Editing Geography of Estonia (section)

==Environmental issues==
{{See also|Protected areas of Estonia}}
[[File:Suur-Pakri - kaugpommitajate polügoon.JPG|thumb|The Soviet army used the [[Pakri Islands]] as sites for aerial bombardment. The collection and destruction of thousands of Soviet explosive devices was mostly complete by 1997.]]
One of the most burdensome legacies of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia is widespread environmental pollution.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Auer, M.R., [[Anto Raukas|Raukas, A.]] (2002). Determinants of environmental cleanup in Estonia. ''Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy'', 20: 679–698.</ref> The worst offender in this regard was the Soviet army.<ref name=":0" /> Across military installations covering more than {{Convert|800|km2}} of Estonian territory, the army dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of jet fuel into the ground, improperly disposed of toxic chemicals, and discarded outdated explosives and weapons in coastal and inland waters.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1990s, during the army's withdrawal from Estonia, extensive damage was done to discarded buildings and equipment.<ref name=":0" /> In October 1993, the Estonian Ministry of Environment issued a preliminary report summing up part of the degradation it had surveyed thus far.<ref name=":0" /> The report described the worst damage as having been done to Estonia's topsoil and underground water supply by the systematic dumping of jet fuel at six Soviet army air bases.<ref name=":0" /> At the air base near Tapa, site of the worst damage, officials estimated that {{Convert|6|km2}} of land were covered by a layer of fuel; {{Convert|11|km2}} of underground water were said to be contaminated.<ref name=":0" /> The water in the surrounding area was undrinkable, and was sometimes set fire by locals to provide heat during the winter.<ref name=":0" /> With Danish help, Estonian crews began cleaning up the site, although they estimated the likely cost to be as much as 4 million [[Estonian kroon|EEK]].<ref name=":0" /> The Ministry of Environment assigned a monetary cost of more than 10 billion EEK to the damage to the country's topsoil and water supply.<ref name=":0" /> However, the ministry was able to allocate only 5 million EEK in 1993 for cleanup operations.<ref name=":0" />

In a 1992 government report to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, Estonia detailed other major environmental concerns.<ref name=":0" /> For instance, for several consecutive years Estonia had led the world in the production of sulfur dioxide per capita.<ref name=":0" /> Nearly 75% of Estonia's [[air pollution]] was reported to come from [[Narva Power Plants|two oil shale-based thermal power stations operating near Narva]].<ref name=":0" /> The [[Oil shale in Estonia|mining of oil shale]] in northeastern Estonia has also left large mounds of limestone [[tailings]] dotting the region.<ref name=":0" /> Near the town of [[Sillamäe]], site of a former uranium enrichment plant, about 1,200 tons of uranium and about 750 tons of thorium had been dumped into a reservoir on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.<ref name=":0" /> This was said to have caused severe health problems among area residents.<ref name=":0" /> In the coastal town of Paldiski, the removal of waste left by Soviet army nuclear reactors was also a major concern.<ref name=":0" /> The combined cost of environmental cleanup at both towns was put at more than EEK3.5 billion.<ref name=":0" />

'''Natural hazards:''' flooding occurs frequently in the spring in certain areas'''<ref name=":1" />'''

'''Environment – current issues:''' air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; however, the amounts of pollutants emitted to the air have fallen dramatically and the pollution load of wastewater at purification plants has decreased substantially due to improved technology and environmental monitoring; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas need to be monitored; coastal seawater is polluted in certain locations.'''<ref name=":1" />'''

'''Environment – international agreements:'''<br />
''party to:'' Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, [[Biodiversity]], Climate Change, Climate Change-[[Kyoto Protocol]], Climate Change-[[Paris Agreement]], [[Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty|Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban]], [[Desertification]], Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, [[Law of the Sea]], Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling'''<ref name=":1" />'''