Winter cave trips endanger wintering bats Bats spend almost half a year hibernating, thus avoiding the harshness of the winter. For the winter, bats hide in underground spaces – in Estonia, they favour basements, mines, caves, old military tunnels and shelters. The main criterion for the choice of wintering grounds is the temperature, which must not fall below zero; high humidity is also a plus...

The main objective of species protection is to ensure the favourable status of all naturally occurring species Each species has a role to play in the biosphere. Due to the abundance of species and their roles, overall biodiversity is preserved. Unfortunately, many species have become endangered or extinct as a result of human activity or other causes. Today, species go extinct 100–1,000 times...

Without protected areas, it would be difficult to ensure the survival of species and communities The task of classical nature conservation is to protect endangered species, but also to preserve the diversity of communities and habitats, to create feeding, resting, and breeding areas for wild game, birds and fish, and to protect landscapes, water, or soil. Without protected areas, it is difficult...

As of 2021, 568 species are protected in Estonia Based on their endangerment, protected species are divided into three protected categories on the basis of the Nature Conservation Act. Protected category I species are at high risk of extinction and the exact details of their habitats or sites are not disclosed in the media. This category includes, for example, all Estonian eagle species, the black...

Restrictions are necessary to ensure the safe migration of fish to spawning grounds, spawning peace, the protection of undersized fish, and the conservation of endangered species Catch restrictions are set to ensure that fish stocks are in good condition and that the conditions for spawning, or producing the next generation, are as good as possible. Restrictions are therefore imposed to not...

A growing concern about the quality of landscapes and insufficient measures for landscape management led the European Conference of Local and Regional Authorities to approve the proposal to develop a landscape convention draft in 1994. After years of preparation, the European Landscape Convention was adopted in Florence on 20 October 2000. The convention entered into force four years later, when...

The protection of an endangered species alone will not increase its abundance. Conservation action is also needed The effectiveness of species protection is demonstrated by the Red List, which lets us know which species are doing poorly and which have improved. Examples of success stories According to 1988 data, the common crane was rare in Estonia. Today, however, it is in the ‘least concern’...

The state pays a number of grants and compensations for the protection and conservation of nature. Some of them are operating grants, some are compensations for not managing communities In order to protect nature, several subsidies and compensations are paid in Estonia from both the state budget and European Union (EU) funds. These include operating grants (e.g. support for the maintenance of semi...

A person who knows better does not bring alien species to Estonia. The Ministry of the Environment must be notified immediately of any alien species released into or discovered in the wild Species know no borders, so preventing the spread of alien species must be addressed at individual, national, and international levels. At the international level, a number of conventions and agreements deal...