An individual protected natural object is a living or non-living natural object of scientific, aesthetic, or historical-cultural value, such as a tree, spring, erratic boulder, waterfall, rapids, cliff, terrace, outcrop, cave, karst site, or a group of them, which is protected under the Nature Conservation Act

Upon the entry into force of a decision on the protection of an individual protected natural object, a limited management zone with a radius of 50 metres will be formed around it, unless the decision on the protection establishes a smaller extent of the limited management zone.

The inner boundary of the limited management zone surrounding the group of individual protected natural objects runs along the imaginary line connecting the outer points of the outermost objects, whereas the land under the group of objects also belongs to the limited management zone.

Activities that are in conflict with the protection rules of an individual protected natural object or that may damage the condition or appearance of the object are prohibited, unless this is caused by measures taken to preserve the object or prevent damage caused by the object.

There are 1087 individual protected natural objects in Estonia as at 31.12.2023.

Last modified: 13.02.2023