Weekly review
Poll
In recent weeks, both in the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers, the thesis has been heard once again: “We must act this way, otherwise there will be penalties, infringement procedures, etc.” Often, such a pseudo-argument completely excludes reasonable disputes, discussions, or alternatives, forcing those responsible to make decisions hastily and not always in the interests of Latvia. Why is that?
Old habits are hardening - someone somewhere knows better, let us rely on them
Lack of sufficient capacity or laziness to defend a different point of view
A generation of cabinet officials has been created who are accustomed to accepting rather than delving into matters
This is a serious problem for Latvia for which no solution is being sought. It will probably be all right somehow...
21–27 October
On current and upcoming events
### 23 November at the LBTU Faculty of Forest and Environmental Sciences LMSP 8th International Conference Changes and solutions in environmental policy for sustainable, climate-neutral economic development
zemeunvalsts.lv · 8 starptautiska konference izmainas un risinajumi vides poli…
zemeunvalsts.lv · 8 starptautiska konference izmainas un risinajumi vides poli…
### 28 October thematic event in Ķemeri National Park “When the end is just the beginning”
varam.gov.lv · kemeru nacionalaja parka notiks izglitojoss pasakums kad bei…
varam.gov.lv · kemeru nacionalaja parka notiks izglitojoss pasakums kad bei…
### 1 November LMSP Latvian Forest Programme seminar at Daugavpils University
### 2 November scientific seminar Harvest Festival in Vecauce – 2023
### 30 November at the LBTU Great Hall Forest Industry Conference 2023
On industry issues
24 years ago – on 28 October 1999 – the joint-stock company “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) was founded. Over these years, the company has grown and developed, expanding its areas of operation and becoming one of the most significant state-owned companies in Latvia, which also makes a substantial contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in Latvia and mitigating climate change.
Although the upcoming Client Centre for the Western Vidzeme region will differ from previous projects in its landscaping, building colour tones, and slightly in its construction, all three sites are united by the extensive use of wood in load-bearing structures, partition framing, and interior and exterior finishing materials.
The sustainability report was prepared in accordance with the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standard, with an emphasis on four topics most relevant to Latvijas Finieris: forestry, a positive employee experience, environmental impact, and the management of CO₂ emissions, as well as the development of by-product utilisation.
SIA “Avoti” is one of the woodworking companies in the Baltics that produces pine solid wood furniture in large volumes, as well as wood pellets. The company's operations are based on circular economy principles – goods are created for long-term use. This model also includes zero-waste production: sawn timber is used as efficiently as possible, while wood residues (sawdust and offcuts generated during the production process) are centrally collected and become raw materials for the production of pellets and briquettes.
tvnet.lv · jauna meza apsaimniekosanas perspektivas
Good results in forest regeneration in Latvia can be achieved if the conditions for planting and tending forests are strictly followed. Hand labour is primarily used, yet technological solutions that facilitate heavy daily work are increasingly being introduced in young forests under 20 years old.
Cooperage is a dying trade, not only in Latvia but throughout the world – in Estonia, there are no longer any experts in this profession; large global wineries buy mass-produced factory barrels. But right here in Latvia, there are only three masters left who still make barrels. And one of them is Jānis Grantiņš in Vaidava parish, Vidzeme. So that the ancient craft and skills are not lost, Jānis has also taught the secrets of the trade to his sons.
Why does paper have 7 lives? What innovations does the forest give us? Will we be able to wear bone implants made of wood in time? What wood-produced paper do we use daily? What innovations are being developed from beer production waste? How do we break wood down into its components? What cosmetics are made from birch bark? What habits should we adopt to live in a more environmentally friendly way?
On the park and its restoration
During the park's reconstruction, the faculty grounds have already been cleared of overgrown, wind-bent thuja trees, a large proportion of which were rotten, some apple and pine trees, as well as overgrown ornamental shrubs, but all large trees have been completely preserved. During the landscaping process, the area will be complemented with 13 different species of perennials, 15 species of deciduous trees, and 12 species of conifers. In total, more than one hundred new plants and trees will be planted...
On the economy
Valmiera is proof that Latvia's economic development does not end at the Riga border – the active work of the local government, residents, and entrepreneurs has managed to ensure the growth of the entire region. While familiarising ourselves with current business issues...
For many years now, I have been worried that the Latvian economy is growing too slowly. All politicians should be concerned about this. I expected this new government to start working and for people to come forward with ideas on how we can grow faster. I do not see these ideas in the new budget. That is what worries me most in this regard.
Goods were being brought in large numbers from Poland by vans and lorries without documentation to the Riga night market and to back-alley firms, which sold them on in wholesale and retail for cash, with a large portion subsequently sold on street corners and in markets as Latvian produce. In turn, from the illegally obtained income, grey-market operators were able to pay off-the-books wages and make extra profit.
In Latvia this year, grain imports from the aggressor state Russia have grown rapidly, with imports of maize increasing particularly sharply, and in this area, Latvia has moved to a leading position in the European Union (EU). Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze (Union of Greens and Farmers) considers this an unacceptable situation.
Due to the method of statistical accounting, every ticket sold by a museum, theatre, opera, or ballet to visitors is added to the expenditure of the cultural sector. If, for example, the Latvian National Opera and Ballet turns over approximately four million euros in own revenue annually, these revenues are statistically transformed into cultural budget expenditure.
When the State Revenue Service seizes shipments of sanctioned goods at border points, they end up in State Provision Agency hangars for the duration of the investigation. Everything imaginable is confiscated – household appliances, building materials, pellets, cardboard, wood. “There is timber of all kinds, larger packs, smaller packs, longer boards, shorter ones,” says Jānis Nebars, Head of the Seized Assets and Resources Management Department of the State Provision Agency.
On environmental matters
On 25 October in Sigulda, during the international forum “Mission – Establishing a Bioregion in Gauja National Park”, the Nature Conservation Agency, together with 12 other organisations, signed a memorandum on establishing a bioregion in Gauja National Park.
A total of 13 institutions joined the document, which will be important in the creation of the bioregion – the local governments of Sigulda, Valmiera, and Cēsis districts, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, the Vidzeme Planning Region, and others. On behalf of the Nature Conservation Agency, the memorandum was signed by Rolands Auziņš, Head of the Agency's Vidzeme Regional Administration.
After the storm experienced at the beginning of August, the park was closed for a month and a half during the typically productive months of August and September. Other surrounding businesses also suffered because of this. Tarzāns Park suffered the most – the trees to climb between are no longer there. However, its owner has promised to restart operations in the spring, perhaps in a slightly different location.
A couple of months before the strong autumn storms, Bieriņi residents reported to the Riga City Council (RD) about a tree they considered dangerous that needed to be felled. Following an expert assessment, the municipality did not allow the tree to be cut down as it was a notable tree in good condition, but the tree ultimately fell in the strong wind, crashing onto a house. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but residents are confused by the experts from the RD and the Nature Conservation Agency who did not previously deem the tree dangerous and did not allow it to be cut down...
The banks of Lake Rāzna are to be reinforced with boulders to protect infrastructure from ice jams, which damage roads and private property every spring. However, local residents believe that the ice jams will move the rocks anyway, while access to swimming areas, boats, and the water has now been lost in the project.
Travel guide publisher Lonely Planet has included Latvian nature trails in its latest guide Best In Travel 2024...
Ramata's Lielezers is located in one of the largest primeval natural areas in the Baltics, so the lake environment is relatively undisturbed. It has not been assessed by scientists until now, but a fisheries study has just been carried out, concluding that there are only perch and an occasional pike in this moorland lake. The municipality wants to stock the body of water with fish fry, but local residents insist they do not want to attract tourists to this place.
The Alūksne district municipality’s lake and river management agency ALJA is located on Pilssala in Alūksne. Through the window of agency director Māris Lietuvietis’s office, one can see a large bird diving into the lake every now and then. It is a cormorant, which has taken a liking to the fish stocks of Lake Alūksne in recent years.
Indeed, to what extent can we rejoice in life if an ever-increasing proportion of the world's population is facing death en masse face-to-face? Some are sucked into mentally black holes, others are crushed by earthquakes, others still by the trigger of a weapon or the rain of rockets falling from those dreadful skies.
Edgars Smislovs has managed to observe a bird unusual for Latvia – the black vulture (Aegypius monachus).
On hunting
What is driven hunting and what skills a hunter must possess to participate in it is explained by Valters Lūsis, Head of the Hunting Division of the State Forest Service, on the programme Starpbrīdis with Toms Grēviņš.
Specialists from the State Forest Service’s Hunting Division emphasise that none of the preventive measures provide a complete guarantee of safety, which is why it is valuable to combine several tools. A correctly installed and maintained electric fence in combination with guard dogs that live with the herd permanently is considered the most effective set of protective measures. A metal mesh fence supplemented with two electric fence wires is also highly effective.
On traffic and transport days and misfortunes...
Latvia is receiving 298 million euros, or 32% of the total 928 million euros allocated to the Baltic states for the implementation of the project. This is significant European Union support to continue the implementation work of the Rail Baltica project in Latvia and to facilitate the project entering the construction phase in all three Baltic states.
In 2021, Latvijas dzelzceļš signed contracts for the modernisation of 48 train stops. Since the majority of the funding – 37 million euros – was intended from European fund money, the work had to be completed within two years.
For the last 25 years, the funding available for state motorways has not been sufficient, which is why construction work is carried out in order of priority. One of these priorities – but only for repairs, not for construction work – recently became the Valle–Jaunjelgava and Valle–Bārbele sections.
Since the new name of the Central Railway Station, Centrālā stacija Rīga, was announced, not only has the new name and its visual identity been widely discussed on social media, but questions have also been asked – is the new name even written in correct Latvian? Linguist Ilze Lokmane acknowledged that in Latvian, it would be correct to say Rīgas Centrālā stacija and nothing else.
The construction of the Brasa Bridge in Riga is nearing completion, and it is planned that all vehicles will be able to travel across it starting from the first half of November. Tram line 11 traffic across the bridge was already restored in June. Work began in 2019, but it was delayed due to new design work.
On what is interesting in our history
Back in those distant 80s, we were still learning about Roberts Eidemanis in the school literature programme, and in all likelihood, a poem once memorised by heart served well to convey the feelings of that moment. I realise that I have no such memories. Perhaps our literature teacher glossed over Eidemanis's work at school in such a way that it did not resonate with me at all. Therefore, it was all the more logical to put my question to researcher Ilze Ļaksa-Timinska, who is currently writing her doctoral thesis on Soviet Latvian authors of the 1920s and 30s. Who was Roberts Eidemanis then – a soldier who wrote poetry, or a poet who went to war?
Having lain in the ground for almost 80 years, a World War II bunker, which was accidentally discovered at the end of this summer in a field in Kurzeme, has found a new home – at the Latvian legionnaires' memorial site by Lestene Church and the soldiers' cemetery.
From 11 November 2023 to 30 March 2024, a major retrospective dedicated to Jāzeps Grosvalds, a pioneer of Latvian modernism, Esmu tagad noņēmies dzīvot mākslai, will take place in the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art, museum representatives informed.
Current events in cartoons
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