Study supported by the Forest Development Fund (agreement No. 26-00-S0INZ03-000005)
The essential role of forests in achieving ambitious climate neutrality targets and ensuring the stability of biological diversity is confirmed by various European Union (EU) legal acts and policy planning documents, which stipulate that the results obtained must be based on high‑quality scientific information. In 2024, the Nature Restoration Law entered into force, which provides that, using scientifically based monitoring, it will be necessary to assess various terrestrial ecosystems, including forests, to improve the quality of habitats where it is assessed as unsatisfactory. Overall, the goal of the Nature Restoration Law is to encourage EU Member States to implement extensive measures to restore nature and environmental values, and to ensure a sustainable, biologically diverse future for all EU inhabitants. To achieve this, before designating areas to be restored, it is necessary to carry out a qualitative and quantitative assessment of habitats, initially compiling data on the overall distribution of habitats, their areas, and their current locations in the national territory, and only thereafter assessing their condition. In Latvia, National Forest Inventory data are available, enabling assessment of several indicators of the Nature Restoration Law, such as standing and lying deadwood, the proportion of forests with an uneven age structure, tree‑species diversity, and the share of forests dominated by autochthonous tree species.
The aim of the Study is to ensure monitoring in forest stands that have not been affected by economic activity for a long time, as well as the long‑term scientific investigation of other landscape elements, in order to prepare and provide information to Latvian decision‑makers and stakeholders on the balanced implementation of nature conservation and bioeconomy interests in the forest landscape.
To achieve the aim of the study, the following tasks are planned:
- To assess the impact of climate change and natural disturbances on landscape development using the ecosystem dynamics simulation model iLand;
- To provide research support for preparing solutions for the management of the most economically significant watercourses in the landscape;
- To collect data for reference values of the indicators defined in the Nature Restoration Regulation by characterising deadwood in forest stands that have been unaffected by economic activity for a very long time in Slītere National Park;
- To maintain monitoring of old forest stands by ensuring remeasurement of old spruce stands (five‑year cycle) and data collection in reference stands, and by analysing the dynamics of changes in biodiversity indicators (deadwood, stand structure, species);
- To ensure participation in the international EuFoRIa (European Forest Reserves Initiative) network and its seminars, as well as to organise the BaltDendro 2026 conference.