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t_Tammealuse_AinRaal.gifKristopher Rikken
ERR

The land under churches and houses of worship is exempt from land tax. But sacred groves from the pre-Christian era are not, and a group says the policy is nothing less than a violation of freedom of religion that encourages the further defiling of the largely rural sites.

No category such as natural shrine exists in legislation, and only 15 percent of the country's 3,300 known ancient sacred sites are protected in the context of other types of nature and archaeological safeguards, says the Hiite Maja Foundation.

At a roundtable in Tartu on March 29, participants from all sectors, including ministry representatives, discussed ways of improving the current laws and perhaps drafting a Natural Shrines Act.

Even in protected groves, explicit protection is often not accorded to the grove as an integral unit, and in other cases the land tax serves as a stimulus for economic activity, said Ahto Kaasik of Hiite Maja, which is devoted to protecting indigenous culture in Estonia and organized the roundtable along with the University of Tartu's centre on the shrines.

The foundation commissioned a legal analysis from the Environmental Law Centre in 2011, which stated that existing legislation only accords certain protection to specific shrines, and only if an administrative body deems necessary. The analysis said the framework was insufficient and made it difficult to adhere to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature guidelines approved by Estonia in 2008.

Photo: Tammealuse grove in Virumaa in Mahu (Viru-Nigula) parish, Samma village. Ain Raal

To be continued ... ERR