Law on special protected areas.

This Law establishes the legal framework for identifying, designating, managing, and protecting areas of outstanding natural, ecological, historical, and cultural value. Its primary objective is to conserve unique landscapes, ecosystems, rare and endangered species, and sites of scientific, aesthetic, and cultural significance, while allowing for regulated use consistent with conservation goals. The law classifies state special protected areas into four categories: strictly protected areas, national parks, nature reserves, and monuments. Each category is subject to specific protection regimes and internal zoning, ranging from strictly preserved core zones to limited-use and tourism zones. The law also recognizes the possibility of locally protected areas designated by provincial or municipal authorities and provides for buffer zones around protected areas to mitigate external impacts.
The law further defines governance structures, management tools, and financing mechanisms for protected areas. It assigns distinct responsibilities to Parliament, the Government, central administrative bodies, and local authorities, ensuring coordinated oversight and implementation. A key feature is the requirement for management plans, typically adopted for ten-year periods, which set objectives, zoning arrangements, permitted activities, financing, and monitoring indicators. The law strictly prohibits activities that could damage ecosystems, such as mining, large-scale construction, pollution, and unregulated hunting, while allowing limited traditional use, research, tourism, and restoration activities under permit in designated zones. Funding is drawn from state and local budgets, user fees, tourism revenues, compensation for environmental damage, and other lawful sources.