Deficiencies in forestry support: key programme cancelled, less than a quarter of planned area afforested, only four out of 17 retention reservoirs built
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 24/16 – 20 October 2025
To support forestry, the state allocated a total of CZK 32.7 billion from European and national sources from 2014 to 2024. Upon reviewing selected measures, the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) found shortcomings at all three institutions examined: The strategic documents of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) did not contain the target state the Ministry, as the managing authority of individual programmes, aims to achieve. The MoA also did not specify the necessary amount of financial resources or the anticipated impact on the state budget. Furthermore, the MoA failed to meet the goal of one of the programmes to reforest 920 hectares, having only planted less than a quarter of that area. TheMinistry also cancelled a subsidy programme intended to minimise the impacts of climate change. The State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SAIF) improperly administered some projects, resulting in uneconomical and inefficient spending of CZK 9.78 million on the repair of forest roads. The Forests of the Czech Republic planned to build 17 retention reservoirs but later reduced the plan to 12 and ultimately built only four of these reservoirs.
One of the main priorities of the European Union and the Czech Republic is to support the adaptation of forest ecosystems to climate change. The MoA decided to finance such a programme exclusively from national sources; however, due to subsequent budgetary austerity measures, the programme was cancelled without replacement. By not utilising the opportunity to draw funds from EU sources and failing to implement this programme, the Ministry jeopardised the fulfillment of the strategic climate goal.
To expand the carbon-absorbing forest area, the MoA planned to reforest 920 hectares. However, this goal from the Rural Development Programme 2014-2024 was not met. Only 215 hectares were planted, which corresponds to less than a quarter (23.4%) of the plan set.
The auditors also found out that the MoA set the conditions for providing subsidies from the Rural Development Programme 2014-2024 for the removal of flood damage in violation of the binding programme document approved by the European Commission. While the programme document stipulates that a maximum of two years may elapse between the flood and the submission of the subsidy application, the MoA extended this period to three years. As a result, the SAIF wrongly reimbursed three projects (out of twelve audited by the SAO) totaling CZK 9.71 million, as more than two years had elapsed between the flood and the submission of the respective subsidy applications.
The SAIF improperly administered two projects for repairing forest roads after the flood. In violation of the subsidy conditions, it approved and reimbursed ineligible expenses totaling CZK 9.78 million. It provided subsidies for repairs that not only covered flood damage but also led to technical improvements of the original roads, which the programme did not allow. Thus, the SAIF spent the funds ineffectively and in an uneconomical manner. According to the SAO, these cases indicate a violation of budgetary discipline.
In three of the 12 audited projects implemented by the subsidy recipient, the Forests of the Czech Republic, the SAO found shortcomings in the efectiveness of the funds spent. The original plan to build 17 dry reservoirs to capture high rainfall and flood flows was reduced to 12 reservoirs before the issuance of the building permit. Only four reservoirs were actually built, whose retention capacity does not even reach half of the originally planned capacity of the 12 reservoirs. Additionally, two reservoirs are overgrown with invasive tree species, which limits their functionality.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office