Biological assessment is defined by §67 of the legislative Act No. 114/1992 on the Conservation of Nature and Landscape.

 

The investor is obligated to provide biological assessment when the nature conservation authority determines its necessity. Biological assessment must provide a clear answer whether the planned project will have an effect on plants and animals and how significant the effect will be.

 

An essential part of biological assessment is a field survey of the potentially affected sites followed by a written evaluation of the project’s effect on plants and animals. The purpose of the field survey is not to collect detailed information about all species that occur (or could potentially occur) on the site but to assess the overall site potential. A clearly described effect of the planned project or activity is a fundamental outcome of the biological assessment. Biological assessment has to be completed prior to the project realization.

 

The assessed site is defined as all areas that can be directly affected by the planned project, are located in the immediate neighborhood of the action, or can be influenced by the inputs and outputs during the entire period of the action. It encompasses not only the directly affected site but also the surrounding landscape that supports the species of interest. Effects on species abundance have to be assessed from both the regional and national point of view. Relationships between protected plant and animal species and other interests protected by law (specially protected area, territorial system of landscape ecological stability, significant landscape component) have to be taken into account. In case the planned project is located in ‘small-scale specially protected areas’ (national nature reserves, nature reserves, national natural monuments, natural monuments) or their protective zones, its impact on the interests of conservation in these areas has to be assessed as well.