Water erosion is identified as the most severe type of soil degradation in the Czech Republic. Systematic protection preventing water erosion is not carried out in large areas of agricultural land. The map of the maximum tolerable CP factor value (the cover-management and the support-practice factors) -CP max was compiled in order to assess erosion hazard on agricultural land. It estimates the requirements of the conservation practices which would not cause soil erosion above the tolerable limit of annual soil loss. The map is based on calculations using an adjusted Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and is easy to apply. It has already been applied in the Czech Republic when creating the map of erosion vulnerability for the purposes of delimitation of Standards of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), within Cross Compliance. The map covers the whole territory of the Czech Republic (scale 1:1,000,000).

Windbreak is one of the key factors for making the agriculture systems successful through reduced wind erosion, improved microclimate, increased biodiversity, and production potentiality of timber and agricultural crops. Even though windbreak occupies only a small part of agricultural landscape, its advantages on the ecological and economical perspective are quite high. This study evaluated the effects of three windbreak types on the wind erosion control in relation to their structural diversities, wind-speed reduction, and optical porosities in the central part of the Czech Republic. Diversity in the windbreak was evaluated based on its species diversity, vertical structure, spatial pattern, and complexities. Wind speed was measured at the different distances on the leeward side of the windbreak and one station placed on the windward side as a control. Windbreak characteristics were described by terrestrial photogrammetry method using the values of optical porosity. The timber volume of the windbreaks with rich biodiversity species ranged from 224 to 443 m haheight of the windbreak on the. Results of the windbreak efficiency showed significantly closer relationship between optical porosity and structural indices. The optical porosity significantly correlated with wind-speed reduction, especially in the lower part of the windbreak. A significant dependency of the windbreak efficiency on the tree dominant height was also observed for each windbreak type. The most significant effect on the wind-speed reduction in terms of structural indices had total diversity index and Arten-profile index describing vertical structures, which are recommended together with the optical porosity to evaluate the windbreak efficiency in controlling wind erosion.

The increasing risk of wind erosion in the context of climate change represents a highly pressing issue. This increase is a result of the growing occurrence of droughts and elevated temperatures in the intensively farmed areas. Effective protection against the wind erosion can be provided by windbreaks, especially during the period when the soil is not protected by the vegetation cover of crops. In this report, the authors wanted to compare the methods defining the windbreak protection zones. The optical porosity and the windbreak height were the basic parameters for defining the protection area. The various methods differ among themselves by using the windbreak height parameter or not. The optical porosity of the windbreaks was determined based on photographic documentation. For the comparison, the cadastral area of Micmanice was selected due to the wide network of windbreaks in this locality. A database of windbreak height and optical porosity for each windbreak was set up. Our report thus presents the application of the new knowledge aimed at updating the methods and procedures for assessing the vulnerability of the area by wind erosion. The application of the method involving the optical porosity and windbreak height parameters resulted in a significant reduction of the windbreak protection zone compared to the method omitting the windbreak height.

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