“Protected areas are necessary for the efficient preservation of nature, but since they inevitably mean serious restrictions for landowners, their creation must be carefully weighed. The entire process of placing an area under protection must be more open and justified than previously, for parties that decide as well as the parties that submit proposals as well as objections,” explained Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus-Rosimannus. In the future it must be analysed in greater detail whether there are alternatives to creating a protected area; also, replies to proposals and objections must be replied to more comprehensively – the amendment provides more time in order to do so. In the case of a proposal for placing land under protection, the legislation promises to restrict the amount of activity in order to ensure the preservation of natural values. “Currently the Act states nothing about how long the process of formation of the protected area may be considered. The process of placing under protection may therefore last for years and owners are unable to use the property in their ownership for the entire period of time. Our proposal is that restrictions could be established for land owners for a period of 28 months, during which time a decision must be made whether the creation of a nature protection area is necessary or not,” explained the Minister of the Environment. With the changes, land owners are obligated to ensure people access to or crossing to shore paths even when, for example, in the case of land improvement, it has been necessary to dig a ditch or build a fence to restrict the movement of grazing animals on coastal meadows. “If the land owner’s wish to build a fence or dig a ditch is reasonably justified, the condition remains allowing access to those people moving along shore paths, i.e. the construction of a gate, footbridge or bridge," noted the Minister. The installation of fences to be used for animals maintaining coastal meadows will now only be possible with the written approval of the local government. If such permission is missing, the construction of a fence or digging of a ditch is not permitted. Hereinafter the feeding of game animals is prohibited in national parks, nature conservation areas and species protection sites, in order to reduce the amount of damage caused by those animals to threatened species under protection. |
