I like the neighbor’s pine forest – I’ll have it protected!

I like the neighbor’s pine forest – I’ll have it protected!

The draft Nature Protection Act allows any land to be easily protected, writes Britta Retel, an environmental law expert at the law firm Sorainen.

  • “Essentially, we are moving from evidence-based nature protection to a nice nature protection, i.e. with strict restrictions, everyone will have the opportunity to preserve a pleasant and well-established environment, regardless of the will of the landowner,” writes environmental law expert Britta Retel. Photo: Eneli Rhyme

In August, the Ministry of Climate announced a draft with which at least 30% of Estonia’s landmass is to be protected in order to ensure the biodiversity goals of the European Union. At the same time, the bill abolishes the obligation to order an expert opinion, thus creating the possibility to take any piece of land under protection only with the claim that this area plays a role in ensuring ecological coherence or that an individual of a protected species may someday end up in the area. The coordination round of the bill has already ended, and no attention was paid to this important simplification.

Judicial protection disappears

The Nature Conservation Act still allows anyone to submit a proposal for the protection of some natural objects. In practice, this option is also used simply to slow down some development or logging. Currently, however, the Environmental Board must organize an expert examination to consider each proposal, so that specialists with special knowledge can find out whether the protection of a specific area is justified and whether the planned restrictions are practical. If the expertise shows that the natural object lacks the prerequisites for protection or protection is not practical, the story can be considered finished.

With the bill, the obligation of expertise has been completely abolished. The need for the change is explained by the fact that the Environmental Board itself has the competence in terms of nature protection, and as a result of the change, bureaucracy will be reduced.

This conclusion is erroneous and far-fetched. The expertise is not unnecessary bureaucracy, but an assessment by independent specialists of the necessity of the proposed restrictions.

The Supreme Court has explained: the expertise must ensure that the lighthearted taking of a natural object under protection does not limit the rights of landowners. The Chancellor of Justice has also recently said that property can be restricted to protect natural values ​​if the state has collected verifiable and necessary evidence.

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Source: www.aripaev.ee