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A French Parliament Delegation Gets to Know the Work of Latvia’s State Forests

The delegation of the French parliamentary twinning group met with representatives of JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) to familiarize themselves with the sustainable forest management implemented by the company, as well as the geographical information system LVM GEO, which is one of the highest quality systems of this type in Europe.

The head of the French delegation, Joël Giraud, said after the meeting: “We were very surprised and interested to learn how the processes of JSC “Latvia’s State Forests” are implemented in a single management chain – starting from the high-quality genetic material of seedlings to the wood grown and delivered to the customer on time. The financial results of the company are also impressive – dividends paid to the State budget in the amount of 203 million euros. In France, the State, as the owner of the forest, receives much less.”

At the end of the meeting, representatives of LVM and the French delegation agreed to continue cooperation in the exchange of mutual information in educational projects on growing wood and the use of wood in construction.

Deciduous trees make up a total of 65 % of forest stands in French forests, while in Latvia more than half of the forest area managed by LVM is covered by conifers. 36 % of France's renewable energy balance consists of wood products; therefore, the issue of wood traceability is important for France, as the country is currently facing a significant outflow of logs to third world countries – this causes significant problems in the context of CO2 accounting and sequestration.