Protection rules are legislative acts approved by the Government of the Republic or the Minister of the Environment that define the protection procedure of an area. The management plan or action plan for the protection of a habitat and species is an operational action plan for nature conservation works
The protection of protected natural objects is organised mainly on the basis of two documents, which are the protection rules and the management plan and the action plan for the species or habitat.
Protection rules are legislative acts approved by the Government of the Republic or the Minister of the Environment that define the protection procedure of an area. The exceptions are limited-conservation areas and the individual protection of protected species, where the protection regime stems directly from the Nature Conservation Act. As a rule, each area has its own protection rules, except for individual protected natural objects and parks, each of which has single common protection rules. All protection rules can be found in Riigi Teataja.
The protection rules are prepared and the procedure is carried out by the Environmental Board under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment. The protection rules procedure consists of roughly three stages. In the first stage, draft plans are prepared, on the basis of which the Minister of the Environment decides whether to initiate the procedure or not. In the second stage, according to the decision of the minister, the final preparation of the draft and its presentation to the public will take place. In the third stage, the draft is approved and the decision is announced. In practice, this process takes at least two years. The most time-consuming part of this is the presentation of the draft to the public, which takes place in both the first and second stages. This is especially true when different interests collide. The current protection rules at work are available on the website of the Environmental Board.
The protection procedure is further described in the thematic block of the Loodusveeb portal ‘Protected natural objects and protection procedure’.
The management plan or action plan for the conservation of a habitat and species is an operational action plan for nature conservation works. These plans are prepared and approved by the Environmental Board. As at 1 June 2022, there were 351 valid management plans prepared for 608 protected areas. Action plan for conservation of a species exist for 78 species and habitat action plan has been prepared for semi-natural communities. Habitat action plan for mires is being updated plus action plans for forest habitat types are also being prepared.
These plans are first and foremost a work plan for agencies, so the documents do not impose rights, restrictions, or obligations on people. However, they are the basis for or help in applying for money from various funds (EIC, EU Cohesion Fund, Life, etc.), which can also be done by people and organisations interested in nature conservation. Both management plans andaction plans for conservation of a species can be found on the website of the Environmental Board. Habitat action plans can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Environment.
Last modified: 21.06.2022