On current and upcoming events
### A petition is available to sign: “No to new protected nature areas without the provision of fair compensation!”
### 2 September at Turaida Museum Reserve's Mežaparks, open-air event “Oaks boast in Turaida”
### 2 September: Mushroom Day at Līgatne Nature Trails
### Until 11 September, you can nominate candidates for the Forest Sector Annual Award “Golden Cone”
### Baloži Peat Museum Railway excursions for the 2023 season
### A study on horticulture and its impact on the surrounding environment by scientists from ten countries (including colleagues from Daugavpils University); we invite you to support it by participating in the survey:
### When planning your summer activities, this might come in handy
On sector issues
The council of Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) has reviewed the company's operational results for the six-month period. LVM's half-year profit before taxes reached 161.1 million euros, which is 28 million euros or 21% more than in the corresponding period in 2022. The increase in revenue was primarily influenced by timber assortment sales prices – in the first half of 2023, the average sales price of roundwood assortments reached €90.76/m³, exceeding the average price for the corresponding period in 2022 by €16.28/m³.
Export revenue for forest industry products in the first half of this year reached 1.76 billion euros, which is 20.6% or 454.59 million euros less than during the same period in 2022 — the reason being the relatively poor market situation in the construction and wooden packaging segments.
To strengthen one of the operational priorities of Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) – buyer trust in the timber product sales process in the e-environment – for the second year in a row, LVM's sales process has been evaluated by an international auditing, legal, tax, and consulting services organisation.
From 2 September, the Director General of the State Forest Service is lifting the restrictions on forestry activities that were imposed in connection with the mass reproduction of the European spruce bark beetle. At the same time, measures to control the bark beetle and protect spruce stands must continue throughout Latvia until 31 October.
In the period from 2 September to 31 October 2023, protective measures are in place in forest stands where spruce is the dominant tree species. This means that forest owners, upon detecting trees damaged by bark beetles during this year's vegetation season, must contact the State Forest Service, which will issue a permit for sanitary felling on an expedited basis.
“The reproduction episodes of the European spruce bark beetle are not an extraordinary tragedy, as some mass media try to present it,” is how Kristaps Vilks, a specialist at the Nature Conservation Agency and an entomologist with extensive experience, describes the situation in Latvia's forests. And yet, every week one can read about it in the media and watch TV reports about the damage the bark beetle has caused to spruce stands. How serious is the situation in Latvia? Will we be left without spruce forests?
The financial results of “Rīgas meži” for the first half of the year were significantly impacted by changes in the Latvian and global economy, including a decrease in demand for timber. This led to a price drop for both roundwood and sawn timber; market uncertainty also persisted, and interbank loan interest rates continued to rise, which also slowed down the pace of investment, including in construction.
A change of name has been registered for SIA Byko-Lat, owned by the Swedish Bergs Timber AB, reports Lursoft Klientu portfelis. The sawing, planing, and impregnation company, registered in 1993, has been renamed SIA Bitus Latvia.
On economic issues
The aforementioned issues will become increasingly relevant as Europe moves towards a higher level of electrification and deeper integration of the energy system – where the system is planned and operated as a whole, connecting various energy carriers, infrastructure, and consumption sectors. This connected and flexible system will be more efficient and will reduce costs for society.
The second quarter was a time when one major problem for the Latvian economy had not yet ended, while another had already begun. The burden created by the rise in import costs over the past two years was already easing, but consumers continued to pay bills reflecting high gas prices, while consumer goods suppliers were very “frugal” in passing on the decrease in raw material and energy costs to consumers.
The price level has hardly changed since March, and this plateau will continue for the remaining months of this year and also next year. In contrast, wage growth continues, despite disappointing GDP figures, because the labour market balance is favourable for employees. By the end of this year, real wage increases in certain months could even reach 10%.
Investing six million euros of Latvian capital, the country's largest solar power plant (SPP) to date has been built in Brenguļi, Valmiera Municipality, which will provide green electricity to nearly 4,000 households. The Brenguļi SPP is currently the most ambitious fully implemented solar power plant project in Latvia, with particular attention paid to environmental protection and the preservation of biodiversity.
The Riga City Council decided today to submit for public consultation the local plan project for the territory at Daugavgrīvas iela 31, between the Zunda Canal and Daugavgrīvas iela.
On state issues
A representative of the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) informed about the planned school network reorganisation process with the aim of ensuring educational quality and equal opportunities for acquiring educational programmes regardless of the student's place of residence, and improving the management of the education system's infrastructure, human capital, and financial resources. There was also a discussion regarding the validity, relevance, and implementation of the proposed quality assessment criteria for educational institutions, their linkage to the school accreditation process, an effective funding model for educational institutions, and the division of responsibility between the state and the municipality when introducing the new model. It was noted that some progress has been made in the consultation process between the IZM and municipalities in terms of understanding the situation and developing appropriate solutions. However, the solution for the secondary school level remains fundamentally unresolved, including the link with the vocational education system under the supervision of various ministries.
While purposefully searching for the currently damaged word dynamics, I stumbled across praising lines in a 1972 column dedicated to Purvītis’ jubilee in the newspaper “Literatūra un Māksla”, which could be inversely applied to the government formation process that began well before the presidential elections and is still relevant today – “The painter is excellent at perceiving and showing the dynamics of natural processes in a statically constructed painting.”
On hunting
The hunting season for elk and adult red deer stags begins on 1 September this year. It is permitted to hunt elk until 31 December, adult red deer stags – until 15 February, and red deer stags up to two years old – until the end of the hunting season on 31 March.
On environmental issues
An interesting experience
In the Slītere National Park, a 122-metre-long wooden boardwalk on the Šlītere nature trail is in poor condition. Before it is restored and made safe and convenient for visitors, the Nature Conservation Agency is temporarily closing this trail next to the Šlītere Lighthouse.
Thanks to the active involvement of the public, the State Environmental Service (VVD) detected an elevated concentration of organic substances in the Iecava River at the end of July. After investigating the situation and receiving laboratory analysis results, it was determined that the Iecava alcohol distillery located next to the river had discharged ~20,000 m³ of untreated water into the river over a certain period due to a breakdown in cooling equipment, and environmental damage was calculated at €2,540.
A seven-year-old article, but especially relevant this year
Anyone who has at least one apple or pear tree in their garden will have encountered this very common disease that damages various garden fruits: brown rot – Monilinia fructigena. It can also damage other garden fruit trees such as plums, sweet cherries, and sour cherries. There is no gardener, whether amateur or professional, who has not encountered the consequences caused by this disease.
Lauma Miķelsone-Šibeika, a botanist and head of the Botany and Mycology Department at the Latvian Museum of Natural History, has found a new groundsel species for Latvia – Senecio inaequidens. The finding was made this summer during an expedition in Riga, in the vicinity of Krievu sala.
A little sad about the importance of the ignorant in the wider society
The musical performance All birds sing beautifully is a personally emotional message from playwright and director Krista Burāne about the critical state of Latvia's natural diversity, which arose following the amendments regarding tree felling adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers last year.
The regulations are quite clear; especially for surfactants, there are very specific regulations regarding biodegradability, meaning how friendly or unfriendly they will be to the environment, and whether we are allowed to use these substances in a certain environment. If certain classification or test results are not met, in theory, these substances should not be in household chemicals...
Potatoes are an important food ingredient for Latvians, but can we imagine that potatoes will no longer grow in Latvia at all or that their yield will decrease by 50%? Horrific! But that is the reality if the potato quarantine organism Ralstonia solanacearum appears in Latvia.
On political issues
Latvians came to talk about how difficult it is to live in a Russian-speaking environment. Young mothers go to Jēkabpils to give birth because the staff at Daugavpils hospital do not speak Latvian, and they do not understand Russian. For a new resident doctor, it is almost impossible to work in a hospital without the Russian language. It seems to them that the city council, led by Andrejs Elksniņš, does not care about the “Latvianness” of Daugavpils, does not sufficiently fund language courses or Latvian culture, but through funding for non-governmental organisations and statements about the war, makes it clear that it actually prefers a pro-Russian city.
...it does not look like we have the resources, including intellectual ones, and the political will to change Latvia's direction significantly. In my opinion, only one thing remains – to change in parts, in sectors, in areas. By that, I do not mean that actors, philosophers, or entrepreneurs have no place in politics. Quite the opposite. But my feeling right now is that we are in a period of Latvia's development where positive changes are more likely to be expected in the theatre, university, or businesses, rather than in the country as a whole. Hopefully, I am wrong.
On competition
The beverage manufacturer Valmiermuižas alus recently drew attention in social media to the similarity between new products from the Danish-owned competitor Bauskas alus – lemonades – and the already market-recognised Gardu Muti seltzers. Valmiermuižas alus published a photograph showing both products placed side-by-side and asked for the public's opinion.
On the interesting
Rauna Castle and its surroundings, which still hold some undiscovered secrets; the Rauna Staburags as a unique natural monument that attracts holidaymakers, as well as discussions among historians and linguists about what the word rauna actually means – this place is so magnificent on the map of Latvia. Perhaps it is not without reason that the locals of Rauna say that the centre of the Universe is Rauna.
Estonian entrepreneur Raimond Pärn (Raimond Pärn) spotted the Svētupe Manor, which had already reached ruin status, while driving along the Tallinn highway to business partners in Riga, and it came into his possession in 2018. Since then, much has been achieved, mainly with his own funds, and the manor complex located in Limbaži Municipality has regained its life.
In one of the episodes, the leader of the national partisans asks why the poet writes for the occupiers. “I am not like that,” he replies, “but my family, my sick mother were in danger, I had no other choice,” Kosts says. “Oh, so your family seemed more important to you than all of our families, huh?” asks the partisan commander. The commander went to the forest because the KGB had also tried to recruit him.
The topic of who to let in, who not? is not unfamiliar in the Baltics either. For example, Lithuanian authorities quite regularly question the stories of Belarusian citizens who have allegedly fled from the Lukashenko regime. In my opinion, we will continue to go around in circles in these discussions until we admit the rather simple truth: no group that has more than, say, five people is homogeneous. Not everyone who stayed in Russia is a Putinista...
For raspberry growers, like other berry and fruit growers, this season has brought losses. The Mūsu avenes farm in Vircava Parish, Jelgava Municipality, estimates that 80% of this summer's harvest must be written off as a loss. However, the farm does not intend to give up growing these berries because the demand is growing not only in Latvia but also abroad.
Current events in cartoons
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