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Description
The goal of the project is to ensure the participation of the Latvian Ornithological Society (LOB) and the general public in strategically important decisions regarding nature protection and sustainable management of natural resources.
Although nature conservation is one of the areas where involvement of wider society is the most apparent, the development of planning documents and legislation is still dominated by the interests of businesses harvesting natural resources rather than the interests of society. This is due to the fact that businesses have more lobbying capacities that environmental NGOs and, though society on the whole cares about nature, people often lack knowledge on the current issues and the role they can play in solving them. We want to show that every member of LOB and every member of society can contribute to advocacy for nature conservation.
To achieve the goal: the society will be represented in advisory councils and working groups related to conservation of species and habitats, sustainable management of natural resources; evaluation of the policy planning documents will be performed and the public will be informed about it; video stories about the experience of LOB members in civic activities and nature-friendly behavior will be prepared; the citizens will be invited to take part in at least 5 public consultations, paying attention to the implementation of regulatory enactments and applying to the local government for the arrangement of wildlife treatment and rehabilitation system; the work on LOB participation in decision-making processes will be explained regularly on social media and media; cooperation with other interest groups representing common interests will be implemented.
It is expected that the implementation of the project will leave an impact on the general public''s willingness to participate and the confidence to influence decision-making processes themselves.