Land Management Law (2014)

The Law determines principles for land management in Latvia. Its purpose is to promote sustainable use and protection of land. The following principles are identified by the Law in the use and protection of land: (1) in planning the use of land, the local government provides for efficient management and sustainable development of natural resources in the spatial development planning documents; (2) the local government must indicate territories with the lowest land quality assessment and territories which due to their location and configuration are not appropriate for the use in agriculture or forestry, as priority for changing the category of the agricultural land and forest land; (3) the local government in the spatial development planning documents must indicate degraded territories as priority for building; and (4) the land owner, possessor, and user may not cause harm to land and must take into account a balance between the needs of the society and the rights of owners.