Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T19:57:44.596Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Greening of Estonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Arthur H. Westing
Arthur H. Westing
Affiliation:
International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Fuglehauggata 11, N-0260 Oslo, Norway; also Adjunct Professor of Ecology, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The environment and natural resources of Estonia (area 45,000 km2, population c. 1.5 million) are described: Estonia is a flat country of which 40% is forested (managed on a sustained-yield basis), 20% is covered by peat bogs (widely cut for agricultural purposes and fuel), and 22% is under cultivation, often on drained land (largely growing grain for livestock). Rich deposits of oil-shale (used for fuel, etc.) and phosphorite (used for fertilizer, etc.) are exploited, especially in the north-east. Both of these resources are to a large extent strip-mined, causing enormous local surface disruption and more widespread water and air pollution— especially so in the case of the phosphorite extraction. Estonia has, however, recently been able to prevent a planned expansion of phosphorite exploitation.

About 3% of Estonia is set aside as Nature reserves, including some wetlands of international importance. Environmental protection is an important item on Estonia's agenda; the prognosis is quite favourable, not only because of a commendable population density, but also in large part (as there is considerable evidence to suggest) because the population has a keenly-developed Nature ethic of long standing.

Information

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , Winter 1988, pp. 299 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Čeřovský, J. (1988). Nature Conservation in the Socialist Countries of East Europe (2nd edn). Czechoslovak Ministry of Culture, Prague, Czechoslovakia: 116 pp.Google Scholar
Gorbachev, M. (1987). Reality and guarantees for a secure world. New Times (Moscow), 1987(39), pp. 3–6.Google Scholar
IUCN (1985). 1985 United Nations List of National Parks and Protected Areas (3rd edn). International Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland, 174 pp.Google Scholar
Kaasik, T.O. [Kaazik, T.O.] (1987). On ways to maintain the equilibrium between economic development and the environment in the Estonian SSR. Environmental Management in the USSR (Moscow), 6, pp. 95–103.Google Scholar
Kärblane, H. (1987). [Will also only 1% of the phosphorus to be mined at Rakvere be assimilated by plants ?] (in Estonian with English summary). Eesti Loodus (Tartu), 30, pp. 500–4, 542.Google Scholar
Köörna, A. (1986). Science Serving the People. Perioodika, Tallinn, Estonia, USSR: 71 pp.Google Scholar
Linnamägi, V. (1977). [10th five year plan and environmental protection] (in Estonian with English summary). Eesti Loodus (Tartu), 20, pp. 295–300, 334–35.Google Scholar
Made, T. (1988). Green for survival. Kodumaa [English-language edition] (Tallinn), 1988(25), p. 2.Google Scholar
New Scientist (1987). Estonians challenge Kremlin over mineral deposits. New Scientists (London), 115 (1572). p. 21.Google Scholar
Pallok, V. & Vihalem, M. (1983). [Contribution of planners to environmental protection] (in Estonian with English summary). Eesti Loodus (Tartu), 26, pp. 346–51, 414.Google Scholar
Raukas, A. (Ed.) (1986). Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. Eesti Raamat, Tallinn, Estonia: 43 pp.Google Scholar
Rich, V. (1985). Estonian radioactivity: lax handling of Soviet fuel. Nature (London) 317, p. 9.Google Scholar
Sauks, H. (1977). [Law protects nature now and in the future] (in Estonian with English summary). Eesti Loodus (Tartu). 20. pp. 278–81, 334.Google Scholar
Siilivask, K. (Ed.) (1985). History of Tartu University, 1632–1982. Perioodika, Tallinn, Estonia: 293 pp. + pl.Google Scholar
Taagepera, M. (1981). Pollution of the environment and the Baltics. Journal of Baltic Studies (Hackettstown, NJ). 12, pp. 260–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taagepera, M. (1983). Ecological problems in Estonia. Journal of Baltic Studies (Hackettstown, NJ), 14, pp. 307–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taagepera, R. (1981). Population crisis and the Baltics. Journal of Baltic Studies (Hackettstown, NJ), 12, pp. 234–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taagepera, R. (1986). Citizens' peace movement in the Soviet Baltic republics. Journal of Peace Research (Oslo), 23, pp. 183–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of State (1984). Baltic States: US Policy. Bureau of Public Affairs, US Department of State, Washington. DC, USA: 2 pp.Google Scholar
Valt, L. (Ed.) (1980). Soviet Estonia: Land, People, Culture. Valgus, Tallinn, Estonia: 419 pp. + 16 pl. + 1 map.Google Scholar
Vanatoa, E. (1987). Estonian SSR: a Reference Book. Perioodika. Tallinn, Estonia: 31 pp.Google Scholar
Varep, E. & Maavara, W. (Eds) (1984). Eesti Maastikud [Estonian landscapes] (in Estonian with English summaries). Eesti Raamat, Tallinn, Estonia: 183 pp.Google Scholar
Veiderma, M. & Paalme, G. (1987). [Mineral resources of the Pandivere upland] (in Estonian with English summary). Eesti Loodus (Tartu), 30, pp. 355–9, 414.Google Scholar
Westing, A.H. (1981). World in balance. Environmental Conservation, 8(3), pp. 177–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westing, A.H. (1986). Environmental factors in strategic policy and action: an overview. Pp. 3–20 in Global Resources and International Conflict: Environmental Factors in Strategic Policy and Action (Ed. Westing, A.H.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK: xii + 280 pp.Google Scholar
Westing, A.H. (1988). Constraints on military disruption of the biosphere: an overview. (Ed. Westing, A.H.). Pp. 1–17 in Cultural Norms, War and the Environment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. UK: xiv + 177 pp.Google Scholar