Total: 45,226 sq km
Land: 43,211 sq km
Coastline: 3,794 km
Population: 1,408,523 (July 1999 est.)
Source: CIA Worldfact Book (1999)
Estonia
(Source: CIA World Factbook 1999)
Many thanks to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the source of the following information. The information was taken from Estonia's submission to the 7th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (last update: November 1998). For further information on the Estonia's social and economic factors, natural resources, and institutional structures see the United Nations System-Wide Web Site on National Implementation of the Rio Commitments National Information for Estonia at:
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/estonia/index.htm
Integrated Decision-Making
The Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Management Division and Physical Planning Division, and the Environment Information Centre are responsible for coordination of ICZM data collection activities. The Estonian Environmental Inspection and Estonian State Sea Inspection are responsible for issues related to marine environmental protection, and particularly discharges of ballast from shipping and oil spills. Responsible for the sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources are the Ministry of Environment, Department of Fishery, the Estonian Marine Institute, the Estonian State Sea Inspection, and County Governments. Scientific advice is provided by Tartu University and Estonian Agricultural University.
Coordination is achieved through various means. All of the institutions regularly meet at the highest level at the Ministry of the Environment. The Fisheries Act requires cooperation between the Fisheries Department and the Sea Inspection and Counties. The National Estonian Marine Oil Spill Contingency Plan describes the coordination scheme between Sea Inspection, the Rescue Board, the Boarder Guard, the Maritime Board and many others. An Agreement on cooperation has been signed by the Sea Inspection and the Boarder Guard, among others. The Estonian Fisheries Council also acts as a coordination body.
In March 1997, the National Environmental Strategy of Estonia was approved by Parliament. A year later, the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) followed. One of the main goals is the protection of surface water bodies and the coastal sea. In addition, the National Estonian Marine Oil Spill Contingency Plan for Combatting Oil Spills from the Sea addresses issues of marine environmental protection. Both an Estonian Fisheries Policy and an Estonian Environmental Action Plan govern the sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources.
There are several programmes that address integrated coastal zone management, marine environmental protection, and sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources. These include the following: the National Monitoring Program (Marine section); the PHARE Project entitled, Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Baltic States and Poland, which is considered a prerequisite for the establishment of Regional Master Plans for ICZM; a number of activities carried out under coordination of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM); the Salmon Action Plan of the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC); and Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region (Baltic 21) fishery sector. This last contains long-term strategies for cod, salmon, herring and sprat; restoration of habitats important to fish and fisheries in inland waters; and achieveing sustainble acquaculture.
Legislation relevant to integrated coastal zone management and sustainable development include: an Act on Sustainable Development; an Act on the Protectionof Marine and Freshwater Coasts, Shore and Banks; and the Water Act. The Water Act with regulations, along with the Port Act, with regulations, also concerns marine environmental protection. The use and conservation of marine living resources is governed by: the Act on Sustainable Development; the Act on Protected Nature Objects; the Estonian Fisheries Act; Estonian Fishery Rules; IBSFC Fishery Rules and other Government and Ministry Regulations; the Code of Conduct for Responsble Fisheries; and by the Convention on Northwest Atlantic Fisheries NAFO Organization. Full harmonization of Estonian fisheries legislation with relevant EU acts is in process, and domestic laws have always taken into account the international laws and standards.
The Codes of Conduct for responsible fisheries have been established by both Government and industry, and they are both mandatory and voluntary.
Among the Major Groups involved in decision-making in this area are Local Authorities (Country Governments), which participate through the planning process and oversee the use of coastal fishing groups. Non-governmental Organizations (Fishermen Association, Fishfarmers Associations, Lake Peipus Project), Local Authorities and scientists make their proposals to change the legal acts in force and to make new ones, where necessary.
Status
Estonian coasts are relatively undeveloped. Major cities on the coast are Tallinn (> 430 th inh.), Pärnu (52 th. inh.) and Kuressaare (16 th. inh. fishing, tourism). A few industrial towns are also located on the coast: Kunda (cement), Loksa (shipyard), Sillamäe (metal processing). Eight percent of the economy is contributed by fishing.
Sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources is encouraged through enforcement of legislation and codes, including the imposition of fines in the case of non-compliance. All sources of land-based pollution are accounted in the framework of the waste water discharge inventory system. Annual reports are available in the Environment Information Centre.
The Estonian Marine Inspection is keeping track of vessels, which may be the potential polluters. Vessels are required to bunker at sea.
Capacity-building, education, training and awareness-raising
Fisheries education is provided for all interest groups, including fishermen, processors, teachers, and civil servants. Support to this is given by the Estonian Fish Capital Fund.
Information
Information available for the sustainable management of fishery resources includes National Fisheries Science; International Scientific cooperation (ICES, NAFO); National and international fisheries statistics (FAO, ICES, NAFO,EUROSTAT); FAO Committee on Fisheries; and FAO EASTFISH. Information on marine pollution is provided by the National Estonian Marine Oil Spill Contingency Plan.
Estonia has established recently the national database on sea shores and banks. The Phare ICZM project is to be completed by 1999. An Information Centre for integrated coastal zone management is planned to be establishd in 1999. The centre will take use of GIS and remote sensing technology.GIS is under development at the moment to monitor fishing activities; a computerized Oil Spill Drift program forecasts the movement of oil slicks in the case of pollution.
There is no special web site dedicated to the coastal agenda. Some related information can be found on the Estonian Environmental Home Page at http://www.envir.ee/ehp
A set of environmental indicators has been developed and published at the Aarhus conference. The work on sustainable development indicators is still ahead.
Financing
There is no earmarked funding for the coastal agenda. Monitoring of shoreline dynamics and coastal landscapes has been moderately financed since 1996 from the national environmental monitoring program based on the national budget. Sustainable management of fishery resources is financed from special funds, the national budget and external assistance, a Fisheries Fund and an Environmental Fund.
Cooperation
Estonia is a Member of the following Agreements: the
Gdansk (1973) Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the
Living Resources in the Baltic Sea and the Belts; the
Helsinki (1992) Convention on Protection of the Marine
Environment of the Baltic Sea Area; Helsinki (1992)
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and International Lakes; the International
Council Exploration of Sea (ICES); the European Inland
Fisheries Commission EIFAC; the Convention on Future
Multilateral Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
(NAFO) the Estonian- Russian Lake Peipus Fishery Commission;
and the Estonian-Latvian Fishery Commission.
General features
Estonia has an area of approx. 45,100 km2 and a little
over 1,5 million inhabitants. On land Estonia has boundaries
with Latvia (267 km) and Russia (290 km). The government
type is republic since 1991, when it gained independence
from Russia. Estonia is not part of the EU but does have
aspirations to become part of the EU in the near future.
The length of the Estonian coastline is 1,393 km.
EUCC has compiled country files on Integrated Coastal
Management (ICM) for all coastal states of Europe and
Central Asia. Summaries for all countries will become
available in August.
This page provides a preliminary summary on the following
items for Estonia:
- Spatial planning
- Environment
- Nature Conservation
- Sectoral Development
- Framework for Development of ICZM
- National Achievements in the Field of ICZM
- Problems and Constraints for the Development of ICZM
1. Spatial Planning
1.1 Legislation and
Regulations
- Law on Land Reform
- Law on Land excludes the coastal strip from privatisation and declares restrictions on further land use in the coastal zone.
- Act of the Protection of Marine and Freshwater Coasts, Shores and Banks (1995) protects the coastal zone from the shoreline 100 m on the mainland and 200 m on the islands and may be extended up to 300 m, it is not extended seawards. All construction as well as economic activities shall be prohibited in water protection zones of coastal, shore and bank areas with the exception of certain sites stipulated in the Act. Expected amendments are likely to allow for more flexibility for planning at the local level.
- Act of Planning and Construction (1996)
1.2 Administrative Competencies
The Planning Division of the Environmental Policy Department (Ministry of Environment) is responsible for national planning and co-ordinates and guides the elaboration of county and local planning. County planning, carried out by the County Governments Planning Department, should be a basis for general planning at municipal level. County planning does not specifically focus on the coastal zones and except for some recommendations there are no proposals or restrictions for coastal zones. At a local level, general (comprehensive) planning should be carried out for territories of towns and municipalities and their coastal zones.
1.3 Coastal Policy
Up until now, the Estonian policy in general has been to
accept new development only in existing settlements and
where housing already existed in the 30s. However, pressure
is rising so it remains to be seen if this policy can be
maintained. No specific national policy has been defined for
planning in the coastal zone. As a start for a possible
development of such a policy in the future, the Ministry of
Environment has initiated the establishment of a GIS
database for management of the coastal zone, among other
environmental databases.
2. Environment
2.1 Legislation and Regulations
- Act on Sustainable Development (1995)
- Water Act
- Act on Compensation of Pollution Damage
2.2. Administrative Competencies
On a national level, the Ministry of Environment is responsible for environmental and nature protection. Several departments are dealing with marine coastal zones. The Nature Protection Department is responsible for elaboration and implementation of Estoniaís nature protection policy and co-ordinates state nature-protection programmes. Environmental Impact Assessment falls under its Environmental Management Division. The Environmental Department deals with waste protection management in general and the management of coastal and marine waters in particular as well as implementation of the Estonian National Action Programme. The Water Division is responsible for water protection in investments effecting coastal zone water quality in related sectors. Responsible for enforcement are the Environmental Inspectorate for land-based problems and the Marine Inspectorate for sea problems. Since the beginning of the year 2000, the County Governments Environmental Departments no longer exist. Instead, Environmental Services (directly under the Ministry of Environment) have been established in counties.
2.3 Environmental Policy
In 1997 the Estonian National Environmental Strategy
(NES) was approved, which determines priority goals for
environmental policy and identifies short, medium and
long-term objectives to be achieved by the year 2000, 2005
and 2010 respectively. The Instruments for Sustainable
Use of Natural Resources and Environmental Management
include legislation, institutions, physical planning,
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and environmental
auditing, regulatory instruments, economic instruments,
environmental information and education. A detailed
National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) was
approved in 1998 with the objective of implementation of
policy goals stipulated in NES. Coastal monitoring is
carried out under the National Environment Monitoring
Programme.
3. Nature
Conservation
3.1 Legislation and Regulations
- Land Reform Act
- Act on Land Taxation (1993)
- Act of Protected Natural Objects defines the types and zones of protected areas and establishes the principles of species protection. For its implementation adopted have been Regulations on Procedures of Taking Natural Objects under Protection, Species Lists of the II Protection Category, Species Lists of the III Protection Category and the Ministerial Regulation on Procedures for Determining of Compensation for the Damage Made by Protected Wild Animal Species.
3.2 Administrative Competencies
The responsibility for management of nature protection lies with the Ministry of Environment. Its Nature Conservation Division deals with management of protection and inventory of protected natural objects, as well as supervision of the implementation of relevant international conventions. The zoning of a protected area into special parts, and the extent of restrictions and obligations imposed upon these parts, is to be drawn up by the government in Protection Rules.
3.3 System of Protected Areas
About 20 % [1] of the Estonian coastline are protected by different forms of protection: national park, nature protection area, protected landscape (nature park) and programme area. Most of the small islands have some protective designation. Changes are being made in the delineation and distinction of the nature conservation areas in Estonia. New areas are taken under protection and new regulations are being worked out for the former protected areas according to changes in land ownership. In 1989, the Policy on Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources was adopted. During the elaboration of the National Environmental Strategy, this policy was analysed.
In March 1989, the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere
Reserve was formed under the MAB (Man and the Biosphere)
programme. The tasks of the reserve include participation in
regional planning and nature protection programmes.
Ultimately, orientation of local people towards a
self-supported, culturally and environmentally sustainable
development unit is to be achieved. The Management Plan
for Matsalu Wetland includes making grazing or mowing
contracts with the farmers and paying compensations
according to these, monitoring, research, enforcement of the
environmental law and raising public awareness of wetland
values.
4. Sectoral Development
4.1 Coastal Defence
Estonia has fairly strict control of forestry in the coastal zone for landscape protection and in order to fight erosion. The National Forestry Board is responsible for the development and implementation of national forest policy and for inspection and accounting of the forest resources. The Forestry Board has local administrative units in each county.
4.2 Recreation and Tourism
Tourism is a very important sector for Estonian economy. Tourism and recreation are rapidly expanding activities on the coast. Changes in landscape structure of Estonian coastal areas will mostly be connected with the balance achieved between recreational use and nature conservation. [2] The existing legal and illegal huts and summer houses as well as yacht tourism pose an important threat. The Ministry of Economy and the Estonian Tourist Board are responsible for decision-making for (sustainable) tourism, which is one of the main principles of the National Tourism Master Plan for 1995 - 2000. Preference should be given to small-scale and "green" tourism. At the moment, several strategic plans covering sustainable tourism development are being developed such as the National Tourism Development Plan to the year 2010.
4.3 Fisheries and Aquaculture
The Act on Fisheries regulates the legal relations related to fishing. The Fisheries Department (Ministry of Environment) with its Fishery Resources Division co-ordinates the use of fish resources. In this field it also works with the local authorities. Fishing is the occupation of 3500 - 4000 fishermen, about 7500 - 8000 people are active in fish processing. [3] Fish and fish products are an essential export item. Future fishing opportunities depend on international agreements on fishing at the high seas and in the Baltic. Because of the decline in fish resources in the Baltic, the fishing quota set for Estonia was reduced by 15%. It may drop further in the coming few years.
4.4 Transport and Energy
The density of Estoniaís rail network is very good; the road-network density is slightly below EU average. [4] In the transport sector harbour activity is the main threat. (See 4.5) It pollutes coastal waters and destroys the coastal habitats. [5]
The Ministry of Economy issues guidelines for sustainable energy use. The Law on Energy (1998 enforced) - based on which the long-term National Development Plan for the Fuel and Energy Sector was developed - regulates use of energy and all activities in this field. The two documents establish the energy sector national policy and the development directions for institutional environment protection and energy saving. Estoniaís domestic energy resources consist of oil shale - which is mined on a large, but declining scale - peat and wood. Currently, neither wind nor sun energy are being used, except on very small scale as a result of private initiative and interest. [6] A new potential threat is the planned oil terminal at Paldiski.
4.5 Harbours and Shipping
The harbours are concentrated in the main urban centres. There are about 20 main ports in Estonia, but four fifth of the seagoing transports start from the capital Tallinn. The Port of Tallinn consists of four constituent harbours: Old City, Muuga, Paijassare and Paldiski South. The Port Authority administers the infrastructure and is in charge of portís development. The restructuring process of the port was completed in 1998. [7] A growing harbour activity is expected in Paldiski, where an oil terminal is planned. Harbour building and developing destroys the landscape and coastal habitats in the surroundings. Furthermore, the functioning of the harbours causes pollution problems such as wastewater, heavy metals and hazardous wastes coming to the sea. The sediments of the harbours are usually heavily polluted by e.g. metals and solid waste. [8] The Port law has been adopted and on its basis the new Port Rules have been completed. Presently the Tallinn Port is working out an environmental management programme.
4.6 Industry
Most of Estonian industry is concentrated on the northern coast. The main branches of industry causing water pollution are oil shale based power generation, oil-shale chemistry and processing of rare earth metals (Sillamäe) in North East Estonia, the pulp and paper mill in Kehra, fish processing factories on the coast and the food industry in the whole republic. Most of Estonian industrial wastewater is discharged into the municipal sewerage system and treated with municipal wastewater. In the 1990s, due to construction of wastewater treatment facilities and also due to the decline of industrial production, the pollution load from industry and municipalities has been reduced significantly. It has resulted in the improvement of the water quality in rivers (e.g. River Emajõgi, River Pärnu etc.) and coastal waters (e.g. in Tallinn, Pärnu and Haapsalu Bay). In spite of significant process made during the 1990s in waste water treatment, the situation in North East Estonia still causes trouble-some problems. The main hot spots there are Sillamäe waste depository (nitrogen leakage), oil-shale chemistry in Kohtla-Järve and ash fields of power stations.
4.7 Agriculture
Agriculture is based on livestock production. Nowadays,
the use of chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides has
sharply reduced because of their high prices, however, still
poses a threat to coastal habitats. The fish farms around
the Gulf of Riga play an important role in local vicinity
for the water quality. There are not a large number of
restrictions concerning factory farming. In the Matsalu
Wetland there has been a gradual abandonment of traditional
agricultural practices and hence a decrease in use of
semi-natural meadows. This resulted in a decrease in
pollution of the Matsalu bay but also caused a dramatic
acceleration of the loss of semi-natural habitats.
Responsible for agriculture are the Ministry of Agriculture
and the Ministry of Environment. For the promotion of more
sustainable agricultural management on a farm level, the
Act on Organic Agriculture was enacted in 1997 and
amended in 1999. Also prepared has been the draft Codes
of Good Agricultural Practice.
5. Framework for the Development of ICZM
Estonia has ratified the following conventions:
- Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biodiversity Preservation (1994)
- Bern Convention on Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (1992)
- Basel Convention on the control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1992; accession)
- Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (1994 into force). According to this convention several wetlands situated at the Estonian coast, such as the Matsalu wetland, have a value of international interest.
- UN/ECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (1995)
- Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine
Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (1995)
The majority of the HELCOM Recommendations 15/1 has been incorporated into environmental legislation. A protective coastal strip has been established, however, is only 100 -200 m in width and not extended seawards. No coastal planning zone has been established yet. Concerning the recommended Coastal and Marine Baltic Sea Protected Areas (BSPA), no legal statute nor any management plans have been worked out for the marine part of the recommended BSPAs. However, the management plans and protection prescription of respective terrestrial protected areas take into consideration the marine and coastal aspect. As part of the HELCOM PITF MLW process two management plans have been carried out: one for the Matsalu Catchment area and one for the Käina Bay (bird sanctuary). There are restrictions on both intensive forestry and intensive farming.
The National Environmental Strategy follows the
main international environmental initiatives. Estonia has
concluded more than 40 bilateral and multilateral
environmental co-operation agreements with its neighbours
and other European countries. In addition to framework
agreements, a number of agreements on fisheries, water and
air protection, waste treatment etc. have been concluded to
achieve the main international goals.
[9]
6. National Achievements in the Field of ICZM
- Ecological Mapping of Estonia Coasts (1994) was carried out in co-operation with Denmark.
- The initiative has been taken to create a large-scale Coastal Cadastral Register of the terrestrial part of the coastal zone. The programme for the West-Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve aims at bringing all the available environmental data into order. A database of marine resources is also under construction.
- WWF-Sweden project Estonian Semi-natural Coastal Grasslands has started in an attempt to improve further implementation of the HELCOMís PITF MLW programme. A lot has been achieved by the increased local involvement into coastal resource management, especially by involving farmers in nature conservation and providing them with assistance (e.g. tools).
- A GIS Programme for the West-Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve has started to bring all available data into order and create GIS for the purpose of nature protection, planning and sustainable use of resources. A database of marine resources is also under construction.
- Led by the Geological Survey Centre, the initiative has been taken to set up a Coastal Cadastral Register, a large-scale database of coastal areas, to be released as GIS and to cover the terrestrial part of the coastal zone.
- An ICZM Database Centre has been established on the island of Hiiumaa under the project Integrated Coastal Management in the Baltic States and Poland, which is part of the PHARE programme.
- In order to reduce run-off from agriculture to local surface water, including coastal water, the Baltic Agricultural Run-off Action Programme (BAAP) has started, combining education and demonstration activities with legislative measures and institutional strengthening. Demonstration watersheds and farms equipped with monitoring stations and field trials have been built.
- The Management Plan for Matsalu Wetland strongly regulates or banns activities in the Nature Reserve such as drainage and fertilisation. Furthermore, measures have been taken to counteract the abandonment of the meadows for example by making grazing or mowing contracts with the farmers and paying them respective compensations.
- As part of the implementation of Agenda 21, the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve was established under UNESCOís MAB-programme.
- The NorFa Programme Modelling of Specific and Sensitive Coastal Areas of the Baltic aims to co-ordinate and support research from various disciplines and countries with special notice taken to sensitive coastal areas. Key area in Estonia is an island of Hiiumaa.
- In 1996, the Estonian Ecotourism Association was established to promote ecotourism development in Estonia, activities include organising of workshops and seminars at a local level, organising annual conferences on ecotourism and promotion of ecotourism through media.
7. Problems and Constraints for the
Development of ICZM
- Lack of money and environmental awareness. It is important to improve environmental awareness in order to promote NGOs and their activities. There is also a need for broader participation and democratic decisions in the creation process of plans for municipalities and counties.
- Changing land ownership has made the development of management plans for the coastal areas an acute problem. The newly emerging private ownership of land and conflict between traditional public access to coasts and other nature values cause difficulties while integrating marine and terrestrial aspects of coastal zone.
- The huge amounts of data that have been gathered and stored by research institutions need to be brought in order, given appropriate structure and made available for further analyses e.g. by use of GIS and other advanced technologies.
- The work on the coastal part of national ecological network to be created under the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Strategy - the European Coastal and Marine Ecological Network or ECMEN - is not carried out yet and only consists of some preliminary approaches.
There is a need for better integration of biodiversity
and landscape conservation objectives into sectoral
policies.
References
1
Liiv, H. and Kokovkin, T., Protection of the
Marine Biological and Landscape Diversity and Application of
ICZM Practice in Estonia. St. Petersburg, November 1998. p.
1.
2
Puurmann, E. and Kokovkin, T., Status of
Coastal Management in Estonia and Identified Needs for
Further Action, Including Research and Development. p.
2.
3
Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs,
Yearbooks. 1999, Ch. 15.3.
4
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Economic
Situation in Estonia.
http://www.europeanforum.bot-consult.se/cup/estonia. April
1998
5
Simonyi, P. (EUCC), Coastal Conservation in
Estonia. 1994
6
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The
Economic Situation in Estonia.
http://www.europeanforum.bot-consult.se/cup/estonia. Based
on Estoniaís submission to the 5th and 8th Sessions
of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
Last update October 1999.
7
Ports Harbours Marinas Worldwide, Port
Focus: Estonia.
http://portfocus.com/Estonia/index.htm
8
Simonyi, P. (EUCC), Coastal Conservation in
Estonia. 1994
9
Estonia Ministry of Environment, National
Strategy. http://www.envir.ee/eng/nat_strat.html
Prepared by Marian Eeltink at EUCC International
Secretariat
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(EUCC), 2000
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