On 1st February of this year, the LIFE CoHaVit project “Coastal Habitat Conservation in Nature Park “Piejura”” (No LIFE15 NAT/LV/000900) participated in the 77th International Scientific Conference of the University of Latvia with two stand reports in the section “Environmental management and sustainable development of the coast”.
Stand report “Dune Management and Administration for Sustainable Coastal Development in the Nature Park “Piejura”” emphasizes the relevance of maintaining balance in ecological processes in order to promote conservation of biodiversity and recreational resources. Especially it concerns such territories as the Natural Park “Piejura”, which has been exposed to human influence for a long time and is very sensitive to changes in environmental factors. In order to preserve the valuable habitat of the Nature Park “Piejura” and beautiful places of rest for citizens, it is necessary to carry out habitat management measures as well as to establish a uniform system for the administration of the Nature Park “Piejura”.
The stand report “Changes of the surface part of the coast slope in the Nature Park “Piejura” 1990-2018” analyses the Mangalsala coast where nowadays, with the increase of leisure activities and number of coastal visitors, a human-induced erosion becomes very important. In conditions of risk of shore erosion, it is necessary to ensure restoration of the initial (natural) balance and, as far as possible, smooth creation of relief formations on the slope of the shore. The following aspects are important in the context of opting for possible management measures in the coastal zone of the NP “Piejura”:
- recreational facilities on the beach and in the primary dunes have to be maintained;
- the most significant cause of wind erosion is of anthropogenic origin (drop of flow of debris from Daugava, as well as high “recreational load”);
- wind erosion does not pose a significant risk of shore retreat but lowers the quality of primary dune habitats.
