Several million euros will be needed, but between now and 2050 Estonia wants to restore at least 25 thousand hectares of peatlands: marshy environments, characteristic of the Nordic territory, which over time have been undermined by the anthropization of these places. After having already invested more than 40 million to restore some compromised peatlands, now with the support of the EU, Tallinn wants to return to its origins pushing for environmental recovery.

Restoration of peatlands is costly, but according to Estonia’s insights, it has already had a positive impact on biodiversity and the climate.

“Among terrestrial ecosystems, peatlands and swamp forests are the largest and only net fixers of carbon in the long term, extracting it from the carbon cycle and depositing it in peat“, explained Antti Tooming, Deputy Secretary-General for Biodiversity and Environmental Protection at the Ministry of Agriculture, to ERR.

“However, this is only possible as long as the peat remains moist. In peatlands and swampy forests, the water regime is disrupted by drainage, the carbon stored in the peat layer is released, and the dry peat layer becomes a source of carbon emissions. In addition to the positive impact on biodiversity, restoring the natural character of wetlands is therefore also important in the context of climate change“.

Estonia has more than 1.38 million hectares of reclaimed land. In terms of economic impact, it has been estimated that every euro invested in wetland restoration can generate a return of between €8 and €38 as future savings on environmental restoration costs.