Workshop “Contaminated Lands in Accession Countries:

Benchmarking Historical Heritage and National Actions”

Budapest 17-18th November 2003

LATVIA

Evisa AbolinaMinistry of the Environment of the Republic of Latvia

Environmental protection department

Content of the presentation

? Contaminated soils and sites in Latvia? Monitoring? Legislation? Ongoing activities? Planned activities

I Contaminated soils and sites in Latvia

? Still the investigations show that contamination is mostly small and is not dangerous for environment in largest area

• The biggest problem for Latvia today is the old contaminated sites which include:– former USSR military territories– former industrial sites– oil product storage’s– different dumps – agrochemical storehouses

I Contaminated soils and sites in Latvia

• Pollution with plant nutrients– agriculture is still responsible for high nitrogen and phosphorus

loads to water bodies and the Baltic Sea. Despite the declining use in recent years, high nutrient loads in recent decades have led to substantial nutrient accumulation in soil in the areas with highlivestock density

– Monitoring data shows that non point pollution from agriculturalcatchments with private farms is low in Latvia today as comparedto western countries, however there is a tendency of the increase of nutrient concentrations in runoff

– Overfertilisation in limited land areas near large farms cause soil pollution, what results in plant nutrient disbalance in soil and reduced quality of agricultural products

I Contaminated soils and sites in Latvia

• Pollution with pesticide residues– use of plant pest control substances in agriculture currently is

almost 9 times less than at the end of 1980s– The legislation on pesticide use covers registration, trading, storage

and application of pesticides. Using advanced pesticides strictly according to recommendations the risk of pollution is minimised

• Pollution with heavy metals– soils in Latvia are comparatively unpolluted with heavy metals and

they do not exceed the allowed limits

• Pollution with radioactive materials– Latvian soils generally are considered clean from radioactive

substances

II Monitoring

• The Latvian Environment Agency is responsible for environment information system and database management, and to establish anddevelop National environmental monitoring and support its functionless.

• There are several monitoring systems coordinated by Latvian Environment Agency, which include soil quality monitoring. These monitoring programs are determined by the

– National Environmental Monitoring Program (2002) – National Action Plan for Environmental Monitoring (2002)

Monitoring Program

•Data are acquired within a framework of monitoring programs •Agricultural monitoring program •Forest monitoring program •Integrated monitoring program •Soil radiation monitoring program

•Soil monitoring is implemented by University of Latvia

Monitoring Program

• Agricultural soil database is hold by Latvian Agricultural University

• The national coordinator of forest monitoring is State Forest Service who holds the database, including the forest soil data.

• The national coordinator of integrated monitoring is Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency, which holds the central database. The database is available also in Latvian Environmental Agency

• The national coordinator of soil radiation monitoring is Latvian Environmental Agency, which holds the database and annual reports

Problems:

• There is still not any integrated soil quality database in Latvia

• Every institution has its own purposes and methods to collect data

• The soil classification system is different from international FAO soil classification system, therefore at the moment it is not possible to compare the data at international level

• Due to the lack of financial resources agricultural soil monitoring and forest monitoring is not realized within the framework of National Monitoring Program.

III LegislationBasic legislation

•National Environmental Policy Plan (1995) (NEPP) • National Environmental Action Program (NEAP)– Law On Pollution (2001) (implementation of Council Directive

96/61/EC)– Law On Environmental Protection (1991)– Civil Law of Latvia – Law on Protected Belts (1997)– Law on Agriculture (1996)– Law on Environmental Impact Assessment (1998) (implementation of

Council Directive 85/337/EEC)– Law on Natural Resources Tax (1995) (Polluter(Polluter--pays principle)pays principle)

Legislation? Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers Nr.531 adopted 18

December 2001 “On Water and Soil Protection Against Pollution Caused by Nitrates from Agricultural Activities” (Council Directive 91/676/EEC)

? Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers Nr.388 adopted 15 July 2003 “On Environmental quality standards for soil”

– Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers Nr.483 adopted 20 November 2001 “Inventory and registration of contaminated and potentially contaminated areas”

– Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No.15 adopted 3 January 2002 “Regulations regarding Requirements for Construction of Landfill Sites, as well as Management, Closure and Re-cultivation of Landfill Sites and Dumps”

IV Ongoing activities•Action Programme for Vulnerable zones

According to Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers Nr.531 “Regulations on the protection of waters and soil against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources” on year 2003 Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment started to develop the Action Programme for Vulnerable zones. The Action Programme may also include Code of Good Agricultural Practice. The requirements of the Action Programme shall be implemented within four years of its adoption.

– Vulnerable zones, subject to special requirements for water and soil protection against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources, their boundaries, criteria for designation of such zones and their management practices

Vulnerable zones

V Planned activities• On year 2003 Ministry of the Environment in co-operation with

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) started project on “Global environmental management issues related to national capacity needs self-assessment in Latvia (NCSA)”.

• The main objective of the project is to identify priorities and needs for capacity development in Latvia in order to address global environment issues. Analysis will concentrate on three thematic areas – climate change, biological diversity and land degradation, however it will also explore synergies among these thematic areas (UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD).

• Afterwards, according to the results of this project and UNCCD Annex V requirements will be developed National Action programmeto promote soil protection and to combat soil degradation.

Thanks for your attention!