Clarification of the conditions for the receipt of aid for investments in the expansion and improvement of the viability of the forest area

The government has accepted amendments TO CABINET Regulation No. 455 “procedures for granting, administering and supervising State and European Union support for the implementation of the measure“ investments in the expansion of forest areas and improvement of forest viability ”.
The main amendments have been made to the quality criteria for the sub-measure “forest cultivation”. The amendments provide that one applicant will be able to grow the forest in a maximum of 20 ha (instead of the previous 10 ha) during the programming period. This means that applicants for which a forest-growing project has been approved by 10 ha have yet to qualify for and receive EU support.
The amendments allow the applicant to affix a larger area of agricultural land where the fertility of the land is more than 25 balls. In the previous agricultural land where the fertility of the land is more than 25 balls, the area cultivated could not exceed 2 ha. The amendments stipulate that the fertility of the land is more than 25 and the forest may be grown up to 4 ha.
Forest cultivation can also be carried out in land with the category “other land” in the land that is listed in the cadastre of the real estate in the other land group (for example, quarries, Smilers, etc.).
The criteria for selection of projects in the sub-measure 'forest cultivation' and 'investments for improvement of the resilience and ecological value of forest ecosystems' shall also be supplemented, giving the possibility for applicants who are not members of the forest owners cooperative or forest owners' association, as well as who do not have a higher or average special forestry education, to acquire 5 points in the project evaluation process, if the applicant has acquired a forestry training course for the 2014-2020 of the rural development programme “Knowledge transfer and information activities” in the sub-measure “vocational education and skills acquisition measures”.
Forestry training courses for THE 2014-2020 programme “Knowledge Transfer and Information Activities” under the “Vocational Education and Skills Activities” sub-measure are organised by the forest advisory service centre. The training takes place throughout Latvia. You can learn about the planned training and locations in THE MCC website (mkpc.llkc.lv), under Training.
The amendments will enter into force after publication in the Official Gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis.
Ieva donina
MKPC Zemgale Division
senior Forestry Consultant