BIOLOOGILISE MITMEKESISUSE SÄILITAMINE KOHALIKUL TASANDIL

This guide provides a comprehensive framework for local governments to preserve and enhance biological diversity within urban environments. It emphasizes the role of municipal authorities in integrating biodiversity into strategic planning, managing green infrastructure, and engaging local communities to improve urban quality of life and ecosystem services.

• Urban biological diversity provides essential ecosystem services that offer environmental, social, and economic benefits, including air purification, noise reduction, urban cooling, and the mitigation of the 'heat island' effect.
• Local governments in Estonia have the legal right under the Nature Conservation Act to place local nature values under protection, including landscapes, valuable agricultural land, nature communities, parks, and green areas not already protected at the national level.
• Urban biodiversity preservation faces several systemic obstacles, including high development pressure where green areas are viewed as 'unused', fragmented administrative responsibility across different government levels, and a lack of public awareness regarding the value of 'wilder' urban nature.
• To increase biodiversity in municipal green spaces, the guide recommends zoning areas by mowing frequency—creating sections mown only 1-2 times a year or not at all—and prioritizing native plant species over exotic ones.
• The guide proposes a four-level hierarchy for managing nature values during urban development: first, enrich existing biodiversity; second, preserve current status; third, mitigate unavoidable impacts; and fourth, compensate for lost habitats by creating similar ones.
• Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), such as permeable pavements, collection ponds, and green roofs, are recommended to reduce sewage load and create new urban habitats.
• Successful urban biodiversity strategies in Europe, such as those in Edinburgh and Oslo, rely on comprehensive GIS-based inventories, multi-stakeholder partnerships (including the private sector and NGOs), and the use of indicator species to monitor environmental quality.

APA

Uustal, M., Peterson, K., & Kuldna, P. (2010). BIOLOOGILISE MITMEKESISUSE SÄILITAMINE KOHALIKUL TASANDIL. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-Uustal-BiologicallyDiverseCityUrbanBiodiversityHandbook-2010.pdf

Chicago

Uustal, Meelis, Kaja Peterson, and Piret Kuldna. BIOLOOGILISE MITMEKESISUSE SÄILITAMINE KOHALIKUL TASANDIL. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2010. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-Uustal-BiologicallyDiverseCityUrbanBiodiversityHandbook-2010.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Uustal |first1=Meelis |last2=Peterson |first2=Kaja |last3=Kuldna |first3=Piret |title=BIOLOOGILISE MITMEKESISUSE SÄILITAMINE KOHALIKUL TASANDIL |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2010 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-Uustal-BiologicallyDiverseCityUrbanBiodiversityHandbook-2010.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{uustal2010bioloogilise, author = {Uustal, Meelis and Peterson, Kaja and Kuldna, Piret}, title = {{BIOLOOGILISE MITMEKESISUSE SÄILITAMINE KOHALIKUL TASANDIL}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2010}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-Uustal-BiologicallyDiverseCityUrbanBiodiversityHandbook-2010.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }