Environment minister criticized for sidelining locals on forest rewetting

Following talks, Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt (Reform) announced that the Ministry of Climate will move forward with forest rewetting plans and convene a cooperation body regarding Kikepera Nature Reserve. According to Saarde Municipal Council deputy chair Kadri-Aija Viik, however, he still hasn't found time to hear out local opinions.
The Estonian state's plan to begin restoring bogs and other wetlands drew a critical response, and on May 12, Sutt promised to hit pause on the plan, communicate with locals and then decide from there what would happen next.
In an opinion piece published by ERR on Thursday, however, Sutt confirmed that the restoration of wetland forests would in fact continue, but with consideration given to local communities. One of the areas the state wants to rewet is Kikerpera Nature Reserve in Pärnu County.
According to Viik, the municipality sent Sutt an invitation to meet on May 14 already, and at a brief preliminary meeting, Sutt had agreed to hear out all parties, including the community and municipality, during the pause.
Saarde Municipal Council and municipal government also submitted an appeal to the government and the Riigikogu, as they believe the number of compensation areas and drastic changes potentially affecting Saarde Municipality is simply too high.
"On top of the Kikerpera Waterlands project, we have 4,500 hectares of Rail Baltica compensation areas likewise slated to be rewetted," Viik pointed out. "We have offshore wind farm cable routes, we have major developments and discussions underway related to other wind farms and special planning. It's all just too much for one small municipality like Saarde."
She said that the municipality had expected someone to reach out and tell them how they're supposed to move forward in their community with their existing revenue base, adding that they had hoped for a bit of support from the state. Unfortunately, no such meeting with the municipality has taken place, and Sutt hasn't responded to the meeting request sent in mid-May either.
Municipality wants expert assessments
The local leader noted that the first the municipality heard about the rewetting project going forward was in the news on Thursday.
In his opinion piece, Sutt repeatedly used the word "occupation" in reference to the destruction wrought during Estonia's occupation period. According to Viik, however, the municipality feels that if they're not being taken into account — and not even deemed worth hearing out — then they, too, feel that this amounts, in its own way, to an occupation.
The rewetting project raises a number of questions for the municipality. A meeting was recently held to discuss the matter, and they would like answers to the issues that came up there as well.
"We want an expert assessment, and the municipal council will likely also want an environmental impact assessment, because it's a very large area," Viik noted. "If environmental impact assessments are conducted for all kinds of things many times smaller than this, then it's unclear why one wouldn't be done for this."
But first, the municipality expects the minister to keep his word, get in touch with them and hear out all parties involved.
"We believe we at least deserve to have this topic discussed with us," the deputy municipal council chair said.
Sutt was unavailable for comment to ERR Friday.
On Thursday, the minister said that the questions and concerns raised involving the Kikerpera bog have been justified and will be substantively addressed.
He said the Environmental Board will establish a local cooperation body in the area to facilitate communication between local communities and the state on nature conservation-related matters. This body is to meet regularly over the long term, and in the coming years and decades, will serve as a forum for addressing all nature conservation-related issues.
To date, more than 23,000 hectares of bogs and wetland forests have been restored in Estonia.
According to the Ministry of Climate, nearly one-third of Estonia's forest land — around 750,000 hectares — has been drained over time. Thus far, water regime restoration work has been carried out on about 0.5 percent of this drained forest land, with plans in place for restoration work on another 1.5 percent.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Aili Vahtla