Biological Significance
Consevation Threats
WWF Involvement in Latvia
Achievements
Selected Projects
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Latvia increased its protected areas from 4.9 per cent to 6.8 per cent of its land area between 1977 and 1991. However, the
country lacks the finances to manage its protected areas adequately, and many important ecosystems are still vulnerable. For
example, in 1992, a WWF survey found that few large areas of virgin swamp forest remained, even inside so-called protected
areas. As a result of this survey, more than 2,000ha of species-rich wet forests were "protected" by the State Forest
Service. How adequate this protection is remains to be seen.
Since independence, several new environmental laws have been passed, including one concerning protection of the coastal belt.
Legislation to address water and air pollution is being drafted, and a sewage treatment facility for Riga has been
constructed.
Latvia is a signatory to a number of international conservation Conventions. In November 1995, it ratified the International
Convention for the Protection of Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention). Perhaps the most important for
the region as a whole is the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea (known as the Helsinki
Convention). The WWF Baltic Programme was instrumental in ensuring that biodiversity concerns were included among the
articles in 1992, when the Convention was revised.
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