Minister seeks to split botanical garden from nature authority

Latvia’s National Botanic Garden is set to be separated from the Nature Conservation Authority just months after the two institutions were merged, LSM’s investigative programme De facto reported. The merger was intended to reduce bureaucracy and improve management, but Environment Minister Edgars Tavars now calls it a mistake that must be corrected.

The National Botanic Garden was dissolved as a separate institution and joined the Nature Conservation Authority on January 1. The merger took several months to implement, while the botanical garden also faced staff shortages.

According to De facto, the Nature Conservation Authority’s data do not show the decline in its main sources of revenue cited by Tavars. The cost of the new reorganisation is also unclear. Tavars says no additional funding will be needed.

The minister also says that no new positions will be created. The planned separation is intended in part to strengthen the botanical garden’s scientific work. The garden, however, says routine administrative matters have become more complicated since the merger.

The Finance Ministry, represented by Tavars’ own political party, has opposed the plan. It says there is not enough justification for restoring the institution that was dissolved.

Disputes over the merger had already begun last year. In September 2025, Tavars, then an opposition lawmaker, was among 10 members of parliament who asked the then minister responsible for the sector, Raimonds Čudars, to explain why the institutions needed to be combined.

“Who is the author of this idea – is it the minister himself, Mr Čudars, or someone else? There is no evaluation, there is no clarity,” Tavars said in parliament at the time. Parliament rejected the lawmakers’ request.

The merger had been justified by the need to improve the efficiency of public administration, reduce bureaucracy and save money. Before the reorganisation, the National Botanic Garden had 106 positions. The Nature Conservation Authority transferred 99 positions, while seven were eliminated. The planned annual saving from eliminating the positions was approximately 147,000 euros, which was to be redirected towards equalising employee pay.