Volume 7 (2018): Issue 1 (June 2018)

The soil protection has a long tradition in Slovakia. Slovakia has a good and strict legislation on the soil protection. It also includes protection against erosion and degradation. However, there is a certain gap in the legislation in addressing the relationship between the lost soil and the land ownership. It is not clear how the land ownership is changed with soil particles movement along the slope, on which erosion occurs. Even more uncertainty regarding the land ownership occurs if the soil is transferred to the watercourses or water reservoirs, where the soil is transformed into sediments. On the European level, sediment management is not covered by specific regulations. The sediment management is partially addressed in several European directives directly or indirectly. The current legislation in Slovakia is creating economic and legal barriers to the return of the soil from the rivers and the reservoir to its original owners. The paper deals with the current state of explaining the problem with the soil erosion and sediment transport in relation to the valid legislation in Slovakia and the European Union. Legislation addressing the erosion and sediment is not just based on land ownership but also on principles for protection of the environment as the transfer of harmful substances to the soil or water.

The paper analyzes the usage of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes in Slovakia, the historical background of usage and protection of agricultural land with emphasis on its withdrawal and administrative procedure. It describes the historical development of usage and protection of agricultural land. The progress of agricultural land protection legislation correlates with the socio-economic determinants of a specific historical period. The paper reflects the administrative procedure of agricultural land withdrawal and significant measures for its protection. It also describes the decision-making process about the conversion of agricultural land, administrative procedures for agricultural land withdrawal, its reasons and also its conversion into another type of the agricultural land and measures protecting agricultural land acreage.

Agri-environment measures are a key element for the integration of environmental concerns into the Common Agricultural Policy. They are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020 introduced an agri-environmental measure for multifunctional field margins (biostrips on arable land), which contributes to increasing biodiversity, to protection of basic environmental elements and it also serves as prevention for climate change. Since so far no farmer asked the Agricultural Paying Agency for commitment, the objective of the paper was to assess the design and accuracy of calculation of the agri-environmental and climatic measure - the multifunctional field margins in the conditions of Slovakia. The research results show that the calculation methodology is incorrectly set and it does not compensate for the farmer’s loss on farm yields.

The article presents the reasons and goals of the new Water Act development, which was supposed to replace amended many times the 2001 Water Act. A new Water Act has been approved 1 July 2017. The main aim of new Water Act is an achievements the objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive and other EU directives related to water management. The most important change of new Water Act is the establishment of a new water management organization in Poland, for which since January 1, 2018 is responsible the State Water Enterprise Polish Waters. The second new fundamental change is the introduction of nine water management financial instruments. Water services fees are one of them. The mechanism for determining the amount of these fees was one of the most debatable problems when adopting this legislative document. The article also presents the voices criticizing the detailed introduced solutions, including changes in investment of water infrastructure and their maintenance in agriculture.