Changes in Legal Regulations as a Way of Improving Water Management in Poland

The article presents 9 water alerts illustrating the state and problems of water management in Poland three years after the entry of the new Water Act into force on January 1, 2018. The alerts were developed by a group of experts critically assessing some of the introduced legislative changes. The alerts analyzed the main problems related to drought and flood protection as well as the specificity of water management in cities and rural areas. Postulates to improve the legal regulations in the field of water management and financing, its integration with spatial planning and educational needs in this regard were also presented. The content of 8 alerts is briefly discussed, and the problem of water–agriculture interaction is presented in more detail. The article indicates that legal regulations of water management are particularly difficult as they apply to the entire society, almost all economic sectors and the natural environment, and its preparation must be carried out with extreme care after many analyzes and debates.

The Impacts of Food Taboos and Preferences on Food Security in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ethiopia

Food norms are embodied within all the essential components of food security; availability, access, utilization, and stability. However, the adverse economic influences of these norms are largely under–researched in developing countries. Unique in its scoop, this study thus investigates the impacts of food taboos and preferences (FTP) on food security in Ethiopia, one of the world’s food–insecure nations combined with a culture of strict food norms. On the basis of a qualitative research design with semi–structured in–depth interviews, primary data was collected from eleven key informants of pertinent multidisciplinary backgrounds, experts and decision–makers. The empirical evidence revealed that religious and secular– based FTP have put significant restrictions on the efficient utilization of the existing edible resources in the country. For example, during Orthodox Christian (OC) and Muslim fasting days, the overall food supply chain undergoes economic turbulence. Particularly, the economic challenge of OC fasting is expressed by (1) a decrease in consumption and supply of non–vegan foods, (2) the temporary closure of butcher and dairy shops, (3) an increase in the demand and price of vegan foods, and (4) an overall reduction in consumption and economic transactions. Moreover, the tradition of animal consecration at home has made many Ethiopians to rarely depend on supermarkets, groceries, and other licensed meat shops. In turn, this impedes the country’s endeavor of attracting local and foreign private investors in the general food sector. It also alienates people from access to food labels, meat quality controls, price, size, and choice advantages, all of which are essential for better, adaptive, and stable food utilization. The results discovered in this thesis enrich our understanding on the role of food norms in the economic systems. Particularly, the study sheds light on the indispensable need to consider the subject of FTP in policies and programs aiming to end food insecurity.

Evaluation of Selected Indicators Pointing at the Current Condition and Importance of Agricultural Land Protection in Slovakia

Agricultural land is currently protected by many subjects and institutions. The characteristics of the soil in terms of its functions and importance for individuals or society from perspectives of several scientific disciplines is dealt with by several authors. The aim of the paper is to point out the current state and importance of the agricultural land protection in Slovakia in connection with the threats that affect its quantity and overall quality. The indicators as the area of agricultural land and the structure of the land fund, the evolution of agricultural land withdrawals for non-agricultural purposes and the current state or structure of legislation and institutions in the field of agricultural land protection in Slovakia were evaluated. The paper pointed out the important role of agricultural land in the country, as its area, especially with the majority of arable land and permanent grasslands, represents the majority of the total area of Slovakia. For several years, however, the volume of agricultural land has been steadily declining. This phenomenon is partly caused by the agricultural land withdrawals, which have now managed to stabilize at an average of 1000ha of withdrawn land per year. In Slovakia, there is currently a large number of legislative acts regulating the protection and agricultural land withdrawals, as well as a wide range of state and non-state institutions that operate in the field of agricultural land protection. The effectiveness of the implementation of legislation and the effectiveness of mutual cooperation of institutions seems questionable focusing on the current state of the land fund, which leads to the need to expand research on these aspects.

Quality Soil and Healthy Food in the Jean Monnet Project

Soil quality issues, together with issues related to healthy food, are becoming key areas of interest at the European level. Both spheres play an important role in the formulation of EU policies such as the EU Common Agricultural Policy, EU Agri–environmental Policy, EU Food Policy but also EU Health Policy. For this reason, deepening knowledge and exchanging experiences in these areas seem to be necessary preconditions for finding ways to respond to current challenges and problems. The project “Quality Soil as a Pathway to Healthy Food in the EU”, acronym FOODIE, also reacts on the mentioned issues. The main aim of the project is to foster an expertise dialogue between the crucial experts (academics, public authorities, professionals from practice) in the field of food/feed management in the EU affecting the achieving the objectives of correlated EU policies and recently adopted European Green Deal. The presented paper is of a disseminating nature and aims to acquaint the reader with the mentioned project.

Public Services in Construction Sector and Waste Management in SR

The issue of public interest is regulated by the legislation of the Slovak Republic, which addresses services provided in the public interest in specific fields. One of these areas is also the provision of services in the construction sector, while these competencies were transferred by the Act no. 416/2001 Coll. from the state administration to self-government - municipalities and each municipality became a building authority. The problem, however, is that mostly small building offices have existential problems with the performance of this delegated competence, as the basis of their existence - financial resources for this competence- are insufficient. The way out of this unfavourable situation in this case could be the adoption of new legislation consisting of legally defined seats of joint building offices. When investigating the construction competencies of municipalities, we also encounter a solution for waste management (since it is also one of the competencies transferred to municipalities, but only partially). Municipalities are burdened by insufficient legislative specification of sorting biodegradable municipal waste from mixed municipal waste and subsequently an alternative in practice - waste sorting by citizens themselves. The population is dissatisfied with the amount of the fee for the collection and removal of municipal and small construction waste. In order to avoid paying fees for the storage of small construction waste, municipal residents export it to black dumps, which is in conflict with the EU and Slovak legislation in the field of waste management, whereas this type of waste can be the basic material for new, especially construction, materials.

Development of Municipal Social Entrepreneurship in the Conditions of the Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region

Social entrepreneurship is important tool in eliminating regional disparities, inclusion of socially excluded people into society, overall improvement of the quality of life and much more. This paper aims to analyse the development of municipal social entrepreneurship in the conditions of the Banská Bystrica self-governing region, where some of the less developed districts are located. The main sources of research were questionnaire realized among local government representatives, plan of the economic and social development of the district and statistical data. In the article, there were many indicators examined, such as quantity of the municipal social enterprises, its activities, support or barriers of its development. The results points to fact that only 7% of the participants of research own municipal social enterprise. The most common barrier to establish and manage these enterprises is inadequate knowledge of the relevant legislation.

Dimension of Justice in Restorative Justice Paradigm in the Criminal System for Sexual Violence in Indonesia

The act of sexual violence is a crime that is classified as a violation of human rights (HAM). The increase number of sexual violence cases in the world, including Indonesia, shows that the current justice system is unable to guarantee justice for victims, and most importantly recovery for victims. For this reason, a justice restoration approach is needed as an alternative in law enforcement against sexual crimes. Practically, marriage used as a way to approach justice restoration. This article used normative and juridical approach to discuss law enforcement on sexual crimes through restorative justice approach. It can be concluded that law enforcement on sexual crimes should observe based on criminology, victimology and ontology aspects, in order to be able to place the problem objectively. As a complaint offense, sexual crimes may not be passed on to criminal process, if there is peace between the victim and the perpetrator, provided that there is an agreement among the victim, perpetrator, family and society without coercion from various parties. The main focus in restorative justice of sexual crimes is to provide protection and assistance to victims from various parties, thus, the victims can be released from trauma or psychological impact that caused by sexual violence experienced by the victim or the impact received after the occurrence of sexual crime.

Status of Third Sector Entities in the State and Society

The basic definition of the third sector comes from the sectoral division of the Slovak economy. The sectoral breakdown of the economy operates with concepts such as the public sector, the private sector, and the third sector(1). Civil society represents the third sector of society that exists alongside the state and the market. The third sector is a commonly used term for all non-governmental organizations in the Slovak Republic. Their legal form may vary. This sector is characterized by the existence of organizations that have a formal structure, non-state character, do not aim to make a profit, are independent, operate on a self-governing basis and are voluntary. The existence of non-governmental organizations and their participation in the life of society characterizes every civil society. One type of such organizations are non-profit organizations, the scope of which is regulated by the Act no. 213/1997 Coll. on Non-profit Organizations Providing Services of General Interest, as amended. They represent non-governmental non-profit organizations operating in civil society. The register of these legal entities operating in the territory of the Slovak Republic is provided by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of the existence and scope of non-profit organizations in civil society, to analyze the legal forms of their functioning, through analysis of current legislation, available literary sources with emphasis on analysis of development and employment in non-profit organizations providing public services in the territory of the Slovak Republic in the defined period from 2016 to 2018. According to the latest available data as of 31 December 2018(2), there were 66 926 non-profit organizations registered and operating in the Slovak Republic, employing an average of 39 706 employees, while there were 3 272 of non-profit organizations providing services of general interest. The system of remuneration of employees of non-profit organizations is regulated by legislation in two ways. If the non-profit organization is not established by law, municipality, higher territorial unit or state, then it is possible to apply Act no. 311/2001 Coll. Labor Code as amended. Otherwise, if the nonprofit organization is established by law, wich means that the employee performs work in accordance with the law in the public interest, the procedure for his remuneration is in accordance with the Act no. 553/2003 Coll. on Remuneration of Certain Employees in the Performance of Work in the Public Interest and on Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended.

Legal Barriers in the Business of Biofertilizers and Biopesticides in Ukraine

Abstract‘Biologicals’ (biofertilizers and biopesticides) are microbial products that increase agricultural productivity, while also contributing to soil health. These microbial products are relatively safe for human consumption. However, the legal registration of microbial products and the operation of businesses in this sector face barriers that affect the expansion and widespread use of these green products. A study of these barriers was conducted by researchers at the Université de Montréal, with the financial support of Mitacs and Earth Alive Clean Technologies, using participa-tory methods of semi-structured interviews, structured interviews and informal discussions with the manufacturers, suppliers and traders of biologicals, as well as the government officers dealing with biologicals in Ukraine. This article analyses the data collected from the participants concerning obstacles to the registration, licensing, and proliferation of microbial products.