The plan to rewet a number of areas is currently on hold while decisions are being made, Sutt said.

"In any interaction with nature it is [crucial] that we achieve diversity and biodiversity. And, of course, it's equally important that we are able to explain that to the local community and to the public. We have had one discussion with the team at the [climate] ministry and the plan now is to take some time out and review these activities," Sutt explained.

For example, in the Kikepera nature reserve, which is predominantly in Pärnu County, the state has plans to close ditches on 3,100 hectares and rewet the area. Both local residents and the Saarde Municipality are generally opposed to the plan. The locals are concerned about the permeability of the roads and increased risk of flooding in the area. The municipality will not accept the sinking of an estimated one million cubic meters of timber.

"The local community is very familiar with this example from Pärnu County. We will go and ask more questions about where and what needs to be clarified. After that we can decide how to proceed. This seems like a sensible way forward at the moment," said Sutt.

According to Sutt, it is not possible to say at this stage what might happen to the Kikepera project. "That's why we are taking this time out, so we can take a look at, I can get a clear picture and then we can make the next decisions," the minister said.

The Kikepera project is not the only plan to restore peatlands or wet forest habitats in the works. Mart Kiis, head of the biodiversity protection department at the Ministry of Climate, told ERR that EU structural funds will be used to restore a total of 9,400 hectares of wet forests, bogs and rivers between 2021 and 2029, with €13.8 million allocated by the EU. Almost €1 million of this has been paid out already.

In addition, €1.1 million from Horizon 2000 Waterlands will be used to restore wet forests, €3.4 million from Life AdaptEst and €2 million from Life Natural Estonia.

This €6.6 million come from EU funds, Kiis said, adding that most of the money for this purpose comes from external sources. Estonian state funds are only used for compulsory co-financing and that also comes from the State Forest Management Center's (RMK) budget.

According to Sutt, due to the large number of projects, a holistic approach is necessary. "So that we move at a smart and reasonable pace and so things are clear and clearly communicated," he said.

"At the moment, I just want us to take some time out. Let's talk things through and move forward in a way that is good for the community and good for nature. I think that is all possible," he explained.

Kiis: Stand-off with Saarde Municipality unprecedented

Kiis pointed out that 20 years of experience show that the local concerns raised in Pärnu County are unfounded.

"While the restoration of open bogs does indeed change the landscape, widening it, the restoration of peat bog forests has not resulted in the loss of forests – although the latter process does lead to a change in the forest's silhouette – peat bog forests are inherently thinner. It should also be stressed that the changes in the landscape, which at the time of restoration seem very abrupt to the onlooker, will subside over the coming years as nature recovers," Kiis said.

Between 2015 and 2021, a peatland restoration project was carried out with the aim of restoring the pre-drainage status of peatlands in different protected areas. The restoration areas covered approximately 7,500 hectares of peatlands. All the areas were state-owned and located in nature reserves.

Regarding the Kikepera nature reserve, Kiis said more than 1,900 hectares of peatlands have already been restored there since 2015 and that the areas in question are currently adjacent to the restoration sites.

"We can say that the condition of the roads has not deteriorated since the works were carried out and that this is unlikely to happen with the implementation of the ongoing wet forest project. The drying out of trees following the work conducted to date has been limited. All risks have been assessed on the basis of thorough modelling and minimized. There is also no reason to fear flooding. When the Kikepera nature reserve's current forest restoration project began, the local community could not point to any examples of how the work already done had negatively affected their lives," said Kiis.

Kiis added that the restoration of bogs an bog forest state-owned land has been going on for more than 15 years in all Estonian counties, and that the kind of opposition that is now appearing in Pärnu County has never been seen before.

"This kind of opposition has only developed with representatives of the Saarde Municipality. Agreement has always been reached with other communities and in several cases the closure of ditches that are important to the local people has been abandoned. We are always ready to compromise to find the best solution for the area," said Kiis.

To date, more than 23,000 hectares of bogs and peatlands have been restored in Estonia. Nearly a third of all forest land in Estonia, or almost 750,000 hectares, has been drained over time, the climate ministry said. Water regime restoration work has so far been carried out on around 0.5 percent of the drained forest land, and there are plans to restore water regimes on a further 1.5 percent.

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