Ecotourism
Estonia

Owing to abundant precipitation and slight run-off, Estonia is rich in wetlands. There are some 165 000 marshes greater than one hectare in area, of which 132 peatlands are larger than 1000 ha. The total area of marshes and swamp forests measures 1 009 101 ha which is over one fifth (22.3 per cent) of the country’s territory. Only Estonia’s northern neighbour, Finland, has a higher percentage (31) of peatland.  

Approximately two thirds of the marshes in Estonia began as lakes which were gradually turned into quagmires by the spreading shoreline vegetation. The rest of Estonian swamps were formed by an opposite process, the paludification of mineral land.  

The oldest marshes have an age of about 10 000 years, more intensive paludification started 8 500-8 000 years ago, whereas the intensive terrestrialisation of lakes began only about 6 500 years ago.  

Starting from nutrient rich fens and evolving through the transitional marshes, the development of a swamp finds its final form in a raised marsh, a bog — an amazingly autonomous and resilient ecosystem. A bog consists mainly of peat mosses (Sphagnum) which get all the minerals they need from precipitation and dust particles.