A RESEARCH STORY · 3 MIN READ
Billions for forest streams: who pays for the work?
Streams, reservoirs and flood repairs have a place in the forest accounts. Ten Green Reports reveal CZK 6.316 billion in water management expenditure by Forests of the Czech Republic and how the work was financed.
A stream passes beneath a forest track. Alders line its banks; farther downstream, the water opens into a small reservoir. These familiar places involve inspections, flood repairs, care for the banks and project preparation. Foresters work alongside water managers and construction teams. In the accounts, thousands of small places add up to billions of crowns.
A network reaching across the landscape
At the end of 2024, the state enterprise Forests of the Czech Republic managed approximately 38,500 kilometres of designated small watercourses and mountain streams, together with 1,086 small reservoirs. Its reported reservoir portfolio stood at 829 in 2015.
The Forestry Green Report for 2024 describes a broad range of activities: maintaining and repairing structures, stabilising channels, flood protection, erosion control, care for streamside vegetation, and building or restoring reservoirs, ponds and wetlands. The work also includes record keeping, project preparation and supervision of water structures. The reservoir count records the assets managed in each year.
Ten years of spending
Adding the annual expenditure figures in the reports for 2015–2024 gives CZK 6.316 billion. This is our calculation from ten editions of the table on financing water management at Forests of the Czech Republic. It covers both investment and routine management and repairs, expressed in the prices of the respective years.
Expenditure in 2024 alone reached CZK 929.3 million. The enterprise supplied CZK 721.3 million from its own resources, while grants contributed CZK 208 million. Repairs to flood damage also formed part of this budget. Each annual figure therefore brings together ongoing care and the response to events in that particular year.
Water management at Forests of the Czech Republic, CZK million in current prices for each year. Total expenditure includes investment, management, maintenance and repairs. Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry Green Reports 2015–2024, section 3.10; totals and chart are our calculations.
Who pays for the work?
The reports separately record revenue from surface water abstraction intended to help finance watercourse management. Over the ten years, this amounted to CZK 188.6 million, approximately 3% of total expenditure. In 2024, the figure was CZK 35 million.
The scale of management, compared with this particular revenue category, helps explain the importance of combining the enterprise's own resources with public support. Forest water management includes work in the public interest, financed through a broader base than receipts connected with water abstraction. The expenditure tables record the money devoted to this care; the individual tasks take place along particular streams, banks and reservoirs.
A forest stream offers another way to look at forestry: water infrastructure alongside trees and timber. Ten Green Reports give this everyday work a concrete financial dimension.
The ten-year record
All amounts in the table are in CZK million, at current prices for the respective year.
| Year | Total expenditure | Own resources | Grants | Water abstraction revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 484.9 | 441.1 | 43.8 | 10.7 |
| 2016 | 522.8 | 460.3 | 62.5 | 13.2 |
| 2017 | 583.9 | 461.5 | 122.4 | 15.1 |
| 2018 | 568.5 | 437.1 | 131.4 | 15.5 |
| 2019 | 623.5 | 403.9 | 219.6 | 15.6 |
| 2020 | 598.3 | 389.6 | 208.7 | 14.9 |
| 2021 | 550.0 | 336.5 | 213.5 | 18.0 |
| 2022 | 627.0 | 400.2 | 226.8 | 23.0 |
| 2023 | 828.1 | 595.2 | 232.9 | 27.6 |
| 2024 | 929.3 | 721.3 | 208.0 | 35.0 |
Sources and calculations
Our sums of expenditure and revenue for 2015–2024; the revenue-to-expenditure ratio uses totals for the full period. All amounts are nominal. Reports are in Czech.
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2015, printed pp. 40, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2016, printed pp. 42–43, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2017, printed pp. 42, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2018, printed pp. 44, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2019, printed pp. 46, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2020, printed pp. 49–50, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2021, printed pp. 50–51, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2022, printed pp. 49, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2023, printed pp. 49, Table 3.10.1
- Ministry of Agriculture: Forestry Green Report 2024, printed pp. 49, Table 3.10.1
Related story: What people expect from forests.