Life by the Lake: The Lubana Region, Its People, Culture and Contemporary Ecosystem

This article is about the coexistence of people and lakes, about responsibility for lakes, and about the consequences of people interfering with the natural processes of nature. Part of the framework of this research is the governance process of surface water resources in Latvia, particularly public lakes, which the authors studied using a three-dimensional governance framing model of complementary dimensions of governance stakeholders, governance content, and governance instruments in order to determine how lakes are governed and how this governance affects local culture. In addition, and following on from this, we looked at what role culture has in lake and public water governance. Lake Lubans was selected for this research, as it is Latvia’s largest lake, its area containing an important Natura 2000 protected site, the Lubana wetland complex, in addition to the fact that the region has been inhabited since the Neolithic era. Lake Lubans is governed by several national institutions, led by the Nature Conservation Agency, as the lake is located in a protected area, with the Ministry of Agriculture being responsible for the governance of the lake dam system and control of farmland around the lake. The territory of the Lake Lubans wetlands was one of the first campgrounds of ancient people in Europe after the retreat of the glaciers, which also determines its importance in the history and culture of Latvia and Europe. Lake governance is almost solely focused on nature and environmental protection, with economic and social aspects needing to be considered, and residents and other stakeholders needing to be sufficiently involved in governance. Currently, their interests have yet to be considered. Overall, lake governance needs to be improved from this perspective. Lake Lubans and the Lubana wetland complex have not had a mandatory governance plan since 2009, being developed. However, this plan is again missing the governance dimensions mentioned above. We also found that nature communication and nature tourism are not only potential lake/nature governance sectors but, if properly developed, would be valuable lake governance instruments, maintaining stakeholders’ participation while supporting national organisations.