Speaking about the reforms, Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform) said: "The largest principle here is that we want to create clarity on 30 percent of our landmass being under state protection."

"Of that 30 percent, approximately half is forested. There is also bog, meadows, wooded meadows, and all the variety of landscapes we have in our protected areas," the minister went on.

Conservationists on the other hand, find the specific percentages problematic.

Liis Kuresoo, a forest expert at the Estonian Fund for Nature (Eestimaa Looduse Fond) told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "A significant issue arises if we see this 30 percent as a ceiling, or a maximum."

"This is one thing which really the various international agreements do not allow us to do, since the percentage of protected areas should be based on this: How well our habitats and species are doing," Kuresoo continued.

Land under protection makes up roughly 28 percent of Estonia's territory at present. As noted the new law plans to set a target of 30 percent, both as minimum and maximum.

The extra 2 percent is to derive from land in state hands, Jaanus Aun, executive director of Eesti Erametsaliit, a private forest owners' lobby group, said.

The organization has welcomed the agreement and the specific proportion.

"However, our concern is which lands are included in this calculation and which are not," Aun said, noting not all protected lands are counted in the 30 percent.

The Ministry of Climate has sent the amendments to the Nature Conservation Act and the Forest Act to stakeholders for the approval round, ahead of passing it to the Riigikogu.

The amendments aim increase the proportion of protected land, establish a ban on clear-cutting in protected areas, and allow for planting new trees.

The ministry also said hopes to reach a societal contract on the finalization and adoption of the national forestry development plan, a very long-running saga.

The clear-cut ban in affected areas will concern 125,000 hectares, of which 36,000 hectares are in private hands.

Liis Kuresoo said these figures are not as significant as they may seem, as clear-cutting can still go ahead, even in protected zones, when categorized under other types of felling.

Aun said that in the Eesti Erametsaliit's view, compensation should also be increased for those subject to the restrictions.

The climate ministry mainly plans to compensate for the restrictions and bans by allowing the establishment of so-called tree plantations on existing agricultural lands.

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