Facts and figures

Latvia covers an area of 64,600 km 2, and has 2.4 million inhabitants. More than 40percent of Latvia's territory is forest but there are also significant wetlands, something rare for Europe as a whole. Latvia has a Baltic Sea coastline of 490 km with much of the coastal area still relatively untouched.

Approximately 23,000 species of fauna, including 18,000 insect species, are found in Latvia. This large number is due to the country's diverse habitats (bogs, coastal meadows, forests, dunes, semi-natural grasslands, mires), and substantial areas where human impact has been minimal. The high number of bird species (325) is accounted for by migration routes crossing Latvia and the presence of important waterfowl wintering sites.   Large numbers of migrating bats also concentrate along the coast of south-western Latvia during August and September and Latvia provides the only natural spawning site in the eastern Baltic for Atlantic Salmon.

38 percent of Latvia's mammals and 24 percent of the country's birds are considered endangered. Of 1,600 vascular plant species, 16 percent are considered threatened, as are 131 of the 18,000 insect species.

Project description

The project's development objective is to optimize the practice of biodiversity conservation in Latvia's protected areas and associated landscapes.   Its immediate objective is the conservation of globally significant biodiversity in the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve (NVBR).

The project has eight primary outputs: i) Improved information on the NVBR and its biodiversity, to aid management and decision-making; ii) strengthened institutional capacity and participatory mechanisms; iii) Identification of desirable reforms to existing policies, legislation and incentive/regulatory frameworks for resource use, iv) Integrated ecological landscape planning for the NVBR; (v) demonstration of alternative biodiversity-supporting economic development activities for local communities; vi) Increased awareness of and support for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; (vii) Habitat restoration; and viii) identification and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.

Project site

The NVBR, Latvia's only biosphere reserve, is located in the north-western part of the country. The NVBR includes approximately 70,000 people in 41 municipalities, with the majority residing in nine urban centres. The NVBR currently encompasses 17 established Nature Reserves, 19 Nature Monuments and a Nature Park and is home to a number of rare and threatened species of fauna.

The landscape is characterized by forests, moraines, drumlins, kettle lakes, rivers, wetlands, raised bogs, semi-natural grasslands, coastal meadows and agricultural lands. Forests cover more than 45percent of the Biosphere Reserve. There are 63 lakes of greater than 3 ha in size within the Reserve.

The NVBR was established to protect a biodiversity rich area, the Salaca River basin, which includes the river, Lake Burtnieki , various tributaries, and a marine area along 60 km of the Vidzeme coast.

The river is among the four most important salmon rivers in Europe while the lake, an important migratory site for water birds, and its surrounding arable meadows and forests have been nominated as an Important Bird Area.

Semi-natural grasslands form a very important part of the mosaic of biotopes that make up the NVBR and give rise to its high biodiversity values. Bogs and wetlands are particularly rich in globally significant biodiversity. The bog area bordering Estonia is of particular value for migrating geese and also provides habitat for several rare and endangered birds, including the globally threatened corncrake (Crex crex), which is still quite common in Latvia.