According to the Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus, the state will attach great importance, above all, to nature education, preservation of natural diversity and less wasteful use of natural resources in the coming years. “Estonian nature is highly diverse. We have well-preserved raised bogs, virgin forests, coastal and wooded meadows which have become quite rare in many other parts of the world. We also have hundreds of lynxes, bears and wolves. “There are plenty of things to conserve,” Pentus said. “As far as the development of nature conservation and the raising of awareness are concerned, even the ready availability and traceability of up-to-date information alone is quite important. This definitely implies the use of ever-advancing IT-solutions.” The new Nature Conservation Development Plan is a strategic document aiming to ensure systematic planning of conservation-related activities of the state, balanced use of natural resources and preservation of species and habitats. The Nature Conservation Development Plan includes both classical nature protection, and the nature related spheres. The Development Plan provides inputs for finance planning and serves as the basis for supplementing the Estonian National Environmental Action Plan for 2007-2013. The document mapping the development of nature conservation has been in preparation since 2006 in cooperation with several non-governmental organisations, local government representatives, scholars and other ministries. |
