TALLINN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY TO 2030

Tallinn 2011

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE TALLINN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY TO 2010 AND STARTING POINTS FOR THE TALLINN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY 2030 6

2. INITIAL SITUATION, MAIN PROBLEMS AND DIRECTIONS 9

2.1. NATIONAL DIVERSITY 10 2.2. LANDSCAPING 12 2.3. WATER 16 2.3.1. Water supplies 16 2.3.1.1. Internal water bodies 16 2.3.1.2. Groundwater 19 2.3.1.3. Coastal waters 21 2.3.2. Rain water 25 2.4. AIR 29 2.4.1. Ambient air quality 29 2.4.2. Environmental noise 31 2.4.3. Indoor air - radon 33 2.5. WASTE 34 2.6. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 38 2.6.1. Environmental education 39 2.6.2. Planning city space 43

3. VISION FOR 2030 47

4. OBJECTIVES AND MEASURES 51

4.1. NATURAL DIVERSITY 52 4.2. LANDSCAPING 53 4.3. WATER 54 4.3.1. Surface water 54 4.3.2. Groundwater 55 4.3.3. Coastal water 55 4.3.4. Rain water 56 4.4. AIR 57 4.4.1. Ambient air 57 4.4.2. Environmental noise pollution 59 4.4.3. Radon 60 4.5. WASTE 60 4.6. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 61 4.6.1. Environmental education 61 4.6.2. Planning city space 62

5. RISKS AND RISK MANAGEMENT 65

6. MONITORING 69

CONCLUSION 76

REFERENCES 79 3 INTRODUCTION

Tallinn Environmental Strategy is a conceptual source document that plans the long-term future of development for the city environment, determining the vision for the sustainable development of the city, the strategic objectives with the highest priority, and any necessary courses of action in order to ensure a living environment that satisfies people, as well as ensuring the resources necessary for economic development without significantly damaging the natural environment and while also preserving natural diversity.

Tallinn City Council initiated the preparation of the Tallinn Environmental Strategy to 2030 and set out the terms of reference with Decision No. 303, taken on 16 December 2010. According to § 3 (2) of Tallinn City Council Regulation No. 13, dated 25 February 2010: “The procedure for proceeding of Tallinn development documents”, the Tallinn Environmental Strategy is the city’s strategic development document, which should be added alongside the Tallinn Development Strategy and the comprehensive plan for Tallinn. Tallinn Environmental Strategy 2030 (hereinafter ‘Tallinn Environmental Strategy’) is an environmental development strategy for integrated planning of environmental measures in Tallinn. The Tallinn Environmental Strategy is prepared according to the procedure for processing strategic development documents in Tallinn and is in line with those documents, such as the “Tallinn 2030” strategy, Development Plan of Tallinn, and also with the principles and targets specified in the Estonian Environmental Strategy 2030.

The main objective in developing the Tallinn Environmental Strategy is to achieve a good condition of the natural and living environments in the city, and to ensure sustainable use of natural resources by establishing long-term development directions. The Environmental Strategy should facilitate reduction of negative environmental impacts, improvement of environmental conditions and raising general environmental awareness.

Since it has an important impact on people’s health and well-being, ensuring good environmental conditions also ensures a healthy living environment for people. In order to achieve this, the Environmental Strategy determines the visions, objectives and courses of action for sustainable development in various subjects including, among others, natural diversity, landscaping, the quality of ambient air, the water supply, waste management, and the management of the environment, including environmental education.

The Environmental Strategy is to be taken as a guide when planning and implementing both environmental issues and other fields of activities in regard to the city. On one hand, the Environmental Strategy supplies the principles and tasks for the city itself, that is to say, for the city’s government authority in organising the life of the city, while on the other hand, it also supplies principles and tasks for undertakings, citizens, public authorities, neighbouring local government authorities, organisations and any others that may have an impact on Tallinn’s environment with their activities.

The first section of the Tallinn Environmental Strategy 2030 includes an overview of the initial situation in regard to the environment and an analysis of the problems and the reasons for such problems where these form a basis for the preparation of the next section of the Environmental Strategy. The second section of the Environmental Strategy consists of the vision that is being aimed at with the implementation of the document, ie. the desired environmental situation for the city, as well as objectives that determine what is to be achieved. In order to implement this vision and achieve the objectives, courses of action are detailed in the strategic document. In addition, the Environmental Strategy highlights the possible risks involved in achieving the objectives that have been set out in the strategy, as well as the options for managing these risks, and the procedure for monitoring and amending the Environmental Strategy document.

The Tallinn Environmental Strategy is prepared by and the process managed by Tallinn City Environment Department, which is also responsible for the overall project. The process of developing the environmental strategy began with the formation of a working group and agreement of the process to be used. The environmental strategy process consisted of a thorough analysis of the current situation and the mapping out of any problem areas, one part of which was finding and analysing the causes of any problems, along with their consequences and the connections between them. This was followed up by setting out a vision for the

4 period between now and 2030, agreeing upon the principles of development, the strategic objectives, and the courses of action to be undertaken.

The preparation of the Tallinn Environmental Strategy was undertaken by employees from various divisions of the Tallinn City Environment Department (along with field specialists from the environmental management, landscaping, and waste management divisions). The so-called stakeholders, that is to say, specialists from various fields who were drawn from the offices of the city’s government authority, the state authorities, and various other undertakings and organisations, were also involved in the process. Suggestions by these stakeholders have been taken into account in the preparation of the Environmental Strategy document. By means of disclosure, the wider public and the inhabitants of Tallinn have also been involved in the process. The Environmental Strategy will be published in April 2011, at which point a public display and discussion will be held.

The Tallinn Environmental Strategy will be implemented through the Tallinn Environmental Action Plan 2018, establishing concrete measures, executors and funding sources for achievement of strategic objectives. The Tallinn Environmental Strategy serves as a source document for any environmental development and action plans, which will have to be based on the principles established in the Environmental Strategy. The Tallinn Environmental Strategy creates a framework for integrated decision-making and sustainable development of the city is one of the main objectives of the Strategy.

The monitoring, amending and complementing of the Tallinn Environmental Strategy takes place according to requirements, but this happens at least once every five years.

5 1

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE TALLINN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY TO 2010 AND STARTING POINTS FOR THE TALLINN ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY TO 2030

6 The Tallinn Environmental Strategy to 2010 was accepted by Tallinn City Council by means of Regulation No. 5, dated 22 January 1998, and this was valid until 2010. Below, the accuracy of the presumptions that were made in the Tallinn Environme