Published a national socioeconomic assessment of the marine environment 2024
January, 2025.
The assessment provides an up-to-date overview of the national welfare benefits, costs and social impacts of using the marine environment.
The assessment is prepared according to the requirements of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EK) and national regulations to conduct the economic and social analysis of the use of marine waters and the assessment of cost of degradation of the marine environment.
The results include a report and dataset, and are provided for public consultation, which is open by February 20 of 2025 (more information can be found here).
The results were presented to national stakeholders during a national seminar on December 6 of 2024, which was organised by the Ministry of Climate and energy. The presentation can be found here.
For more information about the assessment results please visit Project and publications section.
The assessment has been prepared by AKTiiVS under the contract with the Ministry of Climate and energy as part of implementing the national research study for 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), which is co-funded by the European Union “European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund”.
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Building knowledge for socioeconomic evaluation of measures for obstacles on rivers
January, 2025.
LEGMC and AKTiiVS has started implementation of a project to improve knowledge base for socioeconomic evaluation of obstacles on rivers and their management In Latvia.
The project entitled “Implementation of data collection studies and development of a national methodology for socioeconomic evaluation of measures to reduce pressures from obstacles on rivers and for justifying cost-effective measures” (No 1-08/65/2024) is implemented by the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LEGMC) together with AKTiiVS with funding from the Latvian Environment Protection Fund. The work will run by September of 2026 and will fill substantial national data gaps on societal benefits and costs of obstacles on rivers and their management in Latvia, and will provide national methodology and assessments for socioeconomic evaluation and setting cost-effective measures to reduce the pressures, created by the obstacles on river ecosystems. The project’s results will contribute to updating the national River Basin Management Plans, which plan to be prepared in 2026.
Read more about the project in the section Projects and publications.
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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.