International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

More than a half of Latvia’s territory is covered with forests, and forest sector is important for the national economy. Despite the high economic importance of timber resources, forest utilization in Latvia is moderately intensive, as long rotation cycle (70-100 years for most widespread tree species) is used and strict environmental regulations are in force. Meanwhile, due to the climate change and growing demand for renewable resources, intensification of forest management is ongoing and expected to continue. Studies on the interactions between forest, soil and water are of high importance to ensure sustainably intensified forestry. Forest felling, transportation of logs, collection of slash, stump extraction, drainage system establishment and maintenance, forest road construction, beaver population management, use of water protection structures and riparian bufferzones are apparent components of forestry that may exacerbate, change or improve quality of water, soil and stands, and as such, require research and practical application of relevant protection measures.

World ecosystems are confronted with multiple challenges related to the global change drivers, namely, population growth, climate change, land use change, urbanization, invasive species, and interactions between these. Intensified land management practices implemented with the primary aim to increase the land productivity, may have severe adverse effects on soil and water quality. In the Nordic-Baltic region, both agriculture and forestry have high economic importance and long traditions, and currently intensive management is applied in both these sectors. Even though regulatory framework for soil and water protection exists, the management practices have to be extended beyond simple compliance with the regulations in order to secure holistic approach to the land management. Therefore, several collaboration projects with Nordic-Baltic partnership in forestry and agriculture sectors have been implemented during recent years to test nature-based solutions for soil and water protection.