TALLINN - The Ministry of Climate has drafted a package of amendments to the Nature Conservation Act and the Forest Act, which, together with the Climate Resilient Economy Act, would form a single framework for sustainable and future-proof nature conservation and land use in Estonia.
For the sake of greater clarity, the "floor and ceiling" of protection will be set at 30 percent of the total land area, nature will be better protected, forest management options will be diversified through the introduction of regulation for continuous cover forestry and plantations, and other necessary changes will be made to maintain a good living environment and provide investment certainty in the economy.
Minister of Climate Yoko Alender says that the most important aspect with the package of legislative changes is the principle that economic activity and nature conservation will have clear objectives and frames.
"The purpose of the legislative amendments is to create clarity and certainty for nature conservation, landowners and business operators alike," the minister said in a press release.
One of the key proposals in the bills is to ensure state-level protection for 30 percent of the country's land area. This target serves both as a goal to strive for and a limit that should not be exceeded. Currently, more than 28 percent of Estonia's land area is protected in some form. This includes protected areas and national parks -- about 20.8 percent of the land area -- as well as habitats for protected category I or II species, coastal and shoreline protected zones, and protected areas under planning, such as the not yet officially endorsed expansion of the Alutaguse National Park, where restrictions have applied already for a long time.
The further two percent of areas to be declared protected areas will be carefully selected from among forests, meadows, bogs and water bodies so that the status of threatened species and habitats can be improved.
The amendments to the Nature Conservation Act will also direct the protection of existing protected areas towards more effective protection. In order to preserve forests of high nature value, felling will be mostly banned in Natura forest habitats located in restricted zones, but private owners will still be able to cut their own firewood without submitting a forest notice, up to a maximum of five cubic meters per hectare per year.
Alongside the existing environmental impact assessment, a new option for Natura assessments will be introduced, which is simpler and less bureaucratic. Compensation areas, intended to offset the environmental damage caused by projects like the Rail Baltic and military training grounds, will receive more effective protection. Additionally, pesticide use in protected areas will be regulated -- previously, all pesticides were permitted -- and valuable heritage meadows will be granted stronger protection.
The amendments to the Forest Act will ensure that cutting areas in commercially managed forests will not be larger than five hectares, and no more than two hectares in very wet forests with more delicate peat soils. In addition, more large trees will be left standing in the cut areas. The amendments will also create an opportunity for owners to manage forests as continuous cover forests, meaning a forest where there are always trees and the structure of the stand is diverse and of different ages.
In addition, the possibility of establishing tree plantations will be introduced, where trees can be cultivated in the way the operator needs for long-term products. Tree plantations can only be established in selected locations to avoid negative impacts on forests and nature.
Both continuous cover forests and plantations must be registered in the forest register.
Following the approval of the legislation, the Ministry of Climate will also send a forestry development plan to the government, which, if approved, will serve as the basis for the document of Estonia's forest policy guidelines for the period until 2050.
No ten-year forest policy development plans will be prepared in the future. After the end of the period of validity of the development plan, the reports and proposals to be prepared under the Climate Resilient Economy Act will become the framework for forest policy. Forest policy, in turn, will be a major part of the proposed Environment and Biodiversity Development Plan.
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