Nature protection and biodiversity - Drivers and pressures (Lithuania)

The main challenges to the preservation of biodiversity are: (1) the loss and deterioration of the habitats of protected species, particularly as a result of the increased use of forests, the decline in traditional agricultural land use, the disruption of natural hydrological features in forests and wetlands, infrastructure development and development on the shores of water bodies; (2) the likely extinction of fragmented and small populations of protected species and the deteriorating conditions for animal migration, and (3) the spread of invasive plant and animal species that occupy the habitats of endangered species or destroy important ecological relationships between species.

Biodiversity in Lithuania has experienced negative effects from the development of agriculture, forestry, tourism, recreation and urban sprawl. The biodiversity of the seacoast, agro-ecosystems, surface waters, natural forest ecosystems and fragments of ecosystems surviving in urban areas are most at risk.

During the final decades of the 20th century over two-thirds of Lithuania’s wetland ecosystems were destroyed. At present, the biodiversity of swamps and wetlands faces the greatest risk as these ecosystems are highly sensitive to environmental change.