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Students Create Educational Posters about Biorefining of Wood

What is wood biorefining and how does it relate to bio-economy? Secondary school students from all over Latvia have tried to answer these difficult questions in the first round of the scholarship competition “LVM Bio-economy School” by creating educational posters on this topic. The posters submitted to the competition are diverse and reflect the different views of young people on the forest sector and its future in the context of climate change and other global environmental issues.

Although distance learning is currently taking place in schools in Latvia, also this year students have been active and submitted more than 100 poster applications to the competition. They have been evaluated according to the following criteria: understanding of the topic, connection with everyday life, originality and creativity. As a result, the authors of the 60 best works have been selected and given an opportunity to participate in a remote bio-economy expedition as part of the second round of the competition. 

The digital expedition is scheduled to take place on 26 February; the students will get acquainted with the principles of sustainable forest management and the forest management cycle with the support of various forest industry specialists. They will also get an insight into the chemical processing of wood and the production of innovative biorefinery products such as betanol. The participants will engage the acquired knowledge to create a video message for the UN International Day of Forests, which will play a decisive role in obtaining scholarships from JSC “Latvia’s State Forests”, SIA “Rīgas meži” and JSC “Latvijas Finieris”.

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Student posters "LVM Bio-economy School”

Bio-economy is based on three basic principles of sustainable development, namely, nature, economy and society, and marks the transition from fossil to renewable resources. It involves the circulation of closed-loop products, in which the waste product of one process is the raw material for the other process. Bio-economy opens up opportunities for the development of the Latvian economy, based on its strongest sectors – forestry and agriculture.

Scholarship competition for secondary school students “LVM Bio-economy School” has been organized in cooperation with the association “Zaļās mājas”, JSC “Latvijas Finieris”, SIA “Rīgas meži” and the National Centre for Education.