Forests are often metaphorically described as Latvia's oil, but unlike 'black gold', green gold is a renewable and versatile resource. A forest by no means refers only to construction timber or fuel, but also to scientific research and innovation. What kind? We discuss this with leading researchers Aigars Pāže and Jānis Rižikovs from the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry.

(...) scientists Aigars Pāže and Jānis Rižikovs represent the biorefinery laboratory, which focuses on sequential biomass processing, where the by-product of one production process becomes the raw material for the next. Currently, they are focusing on birch bark, a by-product of veneer and plywood production, from which various substances with high added value are obtained.