2013

LVM: Acknowledged environmental protection professional on European scale

Forests and related ecosystems are among the most important cornerstones of environmental protection and ecosystem services in Europe, containing considerable natural and social values. Nearly 50 percent of the European Union’s protected areas – the Natura 2000 network – are managed by state forest managers, indicating the importance of balanced forest management.

JSC Latvia’s State Forests actively participates in the development of environmental protection abroad. The company is part of the European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR) and a task force on managing Natura 2000 areas in state forests. The association’s work is summed up in a booklet published this past June.

The booklet shows that the state forest sector is a responsible, professional and pro-active forest owner, who cares about environmental protection. The considerable share of protected areas in state forests is a result of long-term and balanced forest management, which is also indicated by the distribution of Latvia’s protected areas.

Information collated in the booklet is one of the aspects of joint work. Joint discussion, cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment and joint future plans play an important role for state forest managers to become full-fledged members of professional environmental protection, participate and advance the planning of balanced forest ecosystem protection at the European level. The fact that the European Commission drafted one of the booklet’s sections indicates the success of the task force’s joint dialogue.

EUSTAFOR Natura 2000 task force member Ieva Rove: “The jointly-launched discussion on the different forms of environmental protection, depending on the ecological requirements of the goal, should be emphasized as the second aspect in the task force’s cooperation. The time of restrictions as the only form of environmental protection has passed and there is now a broader and more competent view on natural values. Environmental protection forms and options are as diverse as ecosystems.”

The next stage for joint work is participation in the development of guidelines for forest protection and management in Natura 2000 areas, proposed and organized by the European Commission. The goal of the guidelines is to create a regionally justified and unified approach to sustainable management of natural and economic values connected with forests within the framework of the EU, preserving traditional forest management. Active work on the guidelines will commence in autumn and end in 2014. 

About EUSTAFOR

Forests and related ecosystems constitute 50 percent of Natura 2000 areas and 23 percent of EU forests are part of Natura 2000 areas.

The European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR) was established during the sixth conference of state forest managers in Jūrmala in June 2005. LVM President Roberts Strīpnieks was elected to the association’s board.

At the moment, the association includes 26 members from 20 EU countries, managing a total of around 45 million hectares of forests (around 30 percent of the bloc’s forests), of which approximately 13 million hectares are protected. The share of Natura 2000 areas in EUSTAFOR members’ territories ranges from 3 percent to 50 percent and averages to 35 percent.

EUSTAFOR members manage the largest share of protected areas among all forest state forest managers in the EU.