The fact that more than ten thousand people leave a country that has no natural disasters, catastrophes, or the horrors of war every year is worth the question: why? There is no doubt that hundreds of thousands of people have been lost who would have been consumers, buyers of goods and services, and creators of value – workers.

 

 

The State Audit Office found significant shortcomings in both policy-making and property management during its audit. The implementation of the state real estate unified management and administration concept adopted in 2006 had already concluded in 2020, but only a portion of what was planned was achieved.

 

A period of more than 20 years, during which Kuldīga has purposefully moved towards the UNESCO World Heritage List, is nearing its conclusion – all documents for the assessment of Latvia's nomination “Kuldīga/Goldingena in Kurzeme” have been submitted, and requirements have been met – now we must wait for the decision of ICOMOS experts, which acts as a recommendation for the member states of the UNESCO committee and for the committee member vote. It is planned that the admission of Kuldīga will be decided at the UNESCO World Committee meeting to be held this September in Saudi Arabia.

 

 

 

 

The “Lielā Talka” (Big Cleanup) movement, in cooperation with 10 municipalities, will organize separate hogweed control cleanups this year on the day of the Big Cleanup, 22 April. The municipalities that have applied are Augšdaugava, Gulbene, Jelgava, Kuldīga, Madona, Rēzekne, Ropaži, Sigulda, Talsi, and Ventspils districts. Detailed information about the hogweed cleanups will also be available on the municipalities' websites and in newspapers.

 

The natural meadow product brand will be a special label that will allow consumers to recognize products that come from natural meadows, thereby giving them the opportunity to support the preservation of meadows. This brand will be a cooperation and support mechanism for entrepreneurship with high natural value and a new market instrument for the preservation of valuable and rapidly disappearing natural meadows in Latvia.

 

The association “Zemnieku saeima”, in cooperation with the Beef Cattle Breeders' Association, launched the “Save the Meadow” campaign on 3 March to draw public attention to the preservation of biodiversity in Latvian meadows, “Zemnieku saeima” informed.

 

In Eleja, near the state main road Riga–Jelgava–Lithuanian border (Meitene) (A8) (69.34–70.2 km), the cleanup of the protected tree avenue will continue until mid-March.

 

The first seal pup of the year has been spotted on Tūja beach, signalling the start of the seal season on the Latvian coast. As every year, the Nature Conservation Agency urges people not to approach seals and to protect them from dog attacks.

 

 

...what does this mean in practice? For instance, the fact that a number of historians have been fired at the Institute of Latvian History in recent years! If someone thinks that we are daily pushing the furrow of historical research into the Middle Ages, Early Modern period, Modern period, and Recent period—in other words, studying the past from the moment written historical sources appeared here until the restoration of the state in 1991—then know that nothing of the sort is happening!

 

We need an account of Latvia's Soviet-era history at least up to 1985, to the time of Gorbachev and perestroika. Will we get it? No, we will not, because we lack researchers and funding for a modern study on the history of the Soviet occupation.

 

 

Even if Upīts was not in the first ranks of the organizers and executors of repressions, his public stance during the years of occupation undoubtedly confirms: these victims, in his view, were necessary so that the liberated working people could build the bright building of humanity's future—communism. Various rumours circulate about the writer's private views, especially in later years, yet he was too stubborn and proud, or perhaps he had too good a sense of the political climate, to admit that he had been mistaken in his convictions.