proposals to place land areas under protection if necessary (Section 9 subsection 2). A detailed plan also determines the intended use of land (Section 9 subsection 4 clause 1). Protected areas are not established on the basis of spatial plans, but on the basis of Nature Conservation Act, relying on the criteria of nature protection.
2.2.2 The economic and planning measures of nature protection 2.2.2.1 Management plans For the purpose of managing the limited conservation areas and protected areas, management plans shall be prepared for each area which shall bring out (NCA Section 25 subsection 1)40: 1. the natural values in the area and indicators for measuring them; 2. the significant environmental factors and their impact to the natural object; 3. the objectives of protection, work necessary to reach the objectives, and the priority, schedule and volume of work; 4. a budget for accomplishing the plan. Management plan shall be drawn up for 3-10 years. Information regarding approval of the management plan shall be published on the website of the Environmental Board (NCA Section 25 subsection 2).
2.2.2.2 Necessary activities within protected natural objects According to Section 17 subsection 1 of the Nature Conservation Act, the activities necessary within the area of a protected natural object hosting semi-natural biotic communities are activities which promote the natural aspect and species composition thereof, such as mowing, grazing, and designing, thinning or deforestation of tree and shrub layers, the extent of which shall be determined, in the case of a limited conservation area, by a management plan and in the case of other protected natural objects, by protection rules. Semi-natural community occurrence areas are areas hosting communities of natural biota, such as wooded meadows, alvars, paludifying meadows, fen meadows, coastal meadows, floodplain meadows, grasslands on mineral soils, wooded pastures which have developed in the course of long-term human activity, such as grazing or mowing (NCA Section 17 subsection 2). The necessary activity within a protected natural object may be conducted by the possessor of the land but when the possessor refuses to perform it, it can be carried out by the state (NCA section 17 subsections 6-9). Nature conservation subsidy is paid to the possessor of land for performance of work specified by the protection rules or management plan, necessary for preservation of semi-natural biotic communities of protected areas, limited conservation areas or species protection sites (NCA Section 18 subsections 1 and 2). Environmental Board has compiled the inventory plan of semi-natural biotic communities until 2013 and it was delivered to Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board for implementation. During
40 Access at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/13228916&leiaKehtiv (10.02.2011). ESTONIAN MIRES: INVENTORY OF HABITATS
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