ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BIOENERGY IN LATVIA

The aim of the study presented in this paper is to evaluate some socio-economic and environmental impact of bioenergy development measures, particularly under Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007-2013, identifying the positive and negative trends and effects. Some negative impacts are recognized caused by the increasing cultivation of energy crops: downward trend of temporary grasslands; increasing intensification of agricultural land management, which in the recent years has diminished biodiversity, particularly biodiversity of grasslands and landscapes. Besides, increased use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides is observed. Nevertheless, Latvia is among those European Union (EU) countries with the largest share of forest area with growing increment available for wood supply; and volumes of solid wood biomass production is growing, the consumption is declining. Unlike other Baltic Sea region countries, Latvia has exported major part of its fuelwood, which makes it one of the leading exporters of fuelwood. Despite the rapid development of bioenergy, the total renewables' consumption is still below the interim target. However, the support of biomass projects as job creators in rural areas, the results are lower than expected, because the cost of a single created job is more than 2.6 times higher, compared to other projects which supported job creation. Besides, since 2008 the reduction of common forest birds' index has been observed caused by doubling of felling volumes.