“Everything we produce from oil today can be produced from wood tomorrow, so the future depends on identifying these opportunities and increasingly close cross-sectoral cooperation. This will certainly provide not just the forest sector, but the entire Latvian economy, with the opportunity to make even better use of the forest's economic potential across the entire value chain,” points out U. Biķis.

To increase the value added to every cubic metre of processed timber, “Latvijas Finieris” will continue to develop new ways to use plywood.

“One of our most significant achievements is the lignin-based glue developed in collaboration with the Finnish corporation “Stora Enso”, which significantly reduces the carbon footprint of plywood products and makes them even greener in terms of the resources used. Today, that is a very strong competitive advantage.”

The state is already unable to compensate for practically anything because there is no money in the budget. Introducing extensive restrictions, which will hit the state's and residents' pockets even harder at a time when we need to think about how to repay debts from the Covid-19 crisis, would be a misguided decision.

We must learn from other countries that are introducing voluntary nature conservation schemes and entering into time-bound contracts with owners to preserve specific natural assets.