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...

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...

The function of the biodiversity information network is performed by the Loodusveeb portal The national contact point/person of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the Ministry of the Environment/Liina Vaher, whose task is to coordinate the implementation of the CBD and the policy for the protection and use of biological diversity. The national contact point of the biodiversity...

Estonia has submitted five general reports on compliance with the requirements of the convention Article 26 of the Convention on Biological Diversity requires the acceded countries to report to the secretariat of the convention on the achievement of the objectives set out in the convention, as well as to describe what has been done and its effectiveness. Estonia has submitted five general reports...

The purpose of monitoring is to provide information on changes in the state of the environment in Estonia. The objective of wildlife monitoring is to determine: the changes in species abundance and distribution and in communities; the impact of land use on biodiversity (such as the impact of the increasingly intense agricultural activity on insects or birds). The purpose of monitoring species and...

The data collected in the framework of national environmental monitoring is reliable and of high quality Estonia has three levels of environmental monitoring: state, local government, and voluntary monitoring. The performance of environmental monitoring is regulated by the Environmental Monitoring Act. The state environmental monitoring is divided into 12 sub-programmes, which provide a...

Nature conservation indicators show how successful nature conservation activities have been and the good/bad status of the nature. Just as a thermometer shows us whether we have a fever or if the temperature stays within the norm, environmental indicators show the state of our communities, species, and the environment in general. Nature conservation indicators, however, show how successful nature...

17 Natura 2000 nature sites, 6 bird sites, and a large part of the water-dependent habitat types are located on top of the Estonian oil shale deposit In 1996, an Australian study found that underground mining has an impact on water and biodiversity [1]. This impact is smaller than that of surface mining; the changes it causes will be felt over time and will be more concentrated in the area of the...

The area affected by drainage may be 20–150% larger than the peat extraction area Before the 1950s, peat was mined by hand from the edges of bogs in Estonia, and the extensive drainage known today was not done – that is why these areas recovered quickly and the impact on biodiversity was small. Since the 1950s, large-scale peat fields have been created as a result of the introduction of milling...