Uganda is richly endowed with flora and fauna. Until the early 2000s, most of the types of vegetation have remained natural/virgin forests and shrubs until recent years, when human activities have damaged them. Understanding the different ways that people value such endangered forest resources is very important. The main hypothesis in our study is that willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence value and sustainability depends on the preference for the same values. In addition, we examined socioeconomic characteristics, such as sex, education, and household incomes, which could influence the WTP for forest existence value and sustainability. We carried out field questionnaire interviews with the aim of ascertaining Willingness to Pay (WTP) for forest existence. The WTP values were in a range between 1 and 200 USD based on the contingent valuation method (CVM). A sample with a size of 203 was interviewed in selected towns and villages in Uganda, and the data collected were subjected to statistical analysis. The cross-tabulation of the expressed preferences illustrates that 81.9% of the representative sample are willing to pay for forest existence value and sustainability. We concluded that the willingness to pay for forest existence significantly depends on the preference for forest existence values and sustainability. Our results equally express that the mean WTP in this region is 15 USD per year and that over 60% are willing to pay this amount. The socioeconomic determinants’ results demonstrate heterogeneity and that over 90% of the respondents are willing to pay for forest existence, conservation, and sustainability.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are highly complex business information systems. The implementation of these systems requires a high cost, corporate time and resources. This article identifies implementation procedures that are critical for a successful implementation. An empirical and research study of a ERP implementation process is presented and discussed in terms of the key factors. How it results from the presented research paper, the main aim of our study is to increase the effectiveness of the ERP systems implementation in industrial companies and to reduce the risks associated with a failure of the ERP system implementation. To create a suitable methodology of ERP systems implementation within industrial companies was analysed known theoretical approaches for ERP systems implementation. Based on the theoretical analyses and practical research realised by questionnaire survey, were identified the deficiencies. In our opinion, these deficiencies should be eliminated by the proposed methodology for ERP systems implementation in industrial company. Our attention is focused on the most critical areas of ERP systems implementation.

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The article discusses the issues of effectiveness of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certification systems in relation to enterprises and the level to which the systems which present sustainability as a part of their ethos are accepted by consumers. The justifiability and topicality of this issue result from the increasingly strong interest in sustainability of the society as a whole as well as from the long-term vision of sector policies with respect to meeting the objectives of sustainable development. The increasing demand for natural resources exerts pressure on our planet. Sustainability is hence essential for our future and has long been in the centre of the European project. Its economic, social and environmental aspects which form the common objective of society have been acknowledged in EU agreements. A principal document of a global nature is the 2030 UN Agenda for Development, a sustainability programme which has the sustainability of forest ecosystems established in its Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. Visions, direction and goals of sustainable development have also been stipulated in the Paris Agreement on climate change (COP21), in the Addis Ababa action programme and in The Future We Want declaration, namely in its Chapter II, which appeals to enterprises and industries for developing strategies which would contribute to sustainable development. This study aims to analyse and assess the justifiability of the existence of certification systems in relation to processing operators and end consumers in the Czech Republic. From the results of the study, it can be concluded that, despite the strong representation of selected certification systems in the Czech Republic, their effectiveness in economic, social and environmental terms is not perceived exclusively positive by businesses and consumers.

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