Funding for Estonian nature conservation comes mainly from the European Union funds and the state budget Funding for Estonian nature conservation comes mainly from the state budget and various European Union funds. The main sources of funding are the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EARDF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund, and the LIFE programme...

Environmental supervision is ensuring the procedure established in legislation is followed in the use of the natural environment and resources Environmental supervision is ensuring the procedure established in legislation is followed in the use of the natural environment and resources. This is often a preventive check to prevent infringements or to detect them at the earliest possible stage. The...

Special permits are often required for activities in sensitive areas. Certain activities may be prohibited altogether The beaches and shores of water bodies and protected natural objects (national parks, nature reserves, landscape protection areas, limited-conservation areas [1] and habitats of protected species [2]) cover quite a large part of Estonia. The protection procedure of a protected...

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...

At the local government level, a protected natural object may be a landscape, valuable agricultural land, valuable natural community, a single element of the landscape, a park, a green area, or a single element of landscaping that is not protected as an individual protected natural object or located in a protected area. Only the limited management zone regime applies to an area protected by the...

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...

A species protection site is a protected area established for the protection of the habitats and sites of protected species A species protection site is an area located outside of a protected area or in the limited management zone of a protected area, which is delimited according to the Nature Conservation Act and can be used in accordance with special requirements, and which is: the reproduction...

A protected species is a taxonomic unit of an animal, plant, or fungal species whose specimens, habitats, or places of finding are protected under the Nature Conservation Act or are listed in Annexes A to D of EU Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97. A protected fossil or mineral is a fossil or mineral included in a protected category, the specimens or deposits of which are protected on the basis of...

In the case of limited-conservation areas, the protection rules are not established and they are not divided into zones of different severity A limited-conservation area is an area designated for the protection of habitats, the preservation of which is ensured with an assessment of the impact of the proposed activities and where activities detrimental to the favourable condition of the area are...

Protected areas can be divided into three types of zones on the basis of existing operating restrictions: strict nature reserve, conservation zone, and limited management zone A protected area is an area kept untouched by human activity or used in accordance with special requirements, where nature is preserved, protected, restored, studied, or introduced. Protected areas are divided into national...