Maastikukasutuses

Maastikukasutuses is a planning concept in Estonia that describes how land is organized and used to fulfil landscape functions. It covers the distribution and management of land for different purposes, including agriculture, forestry, housing and infrastructure, recreation and tourism, energy production, and nature conservation. The aim is to balance ecological integrity with social and economic needs, ensuring that landscape-scale processes and ecosystem services are maintained.

In practice, maastikukasutuses is addressed in national and local land-use planning. It is implemented through plans and instruments such as regional and local planning documents, landscape planning, and environmental assessments. Decision-making involves multiple stakeholders, including authorities, landowners, communities, and interest groups, with emphasis on coordination, public participation, and long-term sustainability.

Typical applications include designing agricultural–forest mosaics with ecological buffers, maintaining forested landscapes that accommodate recreation, creating green corridors and public-access areas in urban-rural fringes, preserving historical rural landscapes, and guiding tourism development in ways that protect natural and cultural values.

Benefits of this approach include maintained biodiversity and soil and water protection, sustained provision of ecosystem services, preservation of cultural heritage, and opportunities for recreation and local livelihoods. Challenges can arise from competing land uses, limited data and planning capacity, governance fragmentation across jurisdictions, and the need to adapt to climate change.

See also: Landscape planning, Land-use planning, Ecosystem services, Estonia planning system.