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• Sustainable management and use of forests and
wooded lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains
their biological diversity, productivity, regenera-
tion capacity, vitality and potential to fulfil, now
and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and
social functions, at local, national, and global levels,
without damaging other ecosystems
• Effective management of forests.
Implementation of the Forest Policy was deficient due to
the lack of an integral plan of implementation measures.
To coordinate the implementation of activities defined
in the Forest Policy and the allocation of the required
resources, the Ministry of the Environment compiled two
long-term Forestry Development Programmes, the first
for the period 2002-2010 and the second for 2011-2020.
The main objective of the current development plan
is to ensure the productivity and vitality of forests and
diverse and efficient use thereof. For that purpose, in
the long term perspective, timber is used as a renewable
natural resource in the timber industry and in energy to
the extent of increment. To maintain the productivity of
forests, reforestation work is performed on at least half
of the regeneration cutting areas. Finally, to maintain
the good status of populations of endangered species
and species typical to Estonia, at least 10 per cent of the
forest land area has been placed under protection and
the representation of forests under strict protection has
been improved.
Forests for people
A century and more ago, the protection of nature
depended on common sense and the initiative of
1997 amendment of the Act, long-term plans for sustainable develop-
ment are to be made within the energy, transport, agriculture, forestry,
tourism, chemical, building materials and food industry sectors.
Estonia’s active partnership in sustainable development proc-
esses at the global level began at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992. Implementation of
the Agenda 21 and MillenniumDevelopment Goals was renewed at the
United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
in 2002.
In the early 1990s, the Estonian forest sector was largely organized
on the basis of structures left over from the Soviet era. The adjustment
to a market economy and new environmental standards proved to be
slow and difficult and it became apparent that a thorough overhaul of
the sector was needed. The key issues were related to the organiza-
tion of public forest administration, establishing an appropriate balance
between forest production and conservation and providing support to
private forest owners. In order to accelerate development in the forest
sector and to improve the basis for legislative reform, the Ministry of the
Environment decided, in early 1995, to launch the Estonian Forestry
Development Programme, including the task of formulating a National
Forest Policy.
The Estonian Forest Policy, which was adopted by the Riigikogu (the
Estonian parliament) in the summer of 1997, expresses the importance
of forests in four aspects:
• Economic aspect – a source of revenue
• Social aspect – a guarantor of employment and provider of
recreation
• Ecological aspect – a preserver of the diversity of species
• Cultural aspect – a part of Estonian culture.
According to the forest policy, Estonian forests are a great natural
and ecological resource. Two general objectives have been set for
forest management:
Estonian forests represent an important natural resource
Image: Min. Env. Estonia