Are children not people, and is young growth not a forest?

What are children? A child is a term for a human from the moment of birth until reaching puberty. This period is called childhood. Legally, a child is a minor. The word is also applied to a person's direct descendants or adopted children, regardless of their age....

What is young growth? Young growth – one of the age groups of a tree stand; the first period of stand development from the establishment of the stand until it reaches pole stage. In coniferous and broadleaved hardwood stands, this is up to 20 g. years of age, but in soft deciduous stands up to 10 g. years of age, and in particularly fast-growing tree stands up to 5 g. years of age.

The recent statements and peculiar actions of several Latvian citizens, both those in office and outside it (regardless of their position), concerning Covid-19, compel us to pay more attention to these and similar developments and view them from a wider perspective. The statement by Saeima deputy Anda Čakša: “the discussion about vaccines and their safety raises concerns about the level of education, the foundations of education, and consequently knowledge in general” should not be narrowly applied to medicine or a specific vaccine alone (1).

For unknown and unexplained reasons, or because they believe it is “the right thing to do”, public media, instead of facilitating conversation or scientific debate, maintain a desire for the greatest possible narrowness of opinion and knowledge in forestry science (i.e., the less you know and understand, the more insistently the microphone will be put in your hands). If, for example, professionals (excluding the “Open Microphone” segment) speak about medicine in public media, and workers (mostly) speak about the economy, then about the forest and forestry science speak writers, biologists, public relations specialists, homemakers who have entered politics, 21st-century Viļis Lācis (let us remember the “contribution” of the real Viļis Lācis to Latvia’s rural inhabitants and the countryside itself in the 1940s), etc. Rarely does anyone remember that Latvia has a forestry science, an industry, and people working in it... It is a good thing if they remember at all!

“...information laundering is a scheme used by malicious actors in information influence campaigns. In this process, information is repeatedly manipulated and distorted through various intermediaries until the false or misleading information looks true, but the original author is hidden. The methods used by the involved intermediaries are, for example, misleading, inaccurate translations, taking real quotes and factual information out of context, and manipulating them to justify deliberately false information” (2)

“Overall, we have very little of this natural (nature) capital. Very little. Understand, believe… and nature counting tries to prove it unequivocally” (3)

“...we know that due to harvesting volumes, carbon sequestration in Latvian forests has been rapidly decreasing since the 1990s.” (4)

Comments? These are just two (3, 4) statements broadcast in the public media that went unnoticed by the media itself or completely align with its attitude. Which cannot be linked to science...

Understand! Believe! ...we know!

The citizens speaking about the forest in public media, who, due to the programme makers' “free and independent, education-based” choices, are not forest scientists or those working in the forest, emphatically and noticeably explain to the Latvian public a story woven with claims and general phrases (2, 3), consciously and unsustainably (putting nothing in its place, offering no solutions, yet “waffling heartily”) fighting against an economically vital industry essential to Latvia. In this working style, a peculiar “Kariņš” method can be observed: we do not notice the mistakes of our own, while we exaggerate those of our opponent.

The wafflers will not be held accountable for the motives behind such actions. Money? Project money. Money falling from the sky? It is easy to talk for those who write projects, with the money “landing in the account”. Where from? “What's it to me, let those in the forest earn it!”

If the public media consciously chooses deliberately emotional and general information about “dreadful” Latvian forestry, with speakers not hiding their negative attitude towards the industry, can we talk about the impression created for listeners and the lack of knowledge? We can, we must talk about it!

If someone’s goal is a poor, stagnant, and idle society in Latvia, which, moreover, is scattered across the wide world (because life in branch huts will not be pleasant for everyone, and there might be few left), that should be stated clearly! That, however, is not being done!

As we know, the environment must be cared for, and to care for it, there must be a caretaker, and a caretaker does not live on thin air and love. Therefore...

A few striking quotes: “Legally, a forest is considered anything where trees are intended to grow. So a forest can have fewer trees than a meadow. But from a biological point of view, this, of course, is not a forest. And for the birds that lived here, this will not be a forest for a long time,” says V. Ķerus. (4)

In the Forest Law of the Republic of Latvia, a forest is defined as an ecosystem at all stages of its development, where the main producer of organic mass is trees, whose height reaches at least 5 m and whose current or potential crown projection covers at least 20% of the forest area.

“Nowadays, one doesn't look at sustainable forestry like that anymore. This also means the preservation of biological diversity, it means questions of carbon sequestration, and we know that due to harvesting volumes, carbon sequestration in Latvian forests has been rapidly decreasing since the 1990s. We know that forests are being felled during bird nesting periods, we know that lesser spotted eagle nests are being destroyed, ‘Latvijas Valsts meži’ no longer even particularly hide that they are felling specially protected European-significant habitats.” (V. Ķerus)

The lies about the “problem” of the lesser spotted eagle have become tiresome to those working in the forestry sector (and not only them), because the lesser spotted eagle population is not endangered (6). Latvia is home to at least 40% of the world's population. When asked: who, when, and if nests have been destroyed at all, there are no concrete answers. There are assumptions, opinions, guesses, etc., etc. Exactly like the wearing down and grinding of the concept of “clear-felling” Latvian forests to the point of absurdity. Such an approach and such a style of work pays off (even by paying others for it!), many listen... they listen without seeing the difference between the words “to fell” and “to clear-fell”...

While remaining silent about the extraction of 333 ha of forest in Ķemeri in one go, supposedly for nature restoration, one can philosophise about other things: “A few weeks ago, we found out that several hundred or even thousands of hectares of biologically high-value forests have been felled over the last three years. With high probability, we can assume that these cubic metres of timber have gone into the FSC (timber certification) system or that other system used by biomass producers, the SBP system. This indicates that both these systems are, to a certain extent, leaky,” Jānis Rozītis expresses. (4) We found out, one can assume...

What has the speaker not understood or not wanted to understand (or, appearing on Latvijas Radio, is consciously and directly pretending not to understand)? What is certification? It should be noted that it is a forest management control system recognised everywhere in the world. The FSC forest management certificate confirms that the forest is managed in a way that preserves biological diversity and provides benefits to local people and workers, while ensuring that it maintains economic viability. To obtain this certificate, the members of the FSC council have agreed on a set of criteria that must be followed by forest managers or owners. These principles cover a wide range of issues, from maintaining high conservation values to workers' rights.

A peculiarity of Latvia, which for some reason many follow, including those working in the media, is to moan about the lack of money, report on it, create stories, propagate the concerns of controllers about spending... and at the same time drag their feet and do everything so that those who want to work face great difficulties.

It is a quirk of thinking that should not be associated with “greenness”, progress, or development. It is a lack of broad and deep knowledge!

For example, one can talk about restricting the work of a farmer and a forest owner, but... what will be in its place? Freshly minted writers, whose actions already quite clearly resemble Viļis Lācis in the 1940s, are frequent guests, for example, on Latvijas Radio. They want to forbid, or whatever they want, but... without offering anything in return! Unfortunately, the “there is more money than ever” style chatterers allow things to be banned without thinking that a ban must be balanced by something. And before banning, there must be clarity about who will create this balance.

Returning to the vaccines and level of education mentioned at the beginning of the article, one must say: “What they have sown, has grown and is ready for harvesting.” We are talking about a situation where, at least in the public media, mostly specialists speak about medical (treatment) issues, and as a result... About the forest? Anyone from a paved courtyard who is invited... The result...

Sources:
1. https://xtv.lv/rigatv24/video/mKrpYl9kG0W-caksa_diskusija_par_vakcinas_drosumu_raisa_bazas_par_izglitibas_limena_pamatiem
2. https://klik.tvnet.lv/7173343/kas-ir-informacijas-atmazgasana-un-ka-pret-to-cinities
3. Latvijas Radio, “Labrīt”, 14 April 2020
4. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/zinu-analize/vides-aktivisti-cel-trauksmi-rietumvalstis-klimata-merku-varda-dedzina-baltijas-mezus.a391579/
5. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/ekonomika/dabas-sargi-bazas-par-izzudosam-vertibam-rosina-palielinat-kompensacijas-meza-ipasniekiem.a309653/
6. http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-spotted-eagle-clanga-pomarina
For illustration, a photograph from zemeunvalsts.lv, a screenshot from a Twitter discussion, and a photograph of the painting "Lenin in Razliv" have been used