The municipality of Rezekne will provide support for the fight against Latvians
The procedures for the meeting of the municipal environmental protection fund approved by the municipality of Rezekne on 10 March 2022, in which: financed measures to combat Latvians in the municipality of Rezekne. The aim of the measures is to financially motivate and support land owners to destroy this invasive species and limit its spread.
The invasive plant species in Latvia is defined in the plant protection law as a non-natural species of Latvia which endangers local species and their habitats or causes economic losses, environmental damage or human health. One of them is Sosnovska Latvian, a highly expansionary species that is very fast spread not only in non-cultivated fields, roads and forests, but also in natural plant societies. Latvians are very dangerous to humans because of the burns of skin and mucous membranes, particularly by endangering children. It is a serious problem not only in the Baltic region and Scandinavia, but also throughout Europe and North America. By growing river banks, the movement of fishermen and tourists is restricted, the erosion of coasts is encouraged; the landscape and endangered children are degraded as the roads grow; the possibilities of their economic exploitation are restricted. The prevalence of Latvians has become a global problem and solutions to combat it are being searched internationally.
The responsibility of each landowner is to ensure that such invasive species does not spread, but both Latvian and foreign scientists and practitioners recognise that, in one place, long-growing Latvians are very complex, various possible mechanical and chemical techniques must be used in a complex, requiring large investments and not only once a year. Several municipalities have already taken a decision on the real estate tax rebate to promote the fight with Latvians, however, as the Chairman OF the Rēzekne District Council Monvīds Švarcs emphasizes, this type is not effective because, first, the owner must take care of and use the land for the purposes for which it is intended, agriculture or forestry, and that amount, which the owner might have obtained from these tax credits, is negligible, so the municipality of Rezekne has developed and offers a support programme so that private individuals can obtain funding for the fight against Latvians.
The programme shall provide that natural or legal persons whose land properties are located in the territory of Rezekne District and on which the prevalence of Sosnovska hogweed at least 0.1 ha is located may be eligible for the receipt of local government financing. The measures to combat hogweed are carried out for five years. The amount of the allocated financing shall be 80% of the cost of activity per year, but not more than 200 EUR per 1 ha of land area, which is infested with the herbal species in the first year, not more than 180 EUR per 1 ha in the second year, not more than 140 EURO in the third year, not more than 120 EUR in the fourth year and not more than 100 EURO per 1 ha in the fifth year. After these measures, the area is surveyed for a further period of 5 years to exclude the re-spread of the hogweed. Funding shall be granted from the resources of the current year of the municipal environmental protection fund of the municipality of Rezekne. In order to receive financing, the owner of the land or the lawful possessor must first submit a submission to THE VAAD (State Plant Protection Service) regarding the possessor, the performer of containment measures and infested (with the surrounding area). The form of the application is found in: https://www.vaad.gov.lv/lv/pakalpojumi/zinu-iesniegsana-par-sosnovska-latvana-izplatibu-sava-ipasuma-vai-tiesiskaja-valdijuma-esosaja-zeme
Thereafter, each year by 15 March (2022 – 2 May!) a submission for financing shall be submitted, accompanied by a map indicating the area infested with Sosnovska latvans and photofixation. The financing shall be broken down at the end of each year, prior to the survey and evaluation of actions taken to combat the hogweed. If the survey reveals that no measures have been taken to combat the hogweed, no funding is granted. The owner of the land or his or her legal possessor shall be responsible for taking measures restricting the spread of the hogweed. As the Senior Environmental Officer of the municipality of Rēzekne informed Ruth Sidorova, in accordance with the plant protection law, on inactivity in the fight against Latvians, a warning is being applied at first, but the next time already punishment – for natural persons from 50 to 1500 money units, but for legal persons – from 300 to 3000 euros.
More about the order in which financed measures to combat Latvians in the municipality of Rezekne – present in the attached document.
In the municipality of Rezekne, the poisonous Latvian is a fairly common species – after the survey of land owners in 2021, it is 92.93 ha, most of which has spread to Berzgales civil parish (60 ha), quite large Latvian stands are also in the parish of Ozolaine, Makoņkalna and Silmalas. The most affected areas of Latvians are in the municipality of Madona and Cēsis.