Forest Stewardship Council®
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Forest Stewardship Council® FSC Centralized National Risk Assessment Country: Latvia Analysis of sources of information and evidence for Controlled Wood Category 2 (Wood harvested in violation of traditional and human rights) Scale of risk Risk Sources of information Evidence assessment indication1 Context (the following are indicators that help to contextualize the information from other sources) Searching for data on: level of corruption, governance, lawlessness, fragility of the State, freedom of journalism, freedom of speech, peace, human rights, armed or violent conflicts by or in the country, etc. World Bank: Worldwide Governance http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports (click on table view tab and select Country Indicators - the WGIs report aggregate Country) and individual governance In 2013 (latest available year) Latvia scores between 64.1 and 80.4 on the percentile rank among indicators for 215 countries (most recently all countries for all six dimensions (the scores range from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest) rank) with for 1996–2012), for six dimensions of higher values corresponding to better outcomes). governance: Voice and Accountability; Political Stability and Absence of Violence; Government Effectiveness; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; Control of Corruption http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/i ndex.aspx#home World Bank Harmonized List of Fragile http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTLICUS/Resources/511777- Country Situations: 1269623894864/Fragile_Situations_List_FY11_%28Oct_19_2010%29.pdf 1 A risk indication is provided for each source analyzed, except in the first part that addresses the general country context as that is not a risk indicator. A cumulative risk assessment for each risk indicator is provided in the row with the conclusion on each risk indicator, based on all the sources analyzed and evidence found. 1 of 29 FSC International Center GmbH · Charles-de-Gaulle-Straße 5 · 53113 Bonn · Germany · T +49 (0) 228 367 66 0 · F +49 (0) 228 367 66 30 · [email protected] · www.fsc.org· FSC® F000100 Geschäftsführer | Director: Dr. Hans-Joachim Droste · Handelsregister | Commercial register: Bonn HRB12589 Forest Stewardship Council® Latvia does not feature on this list. Committee to Protect Journalists: Impunity http://cpj.org/reports/2014/04/impunity-index-getting-away-with-murder.php Country Index Latvia does not feature on this list. CPJ's Impunity Index calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as https://cpj.org/2012/03/latvian-journalist-assaulted-in-riga.php#more a percentage of each country's population. “Latvian journalist assaulted in Riga. New York, March 30, 2012--Authorities must conduct a For this index, CPJ examined journalist thorough and effective investigation into the attack on the publisher of a Latvian news website that murders that occurred between January 1, had run a number of sensitive stories, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 2004, and December 31, 2013, and that At least two unidentified assailants attacked Leonids Jakobsons, owner of the independent news remain unsolved. Only those nations with website Kompromat, in the stairwell of his apartment building in Riga, the capital, (..) on Thursday, five or more unsolved cases are included local and international press reported. Jakobsons, who was attacked with a knife, was hospitalized on this index. with multiple bruises on his head and a three-inch-long cut on his cheek, but is now stable, the http://cpj.org/reports/2014/04/impunity- independent regional news website Delfi reported. index-getting-away-with-murder.php Jakobsons told local journalists he believes the attack was connected to his work, but could not say which of his articles may have provoked it, news reports said. Delfi reported that Riga police had opened an investigation into the attack and were considering journalism as a motive.” Carleton University: Country Indicators for http://www4.carleton.ca/cifp/app/serve.php/1419.pdf Country Foreign Policy: the Failed and Fragile Latvia scores ‘medium-low’ on the State fragility map 2011. States project of Carleton University examines state fragility using a combination of structural data and current event monitoring http://www4.carleton.ca/cifp/ffs.htm Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/ Country The HRW World Report 2014 does not have a country chapter for Latvia. The HRW website has a few news items on Latvia most of them about gay rights and other LGBT issues. US AID: www.usaid.gov http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1863/EE_2013_CSOSI_FullReport.pdf Country Search on website for [country] + ‘human CSO Sustainability Index for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. rights’ ‘conflicts’ ‘conflict timber’ Latvia’s score in 2012 on this index is 2.7, which is categorized as “Sustainability Enhanced”. For Africa and Asia also use: “Latvia and Slovenia both noted improvements in their overall levels of sustainability in 2013 while http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnact462.pdf Hungary and Slovakia both noted deterioration. In Latvia, CSOs made progress in five out of seven dimensions of sustainability—legal environment, financial viability, advocacy, infrastructure, and public image. The greatest improvement was noted in advocacy, as CSOSI panel concluded “it is impossible for the government to do anything without engaging CSOs.” 2 of 29 FSC International Center GmbH · Charles-de-Gaulle-Straße 5 · 53113 Bonn · Germany · T +49 (0) 228 367 66 0 · F +49 (0) 228 367 66 30 · [email protected] · www.fsc.org· FSC® F000100 Geschäftsführer | Director: Dr. Hans-Joachim Droste · Handelsregister | Commercial register: Bonn HRB12589 Forest Stewardship Council® No other information found on specified risks after searching Latvia + ‘human rights’ ‘conflicts’ ‘timber conflicts’ Global Witness: www.globalwitness.org No information found on this website after searching for Latvia. Country Search on website for [country] +‘human rights’ ‘conflicts’ ‘conflict timber’ WWF report: Failing the Forests; Europe’s This report estimated in 2007 that in Latvia 0.4 of the total 1.5 million cubic metres RWE volume Country illegal timber trade. (2005) timber imports from six given regions was illegal. http://www.wwf.se/source.php/1120070/Fa ilingForests.pdf “The Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – acceded to the EU during 2004. They are the only supplying countries that are both covered in detail by this report and are Member States of the EU. They are included not least to indicate the scale of probable trade in illegal timber between EU countries (including that which derives from forest within the EU). These three countries’ timber and paper sectors account for a substantial share in their GDP and exports. Consequently, minimising illegal timber exports could have a substantial and beneficial impact on their economy (and governance). Activities that contribute to the trade in illegal timber in the region include tax fraud, weak enforcement capacity and unsuitable legislation.” It is noted that this report is written seven (7) years ago. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/abo Posted in 2004 – provides background on forestry sector in Latvia: Country ut_forests/deforestation/forest_illegal_logg “Demonstration farms in Latvia are helping to provide expertise and direction for environmentally ing/ responsible forestry. The model areas have been established as part of the WWF and IKEA cooperation on Forest Projects. One of the biggest land reforms in Europe´s history has quietly been taking place in former communist countries — posing big challenges for people and nature. After the state gave back much of its territory to the people over the last few years, Latvia's 160,000 new forest owners are now responsible for looking after one million hectares of forests, nearly half of Latvia's total forest estate. Most of the new forest owners however have neither a forestry background nor any natural or resource management experience. They are now faced with the challenge to learn to manage their forests. The future of Latvia's unique nature is largely in their hands and will depend on their vision — whether long-term management decisions for sustainable forestry will prevail over short-term economic gains. Within this context WWF has created model areas to demonstrate — together with experienced Latvian forest owners — how these forests can be managed in an environmentally friendly way 3 of 29 FSC International Center GmbH · Charles-de-Gaulle-Straße 5 · 53113 Bonn · Germany · T +49 (0) 228 367 66 0 · F +49 (0) 228 367 66 30 · [email protected] · www.fsc.org· FSC® F000100 Geschäftsführer | Director: Dr. Hans-Joachim Droste · Handelsregister | Commercial register: Bonn HRB12589 Forest Stewardship Council® while providing economic benefits for the owners.” Transparency International Corruption Latvia scores 53 points on the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 on a scale from 0 (highly Country Perceptions Index corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Latvia ranks 49 out of 177 with rank nr. 1 being the most clean http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/ country. Chattam House Illegal Logging Indicators http://www.illegal-logging.info/content/how-much-illegal-timber-gets-uk Country Country Report Card Posted in 31 July 2014: http://www.illegal-logging.info “Yesterday the commission published a scorecard of the progress European nations had made on implementing protections against the trade of illegally logged timber. It identified a number of countries dragging