?? photo 1: © Henrik Lukk courtesy of Estonian Fund for Nature Baltic archipelago Estonia Bordering the shores of the Baltic The area covered by forests and pressure and intensive forestry prac- Sea and the Gulf of Finland, and woodlands has almost doubled in size tices are causing Estonia’s old growth sharing borders with Russia to the during the past half-century as a result forests to rapidly diminish. east and Latvia to the southwest, of land abandonment and disruption landscapes in Estonia range from of traditional agricultural practices, Bog land a plethora of Baltic Sea islands and both under Soviet rule and since the endless coastal areas to continental fall of the Iron Curtain. Forests now Because much of the land in Estonia landscapes traced by rivers, streams cover nearly half of Estonia’s surface is flat and wet, large land areas are and other inland waterways. area – one of the highest densities of unsuitable for agriculture. Particularly forest cover in Europe. under the Soviet system of collective agriculture, many of the most produc- Baltic archipelago The forests, mostly dry pine and tem- tive agricultural areas were intensively For such a small country, measuring perate spruce, provide havens for an scarcely 240 km from tip to toe, Esto- abundance of wildlife, including rela- nia has a remarkably long coastline tively large numbers of bears, lynx Area: 45,226 km² (approximately stretching a total of 3,794 km. The and wolves. Though rare and strictly the size of The Netherlands or exceptional length is mostly due to the protected in other parts of Europe, Denmark). these carnivores are still relatively more than 1,500 islands that belong to Terrain: marshy, lowlands; flat in plentiful in Estonia (100-250 wolves; the country. The largest of the islands, the north, hilly in the south. Baltic 400-600 brown bears; and as many Saaremaa (2,900 km²) and Hiiumaa, Coast with archipelago of islands. separate the Gulf of Riga from the as 1,000 lynx). Beavers and otter are Baltic Sea. New islets and coastal also relatively common. Large, uninter- Elevation extremes: lowest wetlands are created by a constant rupted tracts of old forests are also point: Baltic Sea 0 m, highest land rise of up to 3 mm per year. home to flying squirrels and black point: Suur Munamagi 318 m. storks, which unlike their white cous- Land use: arable land: 25 %, Estonia’s archipelago, together with ins shun contact with humans, prefer- permanent crops: 0 %, permanent the coastal areas of the mainland, ring the seclusion of deep forests. pastures: 11 %, forests and wood- serve as major stop-over sites for Unfortunately, intensifying economic migrating birds. An estimated 50 mil- land: 44 %, other: 20 %, especially lion water and coastal bogs and wetlands (1996 est.). birds use these Protected areas: 4 National attractive coastal Parks and 10 Nature Reserves wetlands on their (217 protected areas). 1 inter- way to and from the nationally recognised biosphere arctic each spring (West Estonian Islands Biosphere and fall. Almost the Reserve). whole population of Population: 1,423,316 (July 10-20,000 Berwick’s 2001 est.) – approximately one Swans pass through tenth of that in The Netherlands. Estonia. Other bird Population density ca. 33 km2. species include huge flocks of Common Capital: Tallinn – population photo 2: © WWF/Mauri Rautkari Cranes. 365,305. Cold War dividend For further information farmed using heavy chemical inputs. But many other areas remained Soviet rule of Estonia left a mixed contact: relatively untouched. As a result, bogs, environmental legacy. About a tenth wooded meadows, wetland forests of the country’s territory, particularly Estonian Fund and several other landscape types that sensitive coastal areas, was clas- for Nature for the most part have been destroyed sified as a restricted military zone. P.O. Box 245 in the rest of Europe, have survived in The Soviet military indiscriminately Tartu 50002 Estonia relatively unscathed. dumped toxic and hazardous waste Estonia Tel.: +372 7 428 443 [email protected] www.elfond.ee Useful links: Estonian Ministry of the Environment www.envir.ee Estonian Environment Information Center photo 3: © WWF-Canon/Mauri Rautkari www.envir.ee/itk Wooded meadows with poor soils in some areas, leaving behind a series Estonian Fund for Nature on limestone bedrock contain some of environmental “hotspots” with con- www.elfond.ee of the greatest diversity of plant com- taminated soil and groundwater. At the munities in Europe. The main threat same time, though, restricted access Regional Environmental to many of the semi-natural meadows, to large areas of the country had the Center Estonia which are valuable habitats for a wide beneficial effect of preserving many www.recestonia.ee variety of flora as well as for migrating natural features. After the collapse of birds, is undermanagement and aban- the Soviet Union, many of these areas, Estonian State donment, rather than overexploitation. including much of the coastline, were of the Environment transformed into protected areas. As Wetlands cover about a fifth of the nfp-ee.eionet.eu.int/SoE/ a result, large stretches of the Esto- country. Many of the rivers remain index_en.htm nian coastline have been relatively in a relatively natural state and serve untouched, though development pres- as excellent feeding and breeding Soomaa National Park sure is now growing. grounds for waterfowl and fish alike. www.soomaa.ee/ Estonia is probably the principal As in a number of other Central and ?setlang=eng breeding ground for the Corncrake Eastern European countries, the (Crex crex), a bird that is threatened beginning of the environmental move- Estonia – Wide Web portal elsewhere in Europe. ment in Estonia is closely connected www.ee/www/Regions/ with the country’s movement for inde- Marshes and bogs, concentrated in welcome.html pendence from the Soviet Union in the central and eastern parts of the the 1980s. Protests directed against country, presently take up 6 % of the Estonian the planned opening of phosphorite country’s territory. Soomaa National Ecotourism Association mines in the late 1980s led to the Park, known as the “bog land”, is www.ecotourism.ee “Singing Revolution” that eventually home to impressive bogs with peat ended in Estonian independence. layers as much as seven metres thick. Estonia – Nature and sights Many valuable wetland areas were Today, one of the chief environmental www.vm.ee/estonia/ damaged by drainage for agriculture concerns facing Estonia is connected kat_207/1169.html in the early Soviet period. No major with the country’s continuing heavy drainage projects have been carried dependence on oil-shale, found in out for more than a decade, but pres- the north-east of the country, for its sure from the peat extraction industry energy needs. Reliance on oil-shale, remains a threat to many areas. which is a major source of pollution Photo 1: Alam-Pedja River. to the air, water and soils, is planned to be steadily reduced as part of the Photo 2: Northern Estonia. country’s accession to the European Photo 3: Baltic seashore Union. in northern Estonia. Author: Andreas Beckmann, 2003. Layout: [email protected] | Produced with support from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Environment and Water / 2003 with support | Produced Ministryand Water the Austrian from Federal Environment [email protected] Forests, of Agriculture, Beckmann, 2003. Layout: Author: Andreas.