Ivan Dejmal was a Czech

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 politician and environmental expert.

Dejmal studied Agricultural University in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 from 1965 to 1970, but he was expelled following his arrest for activity in students’ movement. He spent four years in prison on charges of "subversive activity against the Republic" (1970 – 1972 and 1974 – 1976).

He became a signatory to Charter 77

Charter 77

Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...

 early in 1977 and soon became the head of its environmental commission. In 1987, Dejmal started to issue the samizdat journal Ecological Bulletin (Ekologický bulletin). In 1988, Dejmal founded the first independent ecological organization in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 the Ecological Society (Ekologická společnost). In December 1989, Dejmal participated in the foundation of the Confederation of Political Prisoners.

In 1989, he was an active member of the Civic Forum

Civic Forum

The Civic Forum was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989...

, he headed the ecological section. From February 1991 to July 1992, he was Czech minister of the environment.

Dejmal was supporter of several environmental NGOs - active memberSpolečnost pro trvale udržitelný život (Society for Sustainabel Living), member of Honorary board of Děti Země

Deti Zeme

Děti Země is a Czech citizens association for environmental protection.COE started up in September 1989, shortly before the Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia, as an unofficial initiative of several ecological activists in Prague.In the last two decades Dětí Země worked for ozone layer...

(Children of the Earth) etc.