Proceedings

Sustainable Planning Instruments and Biodiversity Conservation
on this lek. At the same time, a long-drown flood in
2007 caused the movement of Lek 1 to the non-flooded
parts of the meadow that were situated at the distance
of 800 m from the former lekking area. In 2008, high
floods and the termination of cattle grazing at the
place of Lek BR 1 led to the total disappearance of this
lek. The birds probably moved to unidentified smaller
leks due to the absence of optimal habitat. Similar
occurrences took place in the Sporovsky Preserve,
where a significant reduction of cattle pasture and
mowing resulted in the total disappearance of
substantial Great Snipe leks in 2008, when displaying
of solitary birds was observed only.
Conclusions
The analysis of the conditions of the Black Grouse leks
on the territories of the Belovezhskaya Puscha and the
Berezinsky Reserve shows that the main reasons for the
reduction of Black Grouse numbers are anthropogenic
factors. Land reclamation and active agricultural use
of the studied territories have negatively transformed
natural habitats, which led to a sharp increase in the
vulnerability of nests and hatches of the Black Grouse,
frequently associated with an increase in the pressure
by predators in the years of rodent depression. Hunting
and poaching also causes a negative influence upon
the number of the species. On the other hand, human
activities may have positive influence. Stability of the
display places is frequently maintained by mowing at the
leks, which provides displaying birds a better view and,
consequently, the best protection from predators.
Parallel studies of the Great Snipe conducted on the
territories of the Berezinsky Reserve and the National
Park “Belovezhskaya Puscha” suggest that there is a
rapid change in habitats of this species, and that in an
extremely short period of time numerous biotopes
may become unsuitable for this species. There is a
strong necessity for rational biotope management on
the protected territories. In particular, considerable
decrease of the Great Snipe habitats is occurring due to
termination of agricultural mowing and cattle grazing.
Some alternative strategies for habitat management
should be developed and implemented.
References
Auer G. 1898. Die jagd in Belowiechi. Jager Beit.
Brincken Julius. 1828. Mémoire descriptif sur la forêt impériale
de Białowieża en Lithuanie, redige por. Varsovie.
Mongin, E. 2002. Snipes in Belarus. In: Snipes of the Eastern
Baltic Region and Belarus. OMPO special publication.
Pp. 15–35.
Mongin, E. 2008. Great Snipe population, habitat management
and conservation aspects in Belarus: a review.
In: Economic, social and cultural aspects in biodiversity
conservation (eds. Opermanis, O., Whitelaw, G.)
The University of Latvia Press. Pp. 31–38.
BirdLife International. 2004. Birds in Europe: populations estimates,
trends and conservation status. Cambridge.
Gavrin V. F. 1953. Materials on ecology of Tetraonidae in
Belovezhskaya Puscha. Typescript. Kameniuki, 329 p. (In
Russian)
Gavrin V. F. 1956. Ecology of Tetraonidae of Belovezhskaya
Puscha. Abstract of Ph.D. Thesis of Gavrin V. F. (candidate
degree), Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan SSR,
Institute of Zoology, Alma-Ata. (In Russian)
Datskevich V. A. 1971. Ornithofauna of Belovezhskaya Puscha
and vicinities. In: Belovezhskaya Puscha. Researches, 5 th
issue. Minsk: Uradzhai. Pp. 184–222. (In Russian)
Dolbik M. S. 1974. Landscape structure of ornithofauna of
Belarus. Minsk: Nauka I tekhnika. (In Russian)
Dolbik M. S. 1975. Black Grouse. Tetraonidae birds, distribution,
ecology, use and protection. Moscow: Nauka. (In
Russian)
Dolbik M. S. 1984. Modern conditions of Capercaillie and
Black Grouse reserves in Byelorussia. In: Ways of increasing
of efficiency of game-keeping activities in BSSR.
Minsk. Pp. 15–16. (In Russian)
Ivaniutenko A. N., Pareiko O. A., Bychkov V. P., Rafalovich
T. I., Semashko I. I. 1992. Regularities of modern distribution
and dynamics of the number of Capercaillie and
Black Grouse in Byelorussia. Minsk, 18 p. Deposited in
Institute of Zoology of Academy of Science of Belarus,
Scientific Eco-center “Veras-Eco”, 18/09/1992, #113. (In
Russian)
Kartsov G. 1903. Belovezhskaya Puscha. St. Petersburg. (In
Russian)
Kirikov S. V., Mikheev A. V., Spangenberg E. P. 1952. Censuses
of Galliformes. In: Methods of censuses and geographical
distribution of ground vertebrates. Moscow: edition
of Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of
USSR. Pp. 260–265. (In Russian)
Popenko V. M., Datskevich V. A., Kolosey L. K. 1986.
Modern composition and structure of ornithofauna
of Belovezhskaya Puscha and vicinities. In: Report
on scientific research work for 1983, 1984. Kameniuki. (In
Russian)
Potapov R. L. 1990. Birds of the grouse family (Tetraonidae).
Leningrad University. (In Russian)
Severtsev S. A. 1940. Belovezhskaya Puscha. Nature, 10. (In
Russian)
Fedyushin, A. and Dolbik, M. 1967. Birds of Belarus. Nauka i
Tekhnika. (In Russian)
Stralborg K. 1861. Propositions on European Bison and Game
Protection in Belovezhskaya Puscha. National Historical
Archive in Grodno. Fund #31. List 1 (add.). File 204. (In
Russian)
Spatial Planning and Bioenergy: Use of GIS Instruments
ILZE NEIMANE 1 , JURIS ZARIŅŠ 2
Abstract
Use of biomass for heat and power production is considered to be one of the main driving forces in sustainable
development. In opposition to fossil energy sources, which require centralized power production systems, use of
biofuel is decentralized and closely linked with regional development planning.
To consider bioenergy as a regional development factor and a spatial planning task, one of the preconditions is
understanding and use of spatial planning instruments such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
One of the tasks of GIS is to represent and visualize figures, thus making them easily identifiable. Information on
biomass is also related to a territory, from the evaluation of resources to the utilization of biomass. The access to
biomass information, calculation methods and utilization experience should be provided to interested persons in a
way that embraces the field to the maximum and is simple at the same time. The end-user, who is the main consumer,
most often is not a professional able to study the source of information.
We can imagine GIS as a hand with five fingers – computer engineering, software, aim of application, geographical
data, and trained personnel – without anyone of these, a wholesome GIS system cannot be imagined.
1 Introduction
The continuing global trends of limited fossil resources
and climate change as leading environmental problems
have raised the importance of using alternative energy
sources, inter alia biomass, which is the most significant
alternative energy source in the Baltic Sea region.
Nonetheless, the use of bioenergy produced from biomass
is decentralized in comparison with fossil sources and
is strongly related to local decision-making processes.
Moreover, in local decision-making processes, the use of
bioenergy is considered more as a regional development
factor instead of a solution for global environmental
problems.
Trade of bioenergy resources in the Baltic Sea region
has grown on an international scale, thus advancing the
issue of use of biomass resources for bioenergy production
from the local to international aspect. Due to lack of local
consumption of biomass by large-scale heating plants in
Latvia, during the second part of the 1990s and the last
decade, biofuel was mainly exported to Scandinavian
countries. The highest export volume was reached in
2006–2007. Local utilization of biofuel resources on a
larger scale has begun only in the current decade, which
has raised such issues as resource availability, economic
efficiency, and sustainability.
2 Methods
GIS Instruments for Biomass Planning
Since information on bioenergy production relates to a
specific territory, beginning with the study, extraction
and utilization of bioenergy, it is necessary to consider
the aspects of the local use of such information –
perception of information, the aim of application, choice
of the data to use.
One of the tasks of GIS is to visualize the calculated
information, thus making it easily perceivable – numbers
and figures alone are not the message that the end-user
can perceive. In most cases, the end-user will not be a professional
able to study sources of information, and even
if there is some place to gather information on biomass,
in each separate case it cannot be compared one to one
with, for example, information gathered in the neighboring
region. It is important to secure access to calculation
models, end-use experience and other information important
to the regional production and utilization of biomass
to any interested person in a way that embraces the field
to the maximum and is simple at the same time.
We can analyze the aspects of implementation and use
of GIS for bioenergy applications at the local level using
the overall GIS definition – the hand with five fingers in
case of the lack of any of which a wholesome system of
GIS cannot be conceived. The two most simple parts of
1
State SIA “Vides Projekti”, Pils iela 17, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia, e-mail: ilze.neimane@videsprojekti.lv
2
State Forest Service, 13. janvāra iela 15, Rīga, LV-1932, Latvia, e-mail: juris@vmd.gov.lv
72
73