The annual PROTECT BALTIC partners’ meeting
October, 2024.
Partners of the Horizon Europe PROTECT BALTIC project, including AKTiiVS, met at their annual partners’ meeting on September 2-5 of 2024 in Helsinki.
This 4-day event brought together more than 50 participants from all the 17 partner’s institutions for discussing the progress and work for the upcoming year. Read more about the project here. Watch also our newly launched video that delves into our mission to expand and enhance marine protection in the Baltic Sea. In this video, you’ll gain insight into our core objectives and the work we are doing under each of the work packages. The video outlines how we are working to safeguard the unique marine ecosystems of the Baltic while promoting sustainable, long-term protection strategies. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYpGIbCJWl0!
© Photo: Archive of the PROTECT BALTIC project. Members of the project’s Steering Committee at their first meeting on September 2 of 2024.
A new national research study on socioeconomic aspects of marine environment
July, 2024.
AKTiiVS started a 5-year national research study on socioeconomic analysis to support marine policies.
Ministry of Climate and energy is implementing a project entitled “Research to improve knowledge on the state of the marine environment for the implementation of the integrated maritime policy” (No 24-00-U1010801-000001). AKTiiVS is contracted by the ministry for implementing a research study for improving knowledge and information base for the economic and social analysis of use of the marine environment and achievement of marine environmental objectives. The work will run by June of 2029 and will involve further development of the national socioeconomic analysis methodologies, implementing data collection studies and development of analytical tools to support implementation of the marine protection and management policies in Latvia.
Read more information in the section Projects and publications.
The project “Research to improve knowledge on the state of the marine environment for the implementation of the integrated maritime policy” (No 24-00-U1010801-000001) is co-funded by the European Union “European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund”.
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HELCOM 50th anniversary celebration
April, 2024.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Convention and HELCOM, Latvia, currently holding the Chairmanship of HELCOM, hosted a celebration on 25 April 2024 in Riga. The event was preceded by a Ministerial Meeting of the Contracting Parties in the morning of the same day.
The guests, including representatives of the HELCOM Contracting Parties, observers and other friends of HELCOM past and present, enjoyed a special programme reflecting on the achievements of the first 50 years of HELCOM while looking forward to future challenges.
Read more about the celebration here.
Kristīne Pakalniete, representing AKTiiVS, was honoured to be part of this celebration. She is an active member of the HELCOM community, working on development and implementation of the sea region economic and social analysis as part of various projects and as the Latvian representative, currently chairing the HELCOM Expert Group on economic and social analysis.
© Photo: Gatis Orlickis.
The Baltic Sea Stakeholder Conference 2024 – PROTECT BALTIC
March, 2024.
Stakeholders from the Baltic Sea region came together on 29 February 2024 for discussing protection of the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic Stakeholder Conference 2024 was the inaugural stakeholder event for the PROTECT BALTIC project. The conference was conducted in a hybrid format at Hanaholmen in Espoo, Finland and online.
The overarching goal of the conference was to create a collaborative space for stakeholders vested in the PROTECT BALTIC project and its objectives. By convening a diverse group of stakeholders, ranging from governmental bodies and environmental organizations to local communities and industry representatives, the conference aimed to cultivate idea generation and knowledge exchange and to facilitate cross-sectoral dialogue and collaboration, paving the way for innovative solutions and collective action towards Baltic Sea protection.
Alongside the main conference, including 21 workshop sessions, a parallel youth event was held online to actively engage young individuals in discussions. In total, 233 participants attended the conference (164 participants attended online, and 69 participants attended in-person).
Read more about the conference here.
Kristīne Pakalniete participated in the conference, representing the company AKTiiVS, which is one of the 17 consortium partners of the PROTECT BALTIC project approved under the Horizon Europe program. Read more about the project here.
Launch of the PROTECT BALTIC project
September, 2023.
The partners of the Horizon Europe PROTECT BALTIC project, including AKTiiVS, came together on September 5-7 in Helsinki for a kick-off meeting of the project.
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The project “Enabling comprehensive effective and efficient protection and restoration measures for a resilient Baltic Sea ecosystem” (PROTECT BALTIC) is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme (Grant agreement number: 101112866).
AKTiiVS is among the partners of the consortium, consisting of 17 partners, for implementing the PROTECT BALTIC project.
The project will develop and implement a Protection Optimization Framework – a holistic transboundary decision support package for identifying marine biodiversity protection and restoration targets and developing a shared approach for the spatial protection and restoration.
The project includes a dedicated work package on the assessment and valuation of the marine ecosystem services. The role of AKTiiVS is to develop further the sea region socioeconomic assessment of the ecosystem services within the integrated assessment methodology and the tool for identification, mapping, quantification and valuation of the marine ecosystem services. Read more about the project here.
A national methodology for assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of obstacles on rivers
November, 2023.
AKTiiVS, in cooperation with BIOR and LVĢMC, developed a methodology for assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of obstacles on rivers in Latvia.
Only 33% of the Latvian inland waters are of good or high ecological quality, and various dams and obstacles on rivers, which negatively affect fish resources and water continuity, are one of the reasons for the deteriorated water quality and fish resources.
In order to justify the most appropriate solutions for mitigating the negative impact of obstacles, it is necessary to perform an analysis of benefits and costs, evaluating the environmental, social and economic impacts of obstacles. To develop the national methodology for such assessment, the project financed by the Latvian Fish Fund was implemented titled “Development of methodology for the assessment of environmental, social and economic impacts of river obstacles” (No. 23-00-S0ZF01-000012). The project was implemented by the Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR” in cooperation with “Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre”. The development of the methodology was carried out by AKTiiVS based on the contract with “BIOR”. Read more about the project results here.