Moving forward, in accordance with the procedures set by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Director General of the State Forest Service (VMD) will determine via official decision the situation of mass propagation of forest pests or the spread of diseases, the area of spread, measures for limiting the spread of pests or diseases, and the period for which the state of mass propagation of forest pests or disease spread must be set. The amendments will ensure more effective and faster implementation of forest protection measures for the control and containment of forest pests and diseases.

 

The most active time for spring forest planting continues until the end of June. This year, A/s “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) is offering everyone, including forest owners, the opportunity to purchase high-quality selected seedlings, which grow faster and have a higher timber increment, even without prior reservation. However, to more accurately plan the species and origins to be grown in a given year in accordance with the region where the forest is intended to be planted, advance reservations and applications are still accepted.

 

 

The highest number of forest fires – 180, with a burned area of 433 ha – was extinguished in the territory of the Riga Regional Forest District, followed by the South Latgale Forest District with 42 fires and a burned area of 8.0 ha. The largest burned area was in the Ādaži military training ground, where a total of 275 ha of forest land burned in 13 fires. The State Forest Service also participated in extinguishing 43 other fires, eliminating fires on 6.2 ha of land outside forest territories.

 

The company signed contracts with world-class wood processing solution developers for the delivery of a debarking residue chipper and wood chip transport conveyor to the Kuldīga factory, which will make the processing of wood residues into technological and energy chips much more efficient, as well as safer and more environmentally friendly for factory employees.

 

SEB līzings has provided over 940,000 euros in financing for the acquisition of two new units of forestry machinery – a Ponsse Buffalo 8W forwarder and a Ponsse Ergo 8W harvester – for SIA “Viduslatvijas mežsaimnieks”.

 

Seeking solutions, the State Police (VP) promises to form a department starting from 1 August that will deal exclusively with road transport control, the Ministry of the Interior informed the LTV programme “Aizliegtais paņēmiens”.

 

The VMD has responded to the call to support Ukraine and help prevent the consequences of emergency situations associated with military operations. The service has reviewed the official vehicles at its disposal and concluded that it can support Ukraine with five firefighting vehicles – ZIL131, GAZ 3308, and three GAZ 66 – which are not necessary for ensuring the institution's functions.

 

Forests are Latvia's green gold, but every managed forest is also cared for by the owner who has invested their work into it. Forest owner Juris Mālakalns has been connected to forests all his life. He has been intensively involved in forestry for 28 years and manages more than 500 hectares of forest in the Madona region. In an interview with Apollo.lv, he talks about why he started forestry and what others should keep in mind.

 

The prices of wood heating pellets will gradually start to move upwards.

 

 

 

Marking World Environment Day in Latvia, on 6 June, the State Environmental Service (VVD) greeted the winners of the “Green Excellence 2023” award at a formal ceremony. Companies that take active steps to reduce the environmental impact of their operations were recognised as environmental leaders.

 

“Laflora” has received the State Environmental Service’s Green Excellence award in the extractive industry category, which is the highest recognition for significant achievements and contributions to environmental management. The company was nominated for the award by the Jelgava Municipality.

 

The Nature Conservation Agency (the Agency) is launching an information campaign “Do Not Erase Life!”, reminding the public that in the majority of cases, wild animal offspring do not need help.

 

Researchers from Daugavpils University (DU), the Latvian Museum of Natural History (LNDM), and the “Zaļā upe” association (Kristīne Greķe, Mārtiņš Kalniņš, and Dmitrijs Teļnovs) have returned from an approximately month-long expedition to study invertebrates in the Solomon Islands, organised by the London Natural History Museum (Natural History Museum, NHM). The main goal of the expedition was to collect data and material of beetles, snails, dragonflies, and other invertebrates for further study under laboratory conditions and for storage in European museums.

 

 

Another problem is that Russia currently, and for years now, uses a wide variety of social media platforms and artificial intelligence capabilities, buys the services of communication agencies in individual countries, and poses as third-country actors or private sector representatives in order to promote radical opinions and divisions in society on sensitive issues: this applies to internal discussions within NATO member states.

 

I have no illusions about politics, and this is said without condemning politicians – after all, I do not know how I would behave in their place. However, please do not offend my aesthetic sensibilities by so openly demonstrating that you fundamentally do not care whether what you express sounds even remotely logical.

 

Given that talk of expanding/changing the coalition has at least publicly quietened down, yet the topic itself has not been declared irrelevant for the future, it would seem quite logical for peaceful civilians to be interested in how the current coalition and government will work in such an atmosphere?

 

 

 

Several companies have joined forces to form the Association of Critical Raw Material Producers (KSIRA), the goal of which is to promote more effective recycling of subsoil resources in the production of other products with high added value. Among the founders of the association are metallurgical manufacturing and raw material processing companies, but there are plans to involve other industries in the future.

 

 

“Sējējs 2022” incentive award winner, 33-year-old Klāvs Krīgeris, owner of the Jaunsāti parish SIA “Zaļpļavnieki”, has been growing garlic for ten years alongside grain and rapeseed, and for the last three years has been adding value to this crop at his company SIA “ZPN Food” by producing garlic granules and garlic powder. In an interview with “Agro Tops”, Klāvs talks about his business experience and also assesses the guidelines of the Green Deal.

 

...it is characteristic of us – always from one extreme to another. I worked my entire active life during the Soviet era. The only censorship related to politics. You were not allowed to say that Latvia had been politically and economically independent. You could not call for a revolution. Everything else was allowed. No one asked me to report what I had done today, what materials I had searched for, and what came of it. In any case, it is not true that we all had our mouths taped shut. We knew when it was better to keep quiet; no one was forcing anyone’s mouth open by force.