GREEN and SILVER ECONOMY in the CONTEXT of RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Case Study of Vastseliina Municipality
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NORDPLUS Intensive course GREEN AND SILVER ECONOMY IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Case study of Vastseliina Municipality Liis Sisask (University of Tartu, Estonia) Björn Hólmsteinsson (University of Iceland) Rasa Janušaitė (Vilnius University, Lithuania) Kenechukwu Onwuzurumba (University of Eastern Finland) Riga, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 3 2. DESCRIPTION OF VASTSELIINA RURAL MUNICIPALITY .......................................... 4 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE........... 9 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 13 4.1. Methods of data collection ......................................................................................................... 13 4.1.1. Interviews .......................................................................................................................... 13 4.1.2. Observations ...................................................................................................................... 13 4.1.3. Secondary data .................................................................................................................. 13 4.2. Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 14 4.3. Description of interviewees ....................................................................................................... 14 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 16 5.1. New nursing home in Vastseliina .............................................................................................. 16 5.2. Youth employment .................................................................................................................... 19 5.3. Green economy in Vastseliina ................................................................................................... 22 5.4. Municipality reforms ................................................................................................................. 23 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 27 7. REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 28 2 1. INTRODUCTION In May 2017 a group of students from Nordic and Baltic universities met in Riga, Latvia for an intensive course of 2 weeks time. The project is sponsored by Nordplus foundation and involved making a case study of rural development in various rural areas in the Baltic countries. Students were split into several groups where each group contained students from different countries. This group of 4 students, from Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania and Nigeria had the task to visit the municipality of Vastseliina in south east Estonia to research the rural development in the era of green and silver economy. The main focus of this case study was to ask the question: „How can this area keep a sustainable employment rate for young people and what does the municipality of Vastseliina have to offer young people that want to live and work in the area“. Also we investigated, in regards to the silver economy, the backround and future plans for the local nursing home, which is being transferred from a 30 client facility to a large building with capacity of a 100 beds, in Vastseliina centre. With reference to the green economy we tried to find possible options in the region that could be developed in accordance to green policies. The group stayed in Võru, an urban area close to Vastseliina for 4 days and 3 nights. Every day Vastseliina was visited, key stakeholders were interviewed and questioned, data and information was gathered and the local town area observed. 3 2. DESCRIPTION OF VASTSELIINA RURAL MUNICIPALITY Vastseliina municipality is located in the south-eastern part of Võru county, near the Russian and Latvian borders (Figure 1). It is bordered with Meremäe, Lasva, Võru, Haanja and Misso rural municipalities (Võru county), Põlva county and Estonian-Russian border. From Vastseliina to Võru (capital of the county) is 24 km, Pihkva 75 km, Tallinn 285 km and Riga 250 km. Through the rural municipality goes Tallinn-Tartu-Võru-Luhamaa highway and there are 11 buslines that are going through the Vastseliina municipality, although the bus service is not so good between the villages. Figure 1. Location of Vastseliina rural municipality in Võru county. (Source: Vastseliina municipality web page) Vastseliina rural municipality area is 222,78 km2. There is one borough and 46 villages: • Vastseliina (municipality center); • Haava, Halla, Heinasoo, Hinniala, Hinsa, Holsta, Illi, Indra, Jeedasküla, Juraski, Kaagu, Kapera, Kerepäälse, Kirikumäe, Kornitsa, Kõo, Kõrve, Käpa, Külaoru, Kündja, Lindora, Loosi, Luhte, Mutsu, Mäe-Kõoküla, Möldri, Ortuma, Paloveere, Pari, Perametsa, Plessi, 4 Puutli, Raadi, Saarde, Savioja, Sutte, Tabina, Tallikeste, Tellaste, Tsolli, Vaarkali, Vana- Saaluse, Vana-Vastseliina, Vatsa, Viitka and Voki villages.The biggest villages are Vana-Vastseliina and Viitika. The highest density of residents per km2 is around Vastseliina borough (Figure 2.) Figure 2. Population density in Vastseliina rural municipality. (Source: Estonian Statistics web page) According to Estonian Statistics, in January 1st 2017 statistics there were 1937 residents in Vastseliina rural municipality and the population of Vastseliina rural municipality is decreasing (Figure 3). There is a rise in the statistics, but unfortunately it is caused by the new methodical change of population calculation in Estonian Statistics. What characterizes the population in Vastseliina, is that the population pyramid is constrictive (Figure 4) and the highest percentage of people are between ages 25-34 and 45-59. This means that in the future there will be a lot of elderly people in Vastseliina rural municipality and not a lot of young residents. 5 Figure 3. Population of Vastseliina rural municipality. (Source: Estonian Statistics web page) Figure 4. Population pyramid of Vastseliina rural municipality in 2017. (Source: Estonian Statistics web page) The rural municipality government is located in Vastseliina borough. In the borough you can find family doctor, dentist, pharmacy and there is a nursing home in Külaoru village. There is 6 one kindergarten, high school, youth center, culture house, music school and 3 libraries. You can do different sport activities in Vastseliina, for example play badminton or hockey, and there are different community clubs, like a sport club and handicraft club. The main economic activities are furniture- and wood industries, agriculture, forestry and tourism. You can also go berry picking and mushrooming during the end of the summer and skiing in winter. Vastseliina rural municipality environment and nature is created by Haanja Upland and it covers the whole municipality. The main landforms are domes and valleys and it is hard to find flat land in the area. There is also a river called Piusa, which starts from Perajärve lake and ends in Pihkva lake. In the valley of the river you can find marvelous sights. The biggest lake in the rural municipality is Kirikumäe (Picture 1), which is 61 ha and its depth is 2,8 meters. With the surrounding forests it creates a nature park. Picture 1. Kirikumäe lake. The main tourism attraction is Vastseliina Episcopal castle (Picture 2), which was built in 1342 near the frontiers of Old-Livonia and Pskov on the land of the Bishop of Tartu. It turned out to be a powerful border fortress and a place for pilgrims. In 1702, the castle was destroyed by the Russians. Today you can climb up to the remaining tower, light a candle and enjoy beautiful night concerts by the bonfire. Next to the castle is a tavern, which served as a resting point. In the 19th century there was a vodka factory and today there is a museum in the building. You can also take a look of the Vastseliina church and chapel and two memorials. 7 Picture 2. Vastseliina Episcopal castle ruins. The biggest event in Vastseliina rural municipality is “Maarahva Laat”, which is a fair that takes place in June. The main purpose of the fair is trading, but it is a good platform for businesses to advertise their products. It is also a good place for locals to have extra income. There is also a second fair “Lindora Laat” in October, which includes 3 municipalities and it is described as a meeting place for locals. Third event in Vastseliina is “Vana*Aja*Päev”, where people can see, how life was during the medieval times. 8 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE Traditional models of the modernization theory or paradigm had a more exogenous and sectoral approach to rural development but in recent times, it has been overtaken with a new rural development paradigm which is local, endogenous and integrated in nature (Guinjoan et al 2016). At the end of the World War II, modernization was the generally accepted as the right model for development and at the backdrop of that, societies needed to evolve from an irrational and technologically limited state to a rational and technologically advanced state. In contrast to urban areas, rural areas were perceived as backward, mainly serving the purpose of production while urban areas