Nature Conservation Agency together with its partners has started to implement EU LIFE program project ‘’Sustainable and responsible management and re-use of degraded peatlands in Latvia’’ (hereinafter referred to as LIFE REstore).

During the first Steering Committee meeting in Sigulda on May 26, 2016, peat processing organizations and other stakeholders related to bog management were introduced to the aims, objectives and activities of the project.

The main goal of the LIFE REstore project is the establishment of a decision support system for responsible and sustainable degraded peatland re-use and management in Latvia.

LIFE REstore Project has set out the following objectives:

  • to perform an inventory and develop a database of the degraded peatlands in Latvia;
  • to approbate a field measurement based methodology for accounting of the greenhouse emission gases (GHG) emissions from managed wetlands in Latvia in accordance with the supplement to the IPCC guidelines;
  • to develop a decision support tool for land re-use planning of degraded peatland areas, providing the most optimal balance of the aspects of ecological restoration for biodiversity, benefits for economic growth and GHG emission reduction for long-term mitigation of negative climate change impacts in Latvia;
  • to support policy-makers by providing a strategic framework for implementation of the developed approaches of sustainable re-use of degraded peatlands for integration into the National PEAT Strategy.

The implementation of EU LIFE program project ‘’Sustainable and responsible management and re-use of degraded peatlands in Latvia’’ (LIFE REstore, LIFE14 CCM/LV/001103) is coordinated by Nature Conservation Agency in cooperation with the Association ‘’Baltic Coasts’’, Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘’Silava’’ andLatvian Peat Association. Total budget of the project is 1 828318 EUR. Financial contribution requested from the EU LIFE program is 1 096990 EUR . Co-financing is provided by the Administration of Latvian Nature protection fund (554288 EUR) and project partners (177040 EUR). Project is being implemented in Latvia from September 1 of 2015 to August 31 of 2019.