Baltic Green Belt (the coastal zone) A. Background information, short

Estonia is located at Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Being a small country, it however has rather long coastline due to large number of islands in its Western waters. With just 1.3 million people in 45 000 km 2 the population density is very low and generally the pressure to coastline is moderate. 2. Length and type of coast line The length of coastal line in Estonian mainland is 1300 km while the large number of islands provide additional 2500 km of coastline. Estonia’s coastal areas have a rich biodiversity in a variety of landscapes, areas of natural beauty, semi-natural habitats and wetlands. The Estonian coast differs from the rough granite seaboard of its Northern neighbour Finland and the straight sand beaches of Latvia to the South. The Estonian coast changes from sheer limestone cliffs in the North to sandy beaches and shelving coastal meadows in the West. The coasts of the Western islands are indented with sandy beaches extensive coastal meadows, now overgrown with juniper and reed, to the sheer limestone cliffs of the glacial plains in the North (Vollmer, E. et al, 2010)