Prague - Locally grown spruce and pine remain the most popular Christmas trees in the Czech Republic, but imported firs are increasingly in demand, according to Sdružení pěstitelů vánočních stromků (SPVS), an association of Czech Xmas tree growers.
Ninety percent of firs sold on the Czech market come from Germany and Denmark. The latter is one of the largest exporters of Christmas trees, which are grown on specialised plantations.
But there is an environmental side to the increasing popularity of imported firs: Lorries hauling these trees across Europe emit tonnes of carbon dioxide and dozens of kilograms of sulphur and other pollutants.
1 lorry = 2 tonnes of carbon
Environmental group Hnutí Duha has used specialised website www.ecotransit.org to find out that a lorry carrying 30 tonnes of trees from Copenhagen to Prague will generate 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 17 kg of nitrogen oxide, 3 kg of sulphur and about 0.5 kg of dust particles along its 895-km-long route.
If Danish firs travelled by rail, the emissions would be only a fraction of those produced by a lorry. There would be 0.73 tonnes of carbon dioxide, less than 1 kg of nitrogen oxide and sulphur and only 0.07 kg of dust. This is despite the fact that a train going from Copenhagen to Prague has to cover about 260 km more than a lorry.
SPVS's Karel Michalík told Aktuálně.cz that firs are being imported by lorries rather than trains because rail shipments would require the cargo to be transloaded several times on its way.
"This way they put the trees on a lorry right at the plantations where they have grown and haul them directly to [Czech] warehouses," says Michalík.
Increasing volumes of road transport pose a significant environmental and health risk in the Czech Republic and throughout Europe. Cars produce about a third of all fine dust particles - which in turn bond with carcinogenic substances - in the Czech Republic.
"The impact of transport on the quality of air is increasing; the year-on-year growth of greenhouse gases and dust particles is alarming," says the latest environment report discussed by the Czech cabinet in October.
Ecological Xmas
This year is the first in which Czech consumers can buy environment-friendly Christmas pines with an FSC certificate. The label guarantees that the tree has been grown in line with strict ecological regulations.
Such ecological Christmas trees are for now only sold in Brno and Olomouc by NGOs including FSC ČR, Hnutí Duha and Společnost pro Fair Trade. The pines come from certified woods in the nearby Svitavy area - which means they do not have to travel far, unlike the Danish firs.
"People in Olomouc and Brno this year, for the first time ever, get a chance to support the work of environmental foresters by purchasing their certified Christmas trees," says Michal Rezek, director of FSC's Czech branch.
He adds that Czechs are still falling behind western countries, where ecological Christmas trees have been sold for several years now. "In the Czech Republic, less than 1 percent of woods are managed in line with the FSC ecological standards," says Rezek.
