Latvian forest policy and environment
1995
Tuherm, H. | Vilkriste, L. | Silamikele, I. | Konstantinova, I. (Latvian Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia))
In Latvia the forests cover 2.7 million ha or 42 per cent of the total land area and this percentage has stable trend of growth. Renewable forest resources covering 42 per cent of total land area are a major factor for environmental quality and stability. In state economy the forest sector is the leading export industry in Latvia now - in 1994 the foreign exchange value of forest based export was 20.34 per cent of the national total and this number has increased considerably. The direct contribution of forestry and forest industries in the Gross Domestic Product is represented about 10 per cent (year 1994). These figures do not reflect the true economic importance of the forestry sector in Latvia. The indirect effects of the development of forestry and forest industries in transportation, power generation, services and other sectors would be greater than the primary effects. After land reform and restitution of land (and also forest) ownership rights Latvia will have essential part of privately owned forests; estimations indicate that the number of private forest owners would be 100,000-200,000. The Latvian forest legislation system regulates the main principles of forest improvement, management and protection. The paper discusses some of the methodological and practical problems in the analysis of forest and environmental policies in the analysis of forest and environmental policies and practices in Latvia after the restoration of private ownership, in the free market economy conditions
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