ESTONIA

Environmental Overview
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Blessed and cursed by unique resources

Estonia has a sparse human population and a wealth of rare species and natural resources, but one of these resources -- oil-shale -- has proven to be as much of an environmental curse as it is an an economic boon. The country faces the environmental challenges of moving to cleaner energy production for the future while dealing with past pollution.

Despite the small size of the country, the Estonian natural environment is unique in many aspects. The Baltic Sea has played a great role in the development of climatic conditions, flora and fauna. The great number of islets and islands, rivers and lakes, hills and wetlands provide a diversity of habitats. Relief forms created by glaciation, oil-shale denudation and excellent examples of meteoritic craters can be found here.

Ornithologists know western Estonia as a bird migration area of international importance. Extensive wetlands and forest areas in eastern parts of Estonia are home to large wild mammals, like brown bears, lynx and wolves. Several plant and animal species that have become extinct in more industrialised countries are still in abundance here. Of the country's total area, one third is agricultural land, one third is forest, one fifth cultivated meadows and one eighth undrained mires.

Like other countries in the region, development exerts pressure on Estonia’s natural environment, but, with a population of less than 1.5 million and total area of 45,227 square kilometres, the area of land in Estonia covered by human construction is relatively low when compared to other European countries. And surveys reported by environmental officials show that the area of cultivated land in Estonia actually decreased between 1990 and 1995, as agricultural production declined during the first years of independence.

Over the last decade, Estonian territory under government protection has gradually increased. The country now has four national parks and 217 protected areas. Furthermore, the West Estonian Islands Biosphere Reserve has international protected status.

Despite its rich biodiversity, Estonia is also a country, where a number of complicated environmental problems are waiting for solution. Major economic sectors that use the largest amounts of natural resources and cause significant impact on the environment are:

The most severe impact to nature has occurred in the North- Eastern part of Estonia, around Narva, due to oil-shale mining and burning of oil-shale for energy. The availability of oil-shale as a resource has made Estonia’s energy system independent from neighbouring countries, but burning massive quantities of oil-shale has also severely increased the pollution of atmosphere, surface and groundwater.

The city of Narva, which is home to several oil-shale power plants, produces more air pollution than all of the rest of Estonia combined. Pollutants of primary importance include SO2 and flue ash emissions, but untreated wastewater discharge is also a problem. This pollution poses a considerable health hazard in the local area, and also in the nearby marine habitat of the Gulf of Finland.

The National Environmental Strategy (NES), which was adopted by the Parliament on March 12, 1997, sets policy goals for environmental protection in Estonia. On the basis of these policy goals, the National Environmental Action Plan was put together in 1998. Some of the most serious environmental issues identified in the NES include:

In recent years, the priority environmental issues have been water management, and the construction and renovation of municipal wastewater treatment plants, sewers and pumping houses. Air pollution reduction has also remained an important issue and as a full party to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change from 1994, Estonia is now committed to reducing its CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2010. This is an area that will most likely increase in importance during the coming years.