A shift from flood protection to flood risk management is occurring in many Western countries, but less is known about the social perception of floods and flood management changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The objective of this paper is to study the social perception of selected water‐related issues and to find possible compatibilities with existing flood management. A sociological survey was conducted within a local population living in flood plains in South Bohemia (N = 89). The results are discussed in relation to changes in Czech flood management governmental policies over the last 15 years. We conclude that the local population accepts floods as regular events, expects their increased frequency and prefers natural measures of flood mitigation. Czech flood management governmental policies are moving from flood defence and hard structural measures (e.g. dams) to flood risk management and more natural solutions (polders, free spill, etc.). However, there is still a strong legacy of a top‐down approach in governmental policies that hinders full incorporation of local perceptions into flood management.
The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is generally accepted as an overarching framework to cope with various global challenges. Many of them are manifested locally and need to be solved at the regional or local level. National strategies of regional development and top-down funding are important drivers of the activities of various regional actors. However, the integration of the regional development strategies and the sustainable development agenda is not straightforward and may fail to acknowledge the local context and potential for bottom-up activities. In the European Union's (EU) context, the local action groups (LAGs) are an important driving force of regional development, but little is known about their perception of the sustainable development agenda. The article presents a research case study of Czech LAGs realized in 2021. LAGs were approached with questionnaires focusing on their understanding of the sustainable development agenda and their own role in the process of its implementation. In this paper, we show that the LAGs' representatives are aware of the sustainable development concept and work with relevant governmental strategies, but they feel that they cannot contribute to the fulfillment of many particular sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially those related to the environment. This contrasts with their reflection of the goals with an economic and social focus in which they feel relatively more empowered, especially in education. Our findings reveal that there is a high risk of mismatch between the bottom-up potential of LAGs for regional sustainable development and top-down conditions of national strategies. The results of the research contribute to the contemporary discussions about the SDGs and regional development and thus could be used by both academics and practitioners. Notably, national policymakers and regional authorities could benefit from our insights into LAGs' perspective of SDGs' implementation.
Green marketing is possibly the newest type of marketing. Recently, it has also been the most discussed one by organizations, companies and even states. Green marketing tries to produce, promote and recycle products that are friendly to the environment. Green marketing is a global concern and it is going to have a better future. However, this type of marketing meets a few problems such as much effort to replace conventional products and a lack of confidence. Many companies produce and promote such products as much as possible. In spite of this, the public is still sceptical. The paper presents the theoretical important knowledge on green marketing, its definitions, customer behaviour formulas, and its potential.
Regions apart from the national states have developed to new actors in the context of globalisation. This paper deals with the comparison of two chosen cross-border regions in the EU according to their support to increase the competitiveness of the companies and institutions located there. In the context of globalization, regions in Europe are more and more exposed to a competition about qualified work force, company settlements, employment and European funds. They have to focus also on global challenges like an aging population or climate change, they have to ask for regional solutions and collaborations and networking have become vital. Cross-border regions have developed to reduce barrier effects and foster new development potentials across Europe. The aim of the study is to analyse the effects of the implementation of cross-border regions in the EU on the competitiveness of local companies and institutions. It is based on a comparative case study of the European Region Donau-Moldau and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. The analysis shows that the potential of such cross-border regions relies in the fact to join forces and competencies and that such cooperation addresses relevant topics to foster the competitiveness.
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