The Forest Advisory Board (FAB), established in 1997 by the Minister of Agriculture, is a body where the government and the forest sector stakeholder representatives get together to elaborate on the issues related to the forest’s economic, ecological, and social aspects. The stakeholder groups represented in the FAB: forest owners or managers; wood processing industries; service providers; environment and nature conservationists; employee organizations (trade unions); vocational and higher educational establishments; local governments. The FAB is a kind of forum where agreement and coordination is reached for different stakeholder interests to achieve a well-balanced and streamlined policy, ensuring sustainable development of the forest sector.
FAB major functions:
- Ensuring transparency and openness in making decisions essential for the forest sector and coordinating cooperation between the government entities and public organizations
- Promoting the development of the forest sector and the competitiveness of Latvian business on the international market
- Participation in drafting the legislative and regulatory acts related to the forest sector
- Assessing the implications for the forest sector of the regulatory acts and agreements pertaining to the related sectors, including those made on the international and interstate level.