“Estonian Environmental Review 2009” is an English translation from last year’s publication “Keskkonnaülevaade 2009”. This overview provides information about the state of the environment of Estonia, focusing on the period of 2003-2007.
Although the population of Estonia is constantly decreasing, the pressure exerted on the environment has increased. It is reflected especially clearly in 2007 data in connection with the recent construction and consumption boom.
Compared to the 1990s, when there was a decreasing trend for pollutant discharges, the situation is somewhat different in 2000s. An increasing use of natural resources, including the mining of sand, gravel and limestone used in the construction industry, as well as the growth in fuel and energy consumption has had a negative impact on the environment. Several environmental problems are caused by the abrupt growth in production and consumption of shale oil and oil shale based energy, generating substances that contaminate the air, soil and water. Mining of the oil shale and other natural resources affects the wildlife by destroying habitats and disturbing the life of species.
As a positive trend in recent years, funding environmental conservation measures and investments have proved to be effective in reducing the environmental burden. For example, stringent deadlines for drinking water, as well as for wastewater treatment plants and sewerage systems are imposed by the European Union, as a result of which a remarkable amount of money collected from environmental charges have been used to comply with the requirements for water management. Significant investments have also been allocated to meet the requirements applied for landfills and waste deposition.
The environmental review is published by the Estonian Environment Information Centre (EEIC). EEIC also participates in producing the European Environment State and Outlook Report 2010 (SOER 2010). SOER 2010 will be the report on the current state of the environment in Europe produced by the European Environment Agency. The data presented in SOER 2010 will enable the reader to compare Estonia with other European countries.
“Estonian Environmental Review 2009” is an e-publication, you can download it here:
http://www.keskkonnainfo.ee/publications/4263_PDF.pdf
More information:
Karmen Kaukver
Estonian Environment Information Centre
Editor
e-mail: karmen.kaukver@.envir.ee
Phone: +372 673 6620