In January of this year Latvian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development approved the species action plan for Lesser spottted eagle (Clanga pomarina) in Latvia. Unpdate of the plan was one of the most significant tasks of our project “Conservation arrangements for lesser spotted eagle in Latvia.
The previous action plan was developed by Latvian Ornithological Society in 2000, but it was never officialy approved. Therefore it was necessary to udpate the plan in accordance with the latest scientific finding and the current knowledge about species ecology.
The plan was developed by the most experienced eagle expert in Latvia and internationally recognised eagle reserarcher Dr. Uģis Bergmanis. Our main goal in developing the plan was to determine precise measures for species protection in the future, as well as to make recommendations for improvement of the existing legislation regarding establishment and managment of microreserves.
Plan was developed during 2018 and 2019. During the process there were several meetings with stakeholders where the plan was discussed. The numerous comments and suggestions that were received were evaluated and part of them were included in the plan.
The new plan states the main goals of lesser eagle species protection: to preserve poplation of 4000 pairs, to foster stable and successful nesting results, as well as to ensure species protection in all the suitable territories in Latvia and to prevent tranformations of the current nesting territories.
The plan provides actions to ensure protection of the known nesting places and conservation of the feeding habitats. Also a number of legistlation changes have been suggested, including changes in the regulation on establishment and managment of micro rezerves.
A significant improvement has been suggested for the Cabinet of Ministers regulations “Nature conservation regulations in forest managment”. It stipulates that upon finding a large nest and before the forest cutting it is necessary to determine the nesting species, and it should be carried out by a certified species and habitats expert. Such amenment to the regulations could partly address the problem that nature values in the forest are not assessed before the forrest cutting.
The species action plan for Lesser spotted eagle in Latvian is available here.
