation is an inevitable outcome of the coal production from surface coal mining procedures in the Czech Republic. Significant changes have taken place in soil productivity, hydraulic characteristics, horizon, and texture as a result of soil pollution, bioturbation, compaction, and weathering. The current review has evaluated the impact of reclamation and coal mining on soil characteristics, including biological, chemical, and physical properties. Additionally, the study has outlined the process of soil formation in reclamation areas in the Czech Republic. In nutshell, research gaps and future directions in understanding coal mining areas and their influences on soils in the Czech Republic are identified.
... In that period, the production of brown coal as the main source of energy increased about five times and electricity generation about twenty times (CZSO, 2012). This planning orientation affected the overall national economy and resulted in the environmental devastation of several regions, particularly in the North Bohemian coal basin and Ostrava-Karvina coal basin (Říha et al., 2011;Frantál, 2017). ...
... More than thirty years after the change of regime, despite general economic restructuring, the decline of coal mining and heavy industries, and investments in environmental restoration, the coal mining regions still seem to suffer from the resource curse characterised by long-term exploitation and the commodification of the landscape through coal mining and combustion. The results appear to be clear: draining profits from energy sales out of the affected regions, negative environmental, health and socioeconomic consequences, the absence of realistic alternatives for future diversified development, and persistent pressures from the industrial lobby to expand mining areas (Frantál, 2017;Shriver et al., 2022). The current Czech energy policy remains highly dependent on traditional resources, with overall electricity generation based predominantly on thermal or combined cycle power plants burning coal (40%), natural gas (8%), and other fuels (3%), nuclear power (36%), with renewable energy sources contributing less than 13% (ERU, 2022). ...
... Our data about the differences in voter turnout (significantly lower in coal mining districts) are in line with the study of Abreu and Jones (2021), who found that residents of former coal mining communities in the UK have lower levels of political engagement, trust and political efficacy. As documented by a recent study of local anti-coal mining resistance in the Most region in the Czech Republic (Frantál, 2017), political efficacy is significantly determined by the level of education and place attachment (which are in the long term both negatively affected by coal mining and related processes of forced resettlement, uprooting, etc.). ...
New empirical evidence regarding theories of the resource curse and regional resilience in the context of energy transitions is presented in this article. Our analysis aimed to answer the questions of what the principal differences are between coal mining and other regions in the Czech Republic, and what are the determinants of
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The factors significantly affecting these phenomena are geographical (peripherality, urbanisation, population density) and socioeconomic (education level, business activity). In this respect, a provocative question is offered: to what extent is it effective and sustainable to economically support coal mining regions in their existing industrial production structures and population scales, and whether the current processes of reterritorialisation and depopulation can be considered a natural process. The fact that coal mining districts are at the forefront in the implementation of wind energy may be seen as positive, but it raises questions about spatial concentration, and the environmental justice of renewable energy development.
This paper contributes to existing research on home energy efficiency renovations by analysing the extent to which regional differences in the distribution of subsidies for renovations are related to geographical and socioeconomic factors, by analysing statistical data for districts in the Czech Republic. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that it maps and analyses not only regional differences in the rate of drawing subsidies and its determinants, but also differences in the way these subsidies are used (whether for reducing the energy intensity of existing houses by insulation, implementing renewable energy technologies or building new houses with low energy intensity). The analysis revealed significant correlations between the amount of subsidies drawn in districts per capita and variables which indicate territorial stability and social capital. There are significant differences in the rate of drawing subsidies between specific regions that are considered as economically deprived and where people are at higher risk of energy poverty. While border regions in the east of the country show an above-average use of funds for insulation of existing houses, in the largest cities and their suburban areas people are more likely to use subsidies for construction of new houses. The results indicate that subsidies should be redistributed and targeted more effectively in respect to the declared objectives of the program.
The global energy transition could usher in major changes to the production and supply of coal. While key aspects of this transition agenda are fashioned at the global and national levels, crucial decisions relating to mitigation measures need to be undertaken regionally and locally. As the energy transition agenda intensifies, understanding the composition and balance of motives among residents in coal regions will be critical to designing and activating regional scale policy incentives. At this scale, factors such as place attachment become relevant to the design, planning and resourcing of transition pathways. This paper examines recent scholarship on place attachment and contributes a conceptual framework (PAHIL) for its application to heavily industrialized contexts. The development of the framework is supported by a case study where we demonstrate how place attachment is formed, expressed, localized, and transferred across the life of mine in two coal communities in the Czech Republic.
