2018

Students Make Video Messages for the UN International Day of Forests

To celebrate the UN International Day of Forests, participants of the LVM Bio-economy School have created video messages to encourage their peers in Latvia to think about how to create a more sustainable world, in which wood and forest as a renewable resource will play an ever-increasing role. Everyone is invited to vote on Facebook for one of the 10 video messages, the best of which will receive scholarships granted by JSC "Latvijas valsts meži" (LVM) and JSC "Latvijas Finieris".

The UN International Day of Forests is celebrated worldwide on 21 March. This year's central theme is forest and sustainable cities. Voting for video messages is open from 21 March to 10 April on the Facebook page “Izzini mežu, Latvija” (Learning about Forest, Latvia) by pressing "Like" under the published videos. The final results of the scholarship contest will be published on the website www.lvm.lv/bioekonomika on 11 April; this website also contains additional information on the LVM Bio-economy School. The authors of the video messages nominated for scholarships (in alphabetical order):

The jury has published 10 best videos, evaluating them by the following criteria: a clear message that corresponds to the topic (maximum 25 points), a connection with the daily life of young people (maximum 25 points), originality and creativity (maximum 25 points). Public vote forms the fourth criterion for rating video messages in social media (maximum 25 points).

In the photo: Bio-economy Expedition to LVM Vidusdaugava Region on 23 February

Kristaps Ceplis, Head of the society "Zaļās mājas" tells about the objectives of the scholarship competition: "Wood and other biological products have a high potential for increasing the added value of products, replacing fossil fuels in energy production, developing future biological products and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We hope that the scholarship competition on this topic will encourage young people to acquire new knowledge and apply it in practice, thus making this world a better place."

Already for the second year, JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) in cooperation with the society "Zaļās mājas" and the National Centre for Education organises the scholarship contest "LVM Bio-economy School". Just like last year, in the first round of the contest called "Create!" participants had an opportunity for creative expression, making posters on the theme "What is Bio-economy?". We received more than 70 works, which were assessed by a competent jury. Authors of the best 35 works were invited to participate in the second round of the competition "Explore Nature!" and go on an educational forest expedition together with industry experts. The acquired knowledge and the new impressions were useful in the third round of the competition "Speak!" creating a video message for the UN International Day of Forests, which will have the decisive role in acquisition of the scholarship.