From 20 January this year, Laura Anteina will take up the post of Director General of the Nature Conservation Agency (DAP). Until now she was Deputy Director General of the State Environmental Service for strategic development and control matters.
Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development Inga Bērziņa: “This year the Nature Conservation Agency will have to carry out a series of important tasks – overseeing the drafting of nature management plans, improving the compensation system and managing specially protected areas effectively are only some of them. This can be achieved successfully if the agency continues to develop into a modern, cooperation-oriented public administration institution. The Nature Conservation Agency must continue to work together with landowners, local authorities and non-governmental organisations in order to promote the sustainable development of specially protected nature areas. I am confident that Laura Anteina's professionalism and strategic vision will help to steer these processes, ensuring a balance between the interests of both society and nature.”
Laura Anteina: “On taking up the post of Director General of the Nature Conservation Agency, I greatly appreciate the opportunity I have been given and, at the same time, the professional challenge of leading the implementation of a unified nature conservation policy in Latvia and of carrying out the agency's mission to balance the needs of nature and people, preserving natural assets as an inseparable part of a high-quality human living environment. My main tasks in the new post will be to deliver the nature conservation objectives set by the European Union and nationally in Latvia, to improve the institution's internal processes and the services it provides by making use of the opportunities offered by digital development, to promote a client-oriented approach and to continue cooperation with the parties involved.”
Laura Anteina holds a Master's degree in social sciences in political science from the University of Latvia, where she also previously obtained her Bachelor's degree. Her professional experience includes more than ten years in senior positions in public administration, including as Deputy Director General of the State Environmental Service for strategic development and control matters. In that post she led strategic planning processes, supervised the most important digital transformation projects in the environmental field and ensured effective cooperation with local authorities and other parties involved. Her experience and understanding of sustainable development, as well as her ability to strike a balance between economic interests and nature conservation goals, will make a significant contribution to the work of the Nature Conservation Agency.
The new Director General will have to carry out several strategic tasks that are crucial for balancing both nature conservation and the interests of society, including the drafting and supervision of nature management plans, improving their quality and implementation. Attention will be paid to the regulation of invasive species in order to reduce their negative impact on biological diversity, and the six-year reports on the Birds and Habitats Directives will be prepared for the European Commission. DAP will continue to monitor the projects being implemented, to strengthen cooperation with local authorities, NGOs and private partners, as well as to establish new specially protected nature areas and improve the efficiency with which existing areas are managed.
Laura Anteina is being transferred to the post on the basis of Sections 11 and 37 of the State Civil Service Law, which allow a civil servant to be transferred to another post in the interests of the state in order to ensure good governance and the effective implementation of nature conservation policy.
https://www.daba.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/dabas-aizsardzibas-parvaldi-turpmak-vadis-laura-anteina