Priorities and main directions for future action

Being a member of the EU, itself having deep traditions of protecting ecology, has opened up new opportunities for Lithuania, such as access to Structural funds, new ammendments to the Law on Protected Areas (2001) and the Law on Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage (2004), as well as other new legal provisions and regulations.

The priorities of the State Protected Areas Service under the Ministry of the Environment for 2005-2006 :

• to organise and co-ordinate the implementation of measures outlined in the Single Programming Document “ Improvement of Environmental Quality and Prevention of Harm to the Environment”;
• to integrate the European Commision‘s protected areas network into the existing system, facilitate its monitoring and the implementation of protection and management measures; 
• to create a protected areas information system.

Main directions for future action to meet the above priorities:

•  to prepare the lacking planning documents (management plans for all regional parks and nature management plans for all Natura 2000 territories, boundary  plans for newly established protected areas, primarily Natura 2000 territories);
• to facilitate public access to protected areas (the implementation of specific protected area management and maintenance measures), including the management and care of heritage objects within these areas;
• to open visitor centres and create an information system (stands, signage...) in all state parks;
• to liquidate abandoned buildings and their remains that may pose a threat to visitor safety.

In implementing protected area management and maintenance measures, priority is given to Natura 2000 territories and the establishment of  information systems and visitor centres in state parks. The management and maintenance of protected areas requires the greatest investment of both time and funding. This seeks to ensure the conservation of Natura 2000 and national protected areas by implementing measures outlining their management and use, and adapting these territories for purposeful public use – both recreational and educational.

Visitor centres in state parks would facilitate ecological tourism, help with the regulation of visitor numbers and provide them with information about the natural and cultural heritage under protection as well as the services on offer.