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LVM Agrees with One of Japan's Prefectures on Co-operation in Forest Sector Development

On 8 October, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM), in the presence of Japanese Ambassador Yasuhiro Kawaguchi, signed an agreement with Oita Forest Net, Oita Prefecture Forest Managers, on mutual cooperation to promote development of forest industry and technology solutions in Latvia and Oita Prefecture.

Slightly more than 70% of the territory of Oita Prefecture (634 thousand hectares) are covered by forests, mainly plantation forests. The Prefecture is also well known throughout the world for shiitake mushrooms.

The forest sector in Japan faces a number of challenges due to the age of those working in the sector, with more than 40% of the workers in Oita Prefecture being over 60 years of age, difficult geographical conditions (mountainous, difficult to reach forest areas), as well as land borders and ownership.

“Oita Prefecture is actively implementing state-of-the-art forest technologies to manage forests more efficiently, sustainably and with fewer human resources. That is why our partners have come to Latvia to find out what forest management practices and state-of-the-art technologies we use for forest management,” says Māris Kuzmins, Director LVM Business System Solutions.

During the visit that take place from 8 to10 October, ten representatives of the Japanese delegation learn about the forest sector in Latvia, LVM activities, forest sector innovations as well as geospatial information technology solutions developed by LVM. Guests will also visit LVM Mazsili Nursery to acquaint themselves with the most advanced seedling growing and processing technologies. The Japanese representatives went to forests to explore the measures to protect young stands and mechanized planting in wet and hard-to-reach areas.

The mutual cooperation agreement will facilitate the exchange of views and knowledge as well as new business cooperation opportunities, for example in the field of information technology (IT).