3.2.3. International Pressures

The lack of public interest may reduce the state-level policies that are often influenced by international agreements or the experiences of neighbouring countries. A key factor in the development of Estonian health adaptation policies is European Union regulations. Therefore, developing a national strategy for health adaptation is based on the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change [43]. When developing policies in the area of safety, according to an official from the Ministry of the Interior, the examples of Sweden, Finland, and Germany were taken into account (official from the Ministry of the Interior 20 April 2015). However, the progressive examples of Sweden and Finland were not considered.

In addition to the need to develop an adaptation strategy, the interviewees considered the influence of the EU to be an important example of the demand to finance and monitor environmental factors. Thus, a public health specialist (8 May 2015) emphasised: "*The European Union has a huge influence in improving for example environmental monitoring, since as a condition of the accession to the EU, Estonia has had to introduce several amendments to the laws and that effect is only positive, since the efficiency of monitoring is on the increase as a result of it*." For example, the purpose of the "Report on the risks of flooding" is to map flood-prone areas in Estonia using observations according to Articles 4 and 5 of the EU Floods Directive [69].
