Latvia 2030 - Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia
Latvia 2030 - Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia outlines the sustainable development objectives of Latvia for 20 years and recommends solutions for efficient and sustainable use of culture, nature, economic and social capital, particulary singling out the fundamental value of Latvia - human capital. The first priority is the development of culture space of Latvia because the identity of a strong and creative nation lies in our unique, inherited and newly created material and spiritual values. It joins and unites the society for the creation of new economic, social and cultural values, which are appreciated and known around the world. Inhabitants of Latvia have a common material and non-material heritage, which has been accumulated in creative work that has lasted for centuries. Culture determines the foundation for what we are and what we want to be. Common cultural heritage, language, traditions and perception of values are the main components, which ensure the sense of belonging to a specific community and promote the unity of the society. In wider sense, culture is a system of values, which is the foundation of the identity and lifestyle of an individual, community, nation. Concurrently culture is also a mechanism for the creation of such values, analysis and transfer thereof, creating the sustainability of the culture space of Latvia.
Creative individual and society, which is able to appreciate and use its creative potential, are the main driving forces of the development. Only such society is able to think and act in sustainable manner. In a state as small as Latvia every creative person is of great value. The bigger the investment of the society and culture capital is, the larger added value is added to their work. Culture capital has a significant role in the development of personality in a creative society, because it not only creates an economically active consumer, but also a creatively active entrepreneur, so it is important to promote creativity as the main factor of competitiveness. Another important factor is creative environment, which maintains cultural diversity, concurrently preserving cultural and historical heritage, directly and indirectly supports experiments and creation of new products, thus creating fertile soil for the development of culture and creative industry.
Latvia 2030 was adopted by Saeima (the Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia in 2010.
Latvia 2030 is the main long-term policy planning instrument of Latvia. Every other strategic planning and development document in Latvia has been and will be elaborated in accordance with the priorities and action directions of Latvia 2030. However, it is worth mentioning that although culture and its values always play an important role in long-term planning documents, there are usually difficulties to get culture recognized in short and medium term planning documents.
Challenges identified in the implementation of this measure:
It is important to strengthen the belonging to Latvian culture space, taking into account the ethnic factor, differences of income amounts of inhabitants; concentration of ethnic groups in certain territories. Culture shall foster not only creativity but also other necessary values of society facilitate the development of Latvia, such as empathy, cooperation, involvement, understanding about interculutralism. Civil society values have a great potential in uniting national communities as they are important for both Latvians and other nationalities living in Latvia. It is worth investigating the added value of media space in the formation of the Latvian culture space, to identify the action necessary for increasing the role of the language diversity and intercultural awareness and their impact on the economy. It is essential to take into account the market gaps which exist in the field of culture. Creativity is not only related to creative industries; creativity should be integrated in other fields of economy in order to give profit, as well as in regional development in order to increse the quality of life of indigenous people. Access to cultural space needs to be strengthen by concentrating on those groups of inhabitants which are less involved in the cultural processes and are more passive, as well as access to cultural content in the digital space needs to be fostered, especially regarding youth, diaspora an inhabitants living in regions.
The Strategy recognizes the essential role of culture, creativity and cultural diversity in the sustainable development prespective of Latvia till 2030. Due to the fact that Latvia 2030 was elaborated quite recentlly, the impact has been partially measured.