Optimisation of functional land management in Latvia in the context of climate policies.

The rising world population increases the demand for bioresources, including food and fibre. The development of the agricultural industry and increasing demands for bio-based products adds pressure on natural resources, such as water and soil. Soil is non renewable resource and provides many ecosystem services, namely food and biomass production, water purification, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and habitats for biodiversity (Blum, 1993; Mueller et. al., 2010; Schulte et al., 2014). The simultaneous achievement of socio-economic and climate policy objectives is challenging and requires careful management of soils as a pivotal resource. In Latvia, the key challenge is to increase the added value from agricultural and forestry output, by using the available land resources while not increasing emissions and at the same time preserving biodiversity. An opportunity is provided by approximately 295,000 ha of agricultural land that is currently not cultivated or is overgrown with small scrubs. Therefore, policies are required for the careful management of our land, in order to meet the demand for all the various functions at national scale, including the intensification of agriculture and forestry, the preservation of biodiversity and the achievement of climate targets. The result of research will be an approach for policy makers to explore possibilities how the national policy can leverage the optimisation of soil functions in order to achieve the socio-economic and climate objectives in a CAP-2020 environment.