Estonia

Estonia is a low-lying Baltic coastal country, with a large number of islands and islets- the largest being Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, with an terrestrial area of close to 45 000 km² and a marine area close to 36 000 km². It is bordered by 2 other countries. The highest point is Suur Munamägi at 318m. Estonia has a population of 1.3 million people and a population density of 30.4 people per km².

Protected areas

There are a total of   protected areas in Estonia,   Natura 2000 sites -   Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and   Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as   sites designated under national laws.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Natura 2000 sites in Estonia cover   species and   habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For   sites there is only 1 feature being protected with   sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Estonia under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of species are considered to be Good

 % of species are considered to be Poor

 % of species are considered to be Bad

 % of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Estonia under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

  habitats protected under EU law in Estonia.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of habitats are considered to be Good

 % of habitats are considered to be Poor

 % of habitats are considered to be Bad

 % of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Estonia:

Over 100 (mainly pilot) MAES-related works and studies have been completed in Estonia since the late 1990s. These MAES case studies cover different ecosystem types, and also comprise of economic valuations of the forest ecosystem services (e.g. Järvselja primeval protected forest – several studies conducted in 2012–2015) and Estonian bogs (e.g. Kuresoo bog – several studies conducted in 2011–2013), contingent valuation studies of shores in natural condition in Estonia (2012) and Estonian semi-natural grasslands (2015).

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National Biodiversity strategy for Estonia:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.

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