Environment Department

Harju 13 10130 Tallinn Estonia Phone: (372) 6404 572 Fax: (372) 6404 583 E-mail: keskkonnaamet [ät] tallinnlv.ee Deputy Head: Relo Ligi

Main tasks

The tasks of the board in respect of monitoring, analysing and developing measures of environmental protection are:

• developing and organising the implementation of the environmental strategy and action plans of the city;
• organising environmental protection surveys, measurements and polls, participating in the preparation of the city's development trends on the basis thereof;
• making proposals for changing limited management zones of shores and banks and the building exclusion zone;
• making decisions on whether or not to initiate environmental impact assessments on the basis of reviews of design criteria applications or building designs;
• making proposals for organisation of strategic environmental impact assessments in the course of the preparation of comprehensive, thematic and detailed plans;
• submitting environmental protection requirements to development and other plans and designs, and inspecting adherence to the established environmental conditions and requirements;
• presenting the city's position in respect of integrated permits, prospecting permits, mineral resource extraction permits, special use of water permits, ambient air pollution permits, waste permits and other environmental permits established by law;
• environmental monitoring and analysis;
• cooperating with producer liability organisations;
• setting rehabilitation terms to residual pollution sites and polluted areas of land;
• propagating environmental awareness, sustainable development and environmentally friendly consumer mentality, consulting persons in making decisions that have an impact on the environment;
• participating in the development of the city's crisis management plan;
• developing measures for reducing the threat to the environment arising from hazardous loads and other activities and buildings that threaten the environment;
• developing the legal acts of Tallinn that concern any issues within the competency of the board;
• organising public involvement and activities concerning environmental education and information.

The tasks of the board in respect of organising processes that improve the living environment in the city are:

• making proposals for placing valuable landscapes that represent the uniqueness of the city's nature, culture and settlement system or individual components of such landscapes under protection and for establishing the terms of their use, and managing objects in the city that have been placed under protection;
• organising the protection and economical use of water intakes; processing applications for establishment of water intakes and presentation of opinions in the matter;
• organising the use and protection of the city's bodies of water and wetlands;
• organising strategic environmental impact assessments in the course of the preparation of the comprehensive, thematic and detailed plans prepared by the city;
• organising and coordinating landscaping and maintenance works in the city;
• organising maintenance of historical parks, green areas and cemeteries;
• organising the preservation, development and economical use of the city's network of woodlands, green areas and recreational areas;
• processing tree cutting permits;
• organising and supervising replacement planting;
• organising environmental monitoring;
• organising the preparation of a strategic ambient air noise map and an action plan for reducing noise spreading in ambient air;
• planning and developing waste management, organising waste management;
• organising the closure and aftercare of the Pääsküla landfill;
• preparing and implementing organised waste transport;
• organising the collection of hazardous waste created in households and its delivery to waste handlers;
• organising the development and handling of waste recycling systems, incl. a network of waste stations and composting sites;
• organising the registration of dogs;
• organising catching stray dogs and cats, their keeping and return to owners or delivery to new owners and execution of ownerless animals;
• organising the transport of deceased persons who have no next of kin or were found in a public place from the scene of the event;
• organising the burial of persons who have no next of kin or cannot be identified;
• performance of the tasks specified in the crisis management plan that are within the area of responsibility of the board;
• maintaining the registers and databases required for performance of the board's tasks;
• organising the possession, use and disposal of the municipal property given to the board for management pursuant to the procedure stipulated in the legal acts of Tallinn;
• establishing and maintaining public playgrounds for children;
• establishing and maintaining dog walking and swimming areas;
• developing and implementing a common information system of parks and green areas;
• developing and implementing common landscaping concepts and principles;
• performing the tasks arising from the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure as authorised by the city government;
• making precepts, applying the measures of substitutive enforcement and imposing penalty payments within the area of its activities;
• cleaning unlawfully soiled municipal property.

The board also performs all other tasks assigned to it in the legal acts of Tallinn.

Publications