Contamination of urban areas is directly connected with the lack of adequate waste management planning. Problems mostly arise in former military bases, garages, warehouses and areas with other facilities. For many decades environmental problems caused by pollution in areas of military use were not managed in Latvia. The aim of this research is to assess visual environmental quality and study heavy metal contents in soil of ‘Jaunais Mežaparks’ after demolishing works in the capital of Latvia – Riga, as well as to provide comparison to the former military ‘Daugavgrīva’ site. Research was carried out from November 2011 to February 2012 by soil sampling and further analysis and comparison of the heavy metal content in soil with target and boundary levels in legislation. ‘Jaunais Mežaparks’ is a former military area which is planned to be reused in future. The former military site is planned to be used as the residential neighborhood and is situated close to important recreational object in Mežaparks area – Lake Ķīšezers. According to Riga Development Plan old military sites must be remediated in accordance with environmental legislation if the contamination exceeds critical concentration values. Thus, this case study includes assessment of visual pollution as well as soil heavy metal contamination study. Recommended actions as well as direct remediation technologies to reduce the poisonous impact of contamination to environment in this area are proposed.

Nowadays, linkage of landscape ecology with landscape aesthetics becomes very topical, especially when people move from rural areas to big towns and cities. Landscape ecological planning becomes more important in terms of sustainable environment. Landscape assessment and investigation needs a multidisciplinary approach. The aim of the study was to evaluate landscape ecological aesthetics in urban area. The selected city for study was Jelgava – city with a special characteristic landscape of Zemgale plains and wide green spaces in the city centre. Jelgava is one of the examples of complex urban system with ecological environment. This research presents landscape evaluation of Jelgava using ecological aesthetics assessment method. Territory of Jelgava was divided in groups of research areas: green spaces, residential areas and other territories. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the research. The methods applied in this research describe the present situation of the city. Landscape inventory, biotope structure analysis and evaluation of landscape ecological aesthetical qualities give a general overview of the problems and opportunities of the examined city. Research study was managed in autumn and winter 2011. The results show the need for sorting the cityscape and use of ecological principles in further urban planning. Green areas of Jelgava are ecological and aesthetical valuable but multi-storey residential areas have low quality of landscape ecological aesthetics.

The negative impact of agricultural pollution with biogenic materials on surface water bodies is a relevant problem. This problem is addressed by limiting or prohibiting certain activities in the so called buffer areas. The biogenic materials are carried by surface or groundwater runoff. Water infiltration is influenced by the lithological composition of sediments. River basins of sandy lithological structure were selected throughout the territory of Lithuania. An installed system of lysimeters in the boreholes allowed monitoring the change of water quality of sediments over time. The migration patterns of nutrients where identified during the investigation in the spring, summer and autumn seasons.

Hydro-physical properties of heavy or presses soil as well as water regime may be improved by various ways, taking into account the texture of soil and climatic conditions. Drainage is the tool for productive farming and economic benefit generation. Hydrological activity of drainage typically depends on project installation quality, anthropogenic and climatic factors. It is important to assess drainage activity under different meteorological conditions. One of methods to improve drainage performance is its installation with thickened humus layer. Lithuanian soil humus layer is close to arable layer and is equal to approximately 20–25 cm. The impact of humus on heavy-textured soil is multiple, since not only moisture regimes, biological activity, sorption capacity, chemical and biological characteristics, stability of plant nutrition are related with its quantity. The dynamics of drainage activity in soil with thickened (up to 40–50 cm) humus layer and with humus layer of natural thickness (20–30 cm) during various seasons of period of 1989–2009 is reviewed. Especially important indicator of drainage functioning – water runoff dynamics. The present article analyses the variation of climatic conditions and drainage runoff in the object. It is determined that the lowest quantity of precipitation in the researched territory during the research period is in spring and winter but the highest – in summer and autumn. During the research period the highest drainage runoff in the field I was during winter season (46.3%), in the field II – in winter and spring almost the same (32–33%).

Sewage sludge is a specific bulky waste and its utilization is hampered by the presence of the environmentally dangerous contaminated substances in the composition presented mainly by heavy metals, pathogens and coagulants. At the same time sewage sludge may serve as a valuable biological raw material. Utilization of the sewage sludge is crucial environmental and economic challenge. Application of the pneumatic pulse method in the technology of dehydration and utilization of the sewage sludge may allow us to speed up the process of drying, reduce power consumption and capital investment, execute process of dehydration at lower temperatures and in less hazardous explosive conditions. Proposed solution is founded on the use of the compact equipment for dehydration and utilization, including pneumatic pulse drying method. For this purpose the pulser – an airflow feeder with required time intervals or pulses, was included in the technological process. In the process of the drying sewage sludge with the use of pneumatic pulse, there is no need to spend all the energy on evaporation of the water molecules and this fact significantly reduces power consumption. Preliminary calculations, taking into account laboratory data, showed that proposed technology of drying sewage sludge allows to reduce power consumption by 25% upon receipt of the dry sludge. The aim of the study is development of sewage sludge dehydration technology for further utilization of design solutions using the pulse method.

This article analyses the advantages of applicable measures of motivation, taking into consideration the internal environment of an organization as a whole and focuses on the impact of internal environmental factors upon the results of the organization. The paper is based on the survey results obtained by inquiring, municipal administration employees in Lithuanian districts in February-June 2010. The goal of the research was to propose and justify theoretical components for the motivation model of municipal administration employees. The major integrated groups of motivation measures that are the most influential to the factors of internal environment as the main results of research were identified. The authors focus on the positional adjustment of the combinations of motivation measures, in order to improve the motivation of municipal administration employees.

Entrepreneurial activity in various regions of Latvia is one of the most actual topics for politicians at many levels. The aim of this paper is to characterize entrepreneurial activity in the Kurzeme Region in the context of municipalities analysing the accessible statistical data. The entrepreneurial activity in the Kurzeme Region is analyzed both in general and in the context of municipalities in this paper. Analyzing accessible statistical data, one can draw a conclusion that the entrepreneurial activity in the Kurzeme Region is not even. It testifies that the factors which influence entrepreneurial activity development in some areas are to be searched at the level of municipalities. In addition, the analysis of data specifies various correlations. For example, the smallest number of merchants per 1000 inhabitants in Kurzeme region is in relatively small border municipalities, but higher results are in large cities and local authorities who comprise larger cities or in municipalities which border with larger towns. It is similarly discovered that in Kurzeme region there is a smaller amount of self-employed persons in local authorities with a large number of merchants per 1000 inhabitants and vice versa. There are also exceptions, further research is necessary to justify such correlations.

Short rotation forests (SRF) can be used for biomass production for energy applications in Latvia. Establishment of plantations could be one of possibilities how to reach targets of renewable energy resource (RES) consumption of 40% in 2020. In Latvia’s conditions, one of most suitable species that could be used for SRF is willow (Salix sp.). Abandoned agricultural lands are suitable for establishment of plantations. Productivity of 8 oven- dried tons (ODT) ha-1 year -1 can lead to Rate of Return (IRR) of 17.1% and Net Present Value (NPV) 1099 Latvian Lats (LVL) if the biomass price is 33 LVL ODT-1. Establishment, harvesting and transporting costs account for 88% of the total cost of production. Price of wood chip and fuel plays the most important role in economics of plantation.

One can reasonably argue that issues related to the increased use of renewable energy resources in the energy production processes in Latvia, are at the forefront and will remain there in the future. This relates to the aspect that Latvia is not rich in non-renewable energy resources (around 70% of total primary energy consumption in Latvia is ensured by import, which can lead to undesired effects in many areas), but at the same time, there are available renewable energy resources in Latvia, with an untapped potential to be recognized. In particular this applies to fuel wood, which is already (year 2012) the most important domestic fuel in Latvia. In this context it is important to emphasize that, according to the particular study results, if unexpected socio-economic developments do not take place, raw wood material resources required for different types of fuel wood production in Latvia should be available in the same amount as it is now if not more. As for increasing the amount of fuel wood use in Latvia, an enormous ‘potential’ can be seen in general use boiler houses, where there are currently no technological limitations to utilize this ‘potential’. General use cogeneration plants can be recognized as an even greater ‘potential’ for greater use of fuel wood in Latvia, but given the circumstances of energy supply in Latvia, the ‘potential’ is currently available on a very limited basis. At the same time it is important to note that both of these ‘potentials’ could be significantly reduced in the next few years.

Research on identification of Ceutorhynchus spp. on winter oilseed rape in Latvia was done during the vegetation season of 2009 and 2010. Field trials were located in the Research and Study Farm ''Peterlauki'', Jelgava municipality, Latvia (56 deg 32 min 17.38N, 23 deg 43 min 17.65E). Four species of brassica stem weevils were identified: cabbage stem weevil Ceutorhynchuspallidactylus Marsh., syn. C. quadridens Pan., rape winter stem weevil C. picitarsis Gyll., blue stem weevil C. sulcicollis Pay., and C. typhae Herb. One of the most common species in winter oilseed rape was cabbage stem weevil C. pallidactylus. Use of a sweep net for identification of particular species cannot be applied, as in practice no specimens have been collected by this method. One of the most appropriate methods for identification of Ceutorhynchus spp. on winter oilseed rape has been yellow sticky traps and water traps that have been used to collect the greatest number of specimens (24) during the vegetation season. First pests appear during the 2nd decade of April, when the plant reaches 33 BBCH. Pest control using systemic insecticide Proteus 110 OD (tiakloprid 100 g LE-1, deltametrin 10 g LE-1) with a dose of 0.75 L haE-1 was applied when the plant reached 39-44 BBHC. Despite the high population density (2 to 10 insects on 40 plants), significant (p is less than 0.05) decrease in pest damage by 43-51%, when compared to untreated area, was recorded during vegetation seasons of 2009 and 2010. Pest control with a systemic insecticide when the plant is in the stem elongation phase provided a significant (p is less than 0.05) yield increase of 0.5 to 0.7 thaE-1.