Economic impact of enlarging the area of protected forests in Estonia Risto Sirgmets ⁎, Paavo Kaimre, Allar Padari Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu 51014, Estonia abstract article info Article history: Received 27 January 2010 Received in revised form 27 September 2010 Accepted 22 November 2010 Available online 15 January 2011 Keywords: Nature conservation Economic impact assessment Forest policy implementation The article deals with the economic impact of increasing strictly protected forest areas from the current 8.2% level up to 10% from the total forest area in Estonia. Whereas there is no concrete selection of areas added in the group of strictly protected forests, the impact on annual lost income due to forest management not carried out in protected forests was assessed according to two different assumptions: 1. changing the status of forests without management restrictions (formal commercial forests) into the strictly protected ones; 2. changing the status of forests with management restrictions (formal protection forests) into the strictly protected ones. Achieving the target set by the Estonian Forest Development Programme, increasing the share of strictly protected forests up to 10%, an additional 39,000 ha of forest land will be out of management. Increasing the conservation area by 1.8% by forests without management restrictions, the reduction in potential net revenue will be 2% per year. Achieving the goal by conserving the forests with management restrictions, the total income will decrease by 0.76–1.9% per year. To realize the goal set by the Estonian Forestry Development Programme until 2010 and 2020 to enlarge the protected forest area up to 10% from one side, and the current economic recession on the other side, the economic solution could be enlarging the conservation on forests with management restrictions. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction One characteristic trend in European forestry during the last decades is the increasing importance of non-timber values including nature protection. Between 1995 and 2005, the share of forests providing environmental and protective services has increased from 4% to 10% and 4.7% of the forests are having strict environmental restrictions (FAO, 2007; MCPFE, 2007). Forest protection in Estonia is regulated by the Act of Nature Conservation and by the Forest Act. According to the Forest Act redaction which was in force until 01.01.2009 Estonian forests were divided according to the management targets in three categories — protected forests, protection forests and commercial forests (Metsaseadus, 2006). The only target in forests which belonged in the protected forest category was nature conservation where no economic activity was allowed. Special conservation areas, strict nature reserves and special management zones belonged in protected forests. In protected forests the economic activity was completely forbidden whereas in the forests belonging in the protected forest category the main goal was to protect the environment and the economic activity was allowed according to the management plan of a specific protection area. Limited management zones belonged in protection forests. All forms of forest use were allowed in forests which belonged in the commercial forest category. The income from forest management is the main target in commercial forests. According to the new redaction of Forest Act (in force since 01.01.2009) aforementioned concepts of forest categories are not in use. In Estonia the protection of formal protected and protected forests is regulated by the Act of Nature Conservation (Looduskaitseseadus, 2004). The protection of valuable key-habitats in commercial forests is regulated by the Forest Act and is based on voluntary agreements. The agreement with the forest owner is settled for 20 years and lost income from forest management will be compensated. Approximately 31% of Estonian forest land is covered with man- agement restrictions. Strictly protected forests in Estonia cover an area of 182,300 ha, which makes 8.2% of the total forest area (Keskkonnaministeerium, 2009). The number is relatively big compared to other European countries, but according to Estonian Forest Development Programme it does not ensure the preservation of forest biodiversity, characteristic forest types and ecosystems. The Estonian Forestry Development Programme until 2010 says that the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of natural values assume the undisturbed development of a part of the forests and the implementation of measures for the protection of biodiversity in the Forest Policy and Economics 13 (2011) 155–158 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 372 52 59 499. E-mail address: risto.sirgmets@emu.ee (R. Sirgmets). 1389-9341/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2010.11.006 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Policy and Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol