Nearly 1 000 Latvian agriculture and forestry workers gathered outside the Cabinet of Ministers building in Riga, requesting the adoption of a fair compensation mechanism if forest land is put under nature protection act, LETA reports.
Six heavy farming vehicles, as well as a large-scale environmental installation were placed outside the building.
Protesters present at the site also held out posters with various slogans written on them, such as “Par zaļo attīstību! Pret zaļo stagnāciju!”, “Ļaujiet strādāt!”, “Dabas bagātības mežos cilvēku veidotas!”, “Aiz kokiem neredz mežu nozari”, [“For green development! Against green stagnation!”, “Let’s work!”, “The riches of nature in forests are man-made!”, “You can’t see the forest sector behind the trees”].
Among the protesters there were also representatives of multiple forestry businesses, including Krauzers, Lignum Latvija, Amber Birch, Erte groupa, and many others.
The point of the protest is to attract attention towards the problems that still plague owners of Latvian forests and people employed in the forestry sector. One of the most painful topics is the payment of compensation to forest owners when portions of forested land is put under nature protection act.
Organisers of the protest want the government to pay fair compensation amounts, as well as refrain from creating new territories with restrictions for economic activities until fair compensation amounts are introduced.
Workers of the forestry sector also want a concept for a voluntary nature protection system in Latvia and prevent the placing of Latvia’s forestry sector in a more disadvantaged position when compared to other EU member states. Reduced bureaucracy is one more demand to help preserve Latvia’s international competitiveness.
Currently, by imposing restrictions on forest land, compensations to their owners are unfair, according to the organizers of the protest. For one hectare, where the forest owner is denied or severely restricted economic activity, 50 to 190 euros per year are paid, which is not even 1% of the real value of the forest.
Latvian farmers participate in the protest, supporting the demands of the forest sector and reiterating their support for the previous requirement – the abandonment of land encumbrances or other land use restrictions at the national level.
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