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Pentus: The key words of 2012 are nature protection, oil shale and sea

Today, Keit Pentus, Minister of the Environment, will introduce the chief plans in this field for the year 2012 to environmental organisations.

The ministry will shortly finalise the Nature Conservation Development Plan which has been prepared for a long time. The work on a development plan regulating oil shale use will begin soon.  Sea-related activities will also be on the agenda. Thus, for instance, the Ministry of the Environment is planning to analyse the situation with the Tallinn Bay more thoroughly.

“Non-governmental organisations dealing with environmental issues are good partners to the Ministry and we expect them to think along with us to find solutions to the important problems,” said the Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus. According to her, the Nature Conservation Development plan to which NGOs have substantially contributed is intended to be submitted to the government before summer.

The Ministry of the Environment will also start working on the new Oil Shale Development Plan. “Oil shale is a mineral resource of strategic importance to Estonia. It is crucial to use this resource as effectively and nature friendly as possible,” Pentus explained. She added that preparation of the new Oil Shale Development Plan is a long and thorough process which would probably take several years.

The Minister of the Environment will also introduce the Ministry’s Sea Strategy Plan to non-governmental organisations and confirm that in 2012 special attention will be devoted to the Tallinn Bay.


Member organisations of the Estonian Council of Environmental Organisations (EKO) as well as representatives of the Estonian Society for Nature Conservation, Wildlife Estonia and the Estonian Naturalists' Society have been invited to the round table. Meetings between the Ministry of the Environment and representatives of environmental organisations have been taking place since 2004.