The Centre for the Regional Development and Support of Sustainable Rural Technologies , Hostětín, Czech Republic

The village of Hostětín (230 inhabitants) is situated in the district of Uherské Hradiště in the east of Moravia. It is surrounded by pictoresque cultural countryside with a varied mosaic of mostly foliate forests, arable land, blossomy meadows and fruit-tree orchards. The village is situated in the protected area of Bílé Karpaty (White Carpathians), which was proclaimed the Biospheric reservation of the UNESCO in 1996.

Since 1994 the village has been taking part in a village restoration program. The School of countryside recovery in Modré u Velehradu uses Hostětín as a place of practical courses and the village also takes part in a number of recovery programs within the district. There is a dynamic development of many environmental projects going on in the village. The projects are carried out by the village administration, as well as environmental associations, especially those of The Czech Union of Nature Protection (Veronica Brno and the local branche in Hostětín).

A reed-bed waste water treatment plant, finished in 1997, was the first of these projects, and its completion resulted in cancellation of a ban on house building in the village. Next was a program of self-mounted warm-water solar systems (Veronica - The Sun for Bílé Karpaty) and a reparation of a traditional fruit drying-plant, carried out by local nature protectionsts themselves. They also take care of several important meadow habitats, surrounding the village. The construction of a municipal heating plant, running on waste biomass, was completed in October 2000. It provides heat and hot water for 90 % of local households. This project, in which the village cooperates with the district administration and the organization Veronica, is partly financed by the Dutch government. Another project finished in Summer 2000 is a construction of an apple-juice plant, as a part of the "Bílé Karpaty Traditions" program.

Veronica Foundation bought a complex of old farm buildings in Hostětín in 1998. It consisted of a residential building, a brick barn, an unburnt brick lumber-room and an adjoining fruit tree orchard. The foundation bought it in order to found a "Centre for Sustainable Rural Technologies" in Hostětín. This center is intended as a follow-up of a number of pilot projects (solar program, fruit-growing, reed-bed sewage works, use of waste wood to produce energy), developed by Veronika in Hostětín and the region of Bílé Karpaty for many years. The center in Hostětín should become a place of further development of the pilot projects, and it should support their expanding and repeating. The idea is, to establish an educating center with practical courses here. The foundation owns arable land and forests as well, and they will be used for model ecological farming. Unlike in traditional educating centers, the village and its surroundings serve as an ideal"laboratory" for practical ecological education. The center´s quarters will be constructed strictly according to ecological building principles, using solar and low-energy architecture and will serve as an example of environment-friendly constructing in one of its education modules -ecology building.

The project´s goal

The project should become a proof, that a closer relation to nature, local resources and traditions, and considerate economy can strengthen far-off rural regions and cut unemployment. The projects assumes extensive cooperation with a number of other subjects in the region, which can ivigorate it with their own approaches, facilities and ideas - e.g. protection and care of flower meadows (organization Kosenka, Valašské Klobouky), ecological agriculture (Moravské Kopanice, orchards in Hrozenkov, dairy works Bojkovice), public places (Pivečkův park, Slavičín etc.). Cooperation with similar projects abroad and integration in international projects and their adequate adaptation to local conditions is, of course, a part of the project too.

The benefits of the project

• Enhanced attractivity of the village and the Bílé Karpaty region not only for tourists and possible participants in the programs, but for local residents in particular - new job opportunities.

• Participation of residents in local development. Their active participation in decision making will bring revitalization of the community life.

• Concrete and vital examples of using sustainable considerate approaches in daily life of the households and the community as such. A proof of economical benefits of ecological and innovative approaches in the long run and a model for similar regions, especially small villages, situated in protected territories.

• Education programs for various target groups - local administrations, state authorities, small businesses, students, the public, young people.

• Education of both, adults and young people, and thereby increase their ecology awareness.

  The basic program modules

• Renewable sources and economy savings, innovative and alternative energetic conceptions.

• Care of water in the countryside

• Biodiversity and protection of the environment, environment-friendly kinds of economy

• Restoration of the countryside - the development of local economy, growth of job opportunities through considerate exploitation of local resources : processing of local kinds of fruit, agro-tourism, restoration of local crafts, eco-agriculture and eco-forestry, considerate technologies (water, energy, waste).

• Participation of local residents in these projects.

  The center´s program will be based onmodel projects of Veronica Ecology Institute in co-operation with the program for sustainable regional development of the Czech foundation Nadace Partnerstvi.

  Target groups

  All-year round use of the center is being planned for educating purposes of non-profit organizations, state administration, local authorities, students, small businesses, farmers and other groups of people, interested in sustainable development of the countryside and its landscape. The scope of participants and organized courses will be not only regional, but national and international as well.

  The current stage of the project

• sewage works construction, which unmade the ban on house building in the village. This reed-bed sewage works has been operating since July 1997. It was the first of the kind in the protected territory of Bílé Karpaty and eastern Moravia. It is growing into a local biocenter and it is used for educational purposes as well. Water quality monitoring takes place here.

• nine buildings were equipped with solar facilities for water heating since July 1997. The residents took an active part in mounting these equipments. Since 1998 a solar facilities-producing workshop has been operating in the village, as a part of the "Sun for Bílé Karpaty" program. Annual energy savings mount up to 2.000 kWh per one system unit, according to efficiency measurements. The total number of installed systems so far in public and private houses is 35.

  Recently, in summer 2001 a big solar system (36 m² ) in an advanced TiNOX technology was installed on the roof of the apple juice plant.

• "The Bílé Karpaty Traditions" project, focused on the preservation and exploitation of regional kinds of fruit has been running in Hostětín since 1991. The project also supports traditional extensive fruit-growing and its local processing and marketing. Pomologists, fruit-farmers, local fruit-processers, the village authorities and consumers are cooperating in the project. We would like to use the market mechanisms for the protection of cultural land - a marketing strategy for fruit products is being prepared, small-time fruit manufactures are being reconstructed in Hostětín.

• an old wooden fruit-dryer was reconstructed on the Veronica Foundation´s farm in fall of 1998.

• an old barn was turned into a small-time stum-works during the year 1999. Unfiltered juices, made from regional, ecologically grown kinds of fruits was firstly produced there in the fall 2000. The plant processed 200 tons of fruits in the firtst year. The plant provides products for the Czech market, in bio-quality (labelled "the eco-farming product").

• in October 2000, a biomass heating plant (732 kW), for burning waste wood from the surrounding forests run into operation after 1 year construction. It provides heat for the whole village. This unique investment was supported by a Dutch subsidy and the project should also be used to test an international mechanism, designed for lowering CO₂ emissions, called "the joint implementation". The alternative energetic program will be combined with a complex thermal insulation of buildings. An information, documentation and education center is yet another part of the project, guaranteed by Veronica.

  Model low-energy building construction

  Wheras the planned center´s program is based on above mentioned pilot programs, its construction is linked with a new education program, focusing on low- energy civil engineering. The following requirements are demanded on the planned center :

• The design of the center and all its parts, should serve as a model for other small towns, communities and small businesses.

• The building will respect local architectonic style, it is necessary to utilize the existing buildings as much as possible (e. g. the old barn).

• The building will satisfy all criteria of a low-energy housing and it will serve for demonstration and education purposes.

• The design and construction should become a permanent process of adopting of experience from abroad - low-energy and solar architecture.

• The construction materials will be predominantly used from local resources and they will be applied in accordance with bio-construction principles.

• The principles of solar architecture will be used, applying the latest technologies of passive and active exploitation of solar energy.

• Voluntary participation of local residents will be preferred in preparatory and constructing tasks - the expected lower energy expenses are just one of its many benefits.

• The construction is supposed to represent an economic model of construction costs, lowered operating costs and external costs.

A step-by-step module construction variant has been chosen, depending on priorities and available resources, and the existing buildings to be utilized as much as possible.

The projects are realized by following Czech partners

1. Ecological Institute Veronica Brno

2. Foundation Nadace Veronica

3. Foundation Nadace Partnerství Brno

4. Tradice Bílých Karpat, civic association

5. Local Adminstration Hostětín

6. Czech Union of Nature Protection,  Host?tín

Finacial Support:

Czech Republic