7. Baltic States

Despite different legal systems and significant progress, the three major challenges for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in terms of the implementation of international environmental law standards remain the same: waste and its recycling, pollution—in particular, in the context of energy generation, which is closely related to the global challenge of climate change—and deforestation. The latter continues to be a threat to biodiversity in the region but is set to remain a major challenge due to the relative importance of the forestry industries for the national industries in the three states. As always, this summary of legal developments in the three countries is not meant to indicate that the legal systems are identical—far from it. Similarities do arise from similar environmental conditions, country sizes, historical developments and, most importantly, the shared membership of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the European Union (EU)