Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

Protected territories now cover 11 per cent of Latvia’s terrestrial area [ ] 139 Success stories for conservation in Latvia The most significant success for conservation was the elaboration and adoption of the first National Biodi- versity Programme in 2000. Various other sectoral plans and programmes elaborated afterwards incorporated information and priorities set in the programme. Until 2003 most activ- ities listed in the Action Plan were fulfilled. In 2014, the Environmental Policy Concept 2014–2020 was adopt- ed by the government, with targets and priorities based on current and future scenarios. Another significant success has been the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in 2004 and an improvement in the system of national protected territories. Based on the existing network of protected territories, 31 areas have been recon- sidered, 109 new protected territories designated, and 48 existing protected territories amended or enlarged. The protected territories now cover 11 per cent of country’s terrestrial area (not including the biosphere reserve (7 per cent of country area). The establishment of a compensa- tion mechanism for forest manage- ment in protected territories for pri- vate land owners was included as one of the priority actions in the previous National Environmental Policy Plan (2004-2008). The respective law and governmental regulations were adopt- ed in 2006 and the system of compen- sation came into operation. This was a great success and positively changed the attitudes of land owners towards nature protection. From 2006–2008 compensations for forestry restric- tions in approximately 2,300ha were paid. In 2013 the government adopted the Law of Compensation for restrictions on economic activi- ties in protected areas. The new law and regulations determinate the new compensation mechanism for land owners in protected territories. Another success has been the at- traction of funding from the EU LIFE Nature and EU ERDF programmes. From 2001–2014, 27 LIFE projects were implemented for the protection of biodiversity. Many habitat and species habitat management and res- toration activities in various protect- ed territories have been implemented through these projects. Local mu- nicipalities, land owners and other stakeholders were largely involved in implementation projects. A public monitoring programme was run during the GEF/UNDP co-financed project “Biodiversi- ty protection in North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve”. Inhabitants of the Biosphere Reserve were invited to obtain and submit information in questionnaires on various species, ag- ricultural activities, and distribution of invasive species in their property or neighbourhood. There was a good response from inhabitants and much information within the territory of the Reserve was collected. Autumnal landscape in Latvia Latvia T he territory of Latvia occupies 6,457,300ha, with 3.9 per cent covered by inland waters, 45.7 per cent by forest, 4.9 per cent by bog, and 38.5 per cent by agricultural land. The system of nature protection in Latvia is mainly regulated by two laws: the Law on Species and Habitats Protection and the Law on Specially Protected Nature erritories. Based on these, several supporting regulations have been adopted. In general, the country’s nature conservation legislation corresponds to requirements of EU Directives, Convention on Biological Diversity and other conventions. Guntars Mednis on Wikimedia Common,