Environmental
company
Environmental
company
company
Though all of us come from different backgrounds and have different experiences, we all believe in the need to invest in nature and its restoration. For us, it’s a matter of environmental responsibility, our duty to future generations. And so, together, we are forging a path to involve private capital in the restoration of nature—so that money can flow where it makes a difference.
Prokop Svoboda
Eliška Kolomazníková
Founder and investor
An entrepreneur with a passion for batrachology—the study of amphibians. However, he took a long hiatus from environmental activities when he began working in real estate and co-founded the company Svoboda & Williams in 2006. Despite this—or perhaps precisely because Prokop’s day-to-day work is far removed from nature—his interest in the landscape and everything around him has never waned.
Around 2020, he began supporting the Zamenis association, which has long been working to protect the tree snake population in the Střední Poohří region. This is how he found his way among inspiring conservationists, whose persistent work have yielded numerous results. From there, the path led quite naturally to the launch of his own project, which—with the help of precisely such passionate people—would protect and develop areas of nature with great potential.
Around 2020, he began supporting the Zamenis association, which has long been working to protect the tree snake population in the Střední Poohří region. This is how he found his way among inspiring conservationists, whose persistent work have yielded numerous results. From there, the path led quite naturally to the launch of his own project, which—with the help of precisely such passionate people—would protect and develop areas of nature with great potential.
CEO
Eliška was one of the first addressed enthusiasts, and she has thus been part of Refugium’s growth from the very beginning. She enjoys working on projects in which she sees some form of public service. That is why her career path originally led her into the media—she worked at several television newsrooms, including the science department at Czech Television, where she helped popularize the natural sciences as a reporter.
She has a close connection to nature, coming from a family of ecologists, ornithologists, and falconers. Joining Refugium was therefore—with a bit of hyperbole—a return to her roots. At Refugium, Eliška oversees everything from land acquisitions and restoration to securing investments. She also manages all public communications. But what she enjoys the most is roaming the natural sites and monitoring birds of prey.
She has a close connection to nature, coming from a family of ecologists, ornithologists, and falconers. Joining Refugium was therefore—with a bit of hyperbole—a return to her roots. At Refugium, Eliška oversees everything from land acquisitions and restoration to securing investments. She also manages all public communications. But what she enjoys the most is roaming the natural sites and monitoring birds of prey.
Tomáš Havlík
Marek Rybár
Ecologist, field researcher
Tomáš is a quiet force. He never speaks off the cuff, and when he does speak, you can be sure he has a deep understanding of the subject. At Refugium, he’s in charge of the biological monitoring of our sites—each season, he tracks how they’re changing, and how our management efforts are taking effect. The reports he compiles form a key part of our restoration projects.
He studied zoology and then went on to earn a second master’s degree—this time in geology. This, combined with his practical experience in hydrogeology, helps him understand our degraded natural sites, where the water cycle typically doesn’t function properly. In the animal kingdom, Tomáš is most knowledgeable about several groups of insects and birds. He applied his zoological expertise for five years at Ekopontis, assessing the environmental impacts of various projects.
He studied zoology and then went on to earn a second master’s degree—this time in geology. This, combined with his practical experience in hydrogeology, helps him understand our degraded natural sites, where the water cycle typically doesn’t function properly. In the animal kingdom, Tomáš is most knowledgeable about several groups of insects and birds. He applied his zoological expertise for five years at Ekopontis, assessing the environmental impacts of various projects.
Ecologist, project manager
Marek is an ecologist with a soft spot for mammal predators, especially the larger ones. Thanks to his roots near the High Tatras, he always knows exactly where to go to observe wolves or bears. He’s an excellent photographer, as evidenced by his patient and considerate documentation of some rare animal species in our region.
He studied terrestrial ecology and, after a brief stint at the Czech Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection, decided to join a company focused on regenerative agriculture. At the international company Carboneg, he was in charge of project management, and in addition to honing his managerial skills, he gained valuable insight into the issue of carbon (and other) offsets.
Thanks to his proficiency with GIS software, Marek is also our go-to provider of map data, which is essential for every project.
He studied terrestrial ecology and, after a brief stint at the Czech Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection, decided to join a company focused on regenerative agriculture. At the international company Carboneg, he was in charge of project management, and in addition to honing his managerial skills, he gained valuable insight into the issue of carbon (and other) offsets.
Thanks to his proficiency with GIS software, Marek is also our go-to provider of map data, which is essential for every project.
Experienced “restoration ecologists”—that is, experts who can view the landscape with the necessary perspective and know how to identify what isn’t working in a specific natural site and how to fix it. Then, with the help of landscape engineers, they draw a design—a restoration project.
External contributors
- Lukáš LinhartAuthor of the Šumava Peatland Restoration ProjectGraduating from forestry, Lukáš later worked for many years at the Šumava National Park Administration, where he was part of the Water and Wetlands Department and worked on the Life For Mires project. As the name suggests, this extensive project focused on the restoration of peatlands, wetlands, and the natural water regime in the Šumava region—both within the country and across borders—covering an incredible area of more than 2,000 hectares.
At Life For Mires, Lukáš was primarily responsible for communication, including public education, but at Refugium he took on a slightly different role—he is preparing a project to restore a drained peatland near the village of Přední Výtoň. - Filip LysákAuthor of the Maříž and Heřmaničky Wetland Restoration ProjectsThe topic of ecosystem functioning and landscape restoration has been central to Filip’s life since childhood—even as a young boy, he would “virtually” design changes to the streams around the village where he grew up.
He then deepened his interest by studying environmental protection and management at Palacký University in Olomouc and began systematically working on his first projects at the turn of the millennium. Since then, he has been involved in a number of revitalization projects, including these three: the restoration of fen habitats in the Loučeňské rybníčky Site of Community Importance (SCI), the South Moravian salt marshes of Dobré Pole and Novosedly, and the peat bogs in the Chvojnov Nature Reserve. He has also recently added the restoration of a complex of wetland areas in Maříž and Heřmaničky to his list of projects. - Eva VolfováNetworking, environmental supervisionShe studied environmental protection at the Faculty of Science of the Charles University in Prague. She has long been involved in biological landscape assessment and the evaluation of the impacts of projects and plans on the Natura 2000 sites. She was directly involved in the preparation and designation of this network of protected areas.
Today, Eva is the managing director of PlanTerra. She also works on the Acceleration Zones and Landscape Policy projects for VÚKOZ, v.v.i. She is a member of the Pilsen Region’s Environmental Committee and served in politics at the national level as Deputy Minister of the Environment in 2022 and 2023. She is a court-appointed expert in the field of nature conservation and a member of several nongovernmental organizations: the Ametyst Association, the Czech Botanical Society, and the Czech Ornithological Society. - Pavel PokornýEnvironmental consulting, field surveysPavel calls himself a “landscape explorer,” and we can’t help but agree. A naturalist who studied forestry and nature conservation at Mendel University in Brno, he is at home in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. He has carefully explored and studied virtually every corner of this region and knows the local springs and peat bogs like few others. The restoration of spring areas and smaller watercourses and streams is Pavel’s specialty. He is a co-founder of the Říční krajina association and a member of ČSOP.
Pavel has a deep appreciation not only for the landscape but also for folk music, poetry, and seeking out inspiring people. In addition to providing expert consultations on specific sites, he assists Refugium with a multi-day nature-focused event that we have been organizing in Slavonice since 2022, called the “Slavonice Colloquium.”
Research partners
Environmental organizations, associations, environmental institutes, freelance experts, and individual enthusiasts. Our partners help us find and asses natural sites, and also to take care of them. We consult with them about many issues, including how best to care for each site, so that everything we do is in line with best practices and the latest scientific findings.
Legal & financial consulting
Assessing and co-creating new financial instruments and tools to unlock private capital for nature restoration, these partners allow us to always head forward and function sustainably.
Contact
E-mail
hello@refugium.eu
hello@refugium.eu
Phone
+(420) 605 052 706
+(420) 605 052 706
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