Protected areas are territories where human activities are restricted or prohibited at all.
They are formed in order to preserve natural riches of Estonia. The protected areas and objects in Estonia are:
- national parks;
- natural reserves;
- landscape protection areas;
- special conservation areas;
- species protection sites;
- parks and woodlands;
- protected individual nature objects;
- protected areas with old protection regulation;
- protected areas at municipal level.
Information on larger protected areas can be found on the protected areas website https://www.kaitsealad.ee/eng.
By visiting the Land Board webpage on https://www.maaamet.ee/en, proceeding > land board geoportal > restriction application, you can visualize the boundaries of the protected areas in Estonia.
Further information can be found at http://www.eelis.ee/default.aspx?state=1;-164545161;est;eelisand;;&lang=eng.
Responsibility and duties in organizing the protection of Estonian protected areas are divided between several state authorities:
Environmental Board:
- is the governing body of areas under national level of protection;
- plans and manages the creation of protected areas;
- prepares the protection management plans to plan the conservational work (link, if translated)
- issues the necessary operating permits within the protected areas, read more in the section on operating permits;
- coordinates applications for construction activities within the protected areas;
- issues any notifications concerning the conservation area;
- decides upon the reduction of the construction exclusion zone in the protected area;
- processes any applications for the sale of the protected land to the state.
The Environmental Inspectorate organizes supervision in protected areas. In case you notice violations in protected areas or animals in need of assistance, report it to the Environmental Information telephone on 1313.
The Environmental Agency organizes nature and environmental monitoring, analyzes and maintains data. Read the latest information on nature conservation assessments from the EELIS newsletter at EELIS infopage: