estonian agriculture, rural economy and food industry

11.
tion areas. The areas belonging to the network need
not always establish a strict conservation regime or
ban all human activities. In each area of Natura
2000, the habitat types and habitats of species are
protected for which the area has been designated.
The Natura 2000 network includes nature conservation
areas and bird sanctuaries. But conservation
of the areas alone is not enough. Valuable agricultural
landscapes and the habitats of birds and animals
are preserved when economic activities use
natural resources in a sustainable manner.
Support is available for land
maintenance
Since 1996 the farmers of Matsalu nature conservation
area are paid for producing hay for grazing
animals on the coastal and bottom-land meadows.
This way, the diversity of nature is preserved and
the rural development of the area is also supported.
Another method of paying subsidies is the agriculture
environmental programme, which is aimed
at preserving the landscape and biological diversity
of agricultural land. Environmental subsidies are
paid on the principle that an agricultural producer
assumes a long-term (at least five year) obligation
to shift to environmentally-friendly production.
The producers are compensated for income foregone
and for the additional expenses incurred due
to such activities. The agriculture environmental
programme has been in preparation since 1997.
The programme was launched in part in 2000
(including in respect of organic farming).
The agriculture environmental programme
consists of four action plans:
environment-friendly economy;
additional measures (organic farming, local
endangered breeds and varieties, natural diversity,
establishment of ponds and wetlands);
maintenance of discarded, overgrown agricultural
land;
training and sample projects.
The objectives of an environmentally-friendly
economy, which is the first priority of the action
plan, are:
preservation of natural and semi-natural
communities and valuable landscape elements, protection
of objects of historical and archaeological
interest, and improvement of the visual appearance
of landscapes (articulation of fields larger than
20 ha by strips of perennial plants);
establishment or preservation of strips of perennial
plants on the edges of fields adjacent to
non-arable land;
conservation and restraint from damaging
natural and semi-natural communities and valuable
landscape elements and objects of historical and
archaeological value;
cutting grass on clear land not in agricultural
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