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Description
The right of the rural population to live in a quality, clean environment is under threat due to the increasing intensification of agriculture. Planning documents, the development of which came close to the submission of the first proposals to the institutions, ignore the suggestions made by rural residents and environmental NGOs and fully support regulations that respect only the economic interests of big business, nor not only limiting but even increasing the exposure of the rural population to dangerous chemicals. With the help of the project, the association will intensify the public and scientific discussion on the norms to be included in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy of Latvia and the proposals developed on the basis of the 11,000 population initiative on pesticide control to prevent rural depopulation and deterioration. With the help of the project, evaluations of existing editions will be urgently developed for submission to the European Commission and Latvian government structures.
Summary of project results
The relevance of the project was justified by the fact that the right of the rural population to live in clean environment we under threat due to the increasing intensification of agriculture. Planning documents ignored the suggestions made by rural residents and environmental NGOs and fully supported regulations that not only respected the economic interests of big businesses, but also increased the exposure of the rural population to dangerous chemicals. Thus the aim of the ACF Action project was to intensify the public and scientific discussion on the norms to be included in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy of Latvia and other relevant documents to prevent rural depopulation and deterioration.
The following activities were implemented:
1. The study "Pesticides in your house dust", which aimed to find out whether agricultural chemicals are detectable in the indoor dust of Latvian rural houses.
2. Extensive coverage of the research results in local and national media, as well as the preparation of open letters to the Parliament and ministries.
3. Five seminars (107 participants, including at least 14 officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and other state institutions) with the aim to inform participants about sustainable farming methods and ways of civic participation as well as to provide space to share their views and needs for promoting rural sustainability.
3. Illustrated information material on sustainable farming methods, aimed to be used as a reference material in discussions with the public and representatives of sectoral institutions.
4. Regular advocacy activities.
The project has significantly contributed to CSO involvement in decision-making processes and demonstrated CSOs'' ability to raise issues of public importance on the agenda of both the media and politicians.
Although 100% of the proposed changes have not been implemented in any of the documents during the project, the way in which decision-makers will be able to talk about relevant initiatives in the future has been irreversibly changed. For example, although at the time of the project the Parliament had not yet adopted decisions on the establishment of a pesticide buffer zone, the results of the study have already shown that the previous polemic about pesticides "staying in the field" is no longer applicable.
The extensive media campaign has taken the results of the study, which prove the presence of pesticides in most of the sites studied, to a very large part of the Latvian population, including politicians and civil servants. It is estimated that the campaign have reached at least 300-400 thousand people in Latvia, and further discussions on pesticides, buffer zones, taxes can ONLY take place in the light of the results of this study.
The local citizens of rural areas involved in the seminars have gained an understanding of the civic initiatives that can be taken to defend their interests, and has already engaged in discussions with decision-makers thus increasing their confidence in their power to influence the decision-making on issues that concern them.