The Czech Academy of Sciences’ environment committee has launched an unusually strong attack on Prague officials for planning to liquidate vast green areas in the city and replace them with new buildings.
The scientists warn that new development will further spoil the environment in the capital city, which is right now the most polluted location in the country. Children’s diseases will become more prevalent and mortality among the elderly will increase as a result.
In the last few months, individual Prague districts have sent City Hall their comments on a new zoning plan that should come into effect in 2010. Despite opposition from residents, authorities are proposing to transform many green areas into residential zones.
“Such proposals indicate a total ignorance of the fundamental role of green spaces in an urban environment,” the academy says in a statement. The environment committee is led by Radim Šrám, an internationally recognized expert on the monitoring of environmental impacts on human health.
