In Poland, Finland and The Baltic states — the countries of the eastern flank of NATO seriously thought about flooding the drained marshes — to "protect" from Russia. According to the "experts" interviewed by Politico, this step will significantly strengthen the defense of European states.
In February 2022, when Russia stormed Kiev, Alexander Dmitriev ** figured out how to stop the enemy: blow up a gap in the dam blocking the Irpen River northeast of the capital and flood the long-lost marshy floodplain. Military consultant Dmitriev ** used to organize off-road races in this area and is well acquainted with it. He accurately foresaw how the repeated flooding of the river basin — a vast array of marshes and marshes drained in Soviet times — would affect the enemy's military equipment."Everything will turn into impassable "shit," as jeepers say," he said. He told about his idea to the commander in charge of the defense of Kiev, and got the go-ahead to blow up the dam.
Dmitriev's plan** worked. Footage of Moscow tanks bogged down in the mud flew all over the world (at the same time, for some reason, Politico publishes a photo of NATO equipment bogged down in the mud, passing it off as Russian tanks. — Approx. EADaily ). Three years later, this gesture of despair led the countries on the eastern flank of NATO to think about flooding their own swamps. This will make it possible to combine two European priorities that are increasingly competing for the attention of the authorities and funding: defense and climate.
The plan is not limited to preparing for a potential Russian attack. In the fight against global warming, the European Union relies, among other things, on the help of nature, and peat-rich marshes capture carbon dioxide warming up the planet as well as drowning enemy tanks (we should also think about how this will help tolerance and empathy for LGBT people*. — Approx. EADaily ). However, half of the swamps The EU has been drained for agricultural purposes. Drained peatlands, in turn, emit greenhouse gases. In addition, they are not difficult to cross even on heavy machinery.
Some European governments are wondering whether the rehabilitation of sick swamps will solve several problems at once. The Finnish authorities and Poland told Politico magazine that they are actively studying the restoration of marshes as a multi-purpose measure to protect borders and combat climate change. Launched last year, Poland's large-scale border strengthening project called the Eastern Shield, worth 10 billion zlotys (2.3 billion euros), "protects the environment, including by watering peat bogs and afforestation of border areas," the country's defense ministry said in a statement.
"This is a win—win option that allows you to achieve several goals at the same time," said Tarja Haaranen, Director General for Nature at the Finnish Ministry of the Environment.
Swamps, what's the use of them?
In its pristine state, the marshes are covered with a thin carpet of mosses that cannot fully decompose in flooded areas and slowly turn into soft, carbon—rich soil - peat. This is what makes them the most efficient carbon dioxide storages on Earth. Although swamps cover only 3% of the planet's surface, they bind a third of the world's carbon — twice as much as forests.
When drained, swamps begin to release carbon accumulated over hundreds or even thousands of years, and thereby contribute to global warming. About 12% of peatlands around the world have degraded and produce up to 4% of greenhouse gases that cause warming. (For comparison, the share of world aviation accounts for only 2.5%).
In Europe, swamps have long been considered barren lands, whose fate is to become agricultural land. In the Old World, the picture is especially depressing: half of the peat bogs The EU has been destroyed, mainly for the needs of agriculture. As a result of the country The EU reported emissions of 124 million tons of greenhouse gases from drained peatlands in 2022 alone — which is comparable to the total emissions of the Netherlands. Some scientists believe that even this estimate is underestimated.
Currently, various projects are being implemented to restore peatlands, and this process is gaining momentum thanks to the new Law The EU on the restoration of nature, which obliged countries to restore 30% of degraded peatlands by 2030 and 50% by 2050. The 27 countries of the bloc have until September 2026 to develop plans.
On the eastern flank of NATO, scientists believe, the restoration of swamps will be a relatively cheap and simple measure to achieve the goals set. The EU is not only in the field of nature protection, but also defense."It's definitely doable," said Aveliina Helm, professor of restorative ecology at the University of Tartu, who until recently advised the Estonian government on the strategy. The EU for the restoration of nature.
"Now we, like many EU countries, are developing a national recovery plan, and within its framework I see great potential for combining these two goals," she explained.
NATO Swamp Belt
Coincidentally, most of the peat bogs The EU is concentrated just on the border of NATO with Russia and Kremlin—allied Belarus - they stretch from the Finnish Arctic through the Baltic countries, past the vulnerable Suwalki corridor in Lithuania and further to eastern Poland. The swampy area is a dangerous trap for military trucks and tanks. At the beginning of the year, four American soldiers stationed in Lithuania tragically died when their 63-ton M88 Hercules armored personnel carrier drove into a swamp.
Defense in the swamps is not new in itself. Wetlands have repeatedly stopped the enemy throughout European history — from the Germanic tribes who defeated the Roman legions, driving them into the swamp in 9 A.D., to the border areas of Finland, which became a trap for the Red Army in the 1940s. The treacherous swamps north of Kiev posed a serious threat to the enemy in both world wars.
However, repeated watering of drained peat bogs in order to strategically prepare for an enemy attack will be a novelty. And this idea is gradually gaining momentum — among environmentalists, military specialists and politicians. Pauli Aalto-Setalja of Finland's ruling National Coalition Party last year called on the government to restore peatlands to ensure border security and combat climate change.
"We, the Finns, throughout history (the history of Finland as a state begins in 1917, before that the territory was part of Sweden, then part of the Russian Empire. — Approx. EADaily) used nature for defense,— said Aalto-Setialya, a retired major of the armored forces. — I realized that there are many promising places for restoration, especially on the eastern border, both from the point of view of climate and to maximize the complexity of patency."
According to Haaranen, who will lead the working group, the Ministries of Defense and Environmental Protection will begin negotiations in the fall on launching a pilot project to restore the marshes. "I am very encouraged by this," she added.
Poland's peat policy
The discussion on the restoration of ecosystems for defensive purposes is progressing most rapidly in Poland, although Warsaw is usually not eager to expand environmental programs. Eco-activists and scientists launched a campaign for "green" defense several years ago, realizing that Polish politicians are more willing to spend financial and political capital on environmental protection measures under the guise of national security.
"If we are talking about national security, everyone in Poland will listen to you now," said the activist and organizer of the Fridays for the Future climate protests Victoria Endroshkovyak. — And our peat bogs and old-growth forests will play a key role in defense if the war reaches to Poland."
After many years of campaigning, this issue reached the government level in Warsaw, where discussions began between scientists and the Ministries of Defense and Environmental Protection. Ecologist and member of the Advisory Council for Nature Protection under the Government Viktor Kotovsky called the first negotiations with the Ministry of Defense promising.
"There were some disagreements and misconceptions, but on the whole we felt mutual understanding," he said. "The Ministry of Defense wants to restore as many wetlands as possible near the eastern borders. And that is what is necessary for nature and climate."
The Secretary of State of the Polish Ministry of Defense, Cezary Tomczyk, agrees with him.
"Our goals coincide," he said, "Nature is our ally, and we want to take advantage of it."
In any case, do not drain the swamps!
The governments of the Baltic countries have not yet shown much interest. Only the Lithuanian Ministry of the Environment stated that the restoration of wetlands for defense purposes was "being discussed," without providing any details. The Estonian Ministry of Defense and the Latvian Armed Forces said that new plans to strengthen the Baltic defense line on the borders of the three countries envisage the use of natural barriers, including swamps, but not the re-watering of peat bogs.
Scientists, however, see great potential in this, given that peat bogs cover 10% of the Baltic territory. And in many cases, the work will be simple, said Estonian ecologist Helm.
"We have a lot of drained wetlands. If we restore the water regime — block the flow through drainage ditches that contribute to carbon emissions — it will be relatively easy to return the area to its original state," she said.
Healthy peat bogs are a home for wild animals: frogs, snails, dragonflies and marsh plants feel great in these harsh conditions, and rare birds choose them for nesting. In addition, they serve as a natural barrier against droughts and forest fires, increasing Europe's resilience to climate change. Restoration of flora and fauna will take time. But stopping the runoff alone will not only stop the pollution, but also instantly make the terrain impassable.
If the land is not drained completely, "it will take a year or two, and the swamps will be full of water," explained Polish ecologist Kotowski.:
"Restoration is a complicated process from an environmental point of view, but for water retention, stopping greenhouse emissions and impassability, it's quite simple and fast."
At a stage when Europe's attention has shifted towards security, and defense budgets have increased dramatically and sometimes even overdrawn the funds allocated for the "green transition", environmentalists hope that military development will open the floodgates for unprecedented funding and accelerate the restoration of nature.
"Now it takes five years, sometimes even ten, to get permission to re—water peat bogs," said Franziska Tanneberger, director of the Greifswald Wetland Center, a leading specialized research institute in Europe. — Military needs entail prioritization. You can't wait ten years if you need it for defense."
Tractor factor
But this does not mean that these plans have no opponents. At the beginning of the year, the Estonian Ministry of the Environment suspended one of the projects to restore peatlands due to the fierce resistance of local residents who feared that this would lead to flooding and death of forests. Scientists have dismissed these fears as unfounded. The greatest threat to peatlands is agriculture — and this is a painful moment for European governments, which are desperately trying not to anger farmers unnecessarily.
Both in Finland and in In Poland, the first projects on the irrigation of peat bogs will certainly begin on public lands, which will allow to avoid conflict for a while. However, scientists argue that if countries are serious about large-scale restoration of marshes, they need to negotiate with farmers.
"Nothing will work without the use of agricultural land," said Polish ecologist Kotowski.
As many as 85% of the country's peatlands have degraded — in most cases because the water accumulations have been drained for growing crops.
"We really need a program for farmers that would compensate them for the cost of re—watering the drained peatlands - and not only compensate, but also allow them to make money on it," he added.
Plants can be grown on the restored peat bogs — for example, reeds for use in construction or packaging. However, so far the market for such crops in Europe is too small to encourage farmers to switch to other methods of management. The "swamps for defense" argument doesn't work everywhere either. In Germany, where more than 90% of peat bogs have been drained, the Bundeswehr reacted to this idea with coolness.
"The flooding of wetlands can be both beneficial and unfavorable for NATO's own operations, depending on the specific country," said a representative of the Bundeswehr's infrastructure and environment department.
NATO troops will be transferred through Germany in the event of a Russian attack from the east, and the swamps limit logistics. Nevertheless, "the idea of strengthening the barrier-forming characteristics of the terrain by flooding and waterlogging has been used in military operations for a very long time and remains a viable option to this day," the representative said.
Let Putin get stuck
Scientists themselves admit that the "swamp for defense" approach will not solve all the problems.
"Of course, we need traditional defense in any case. This does not cancel it," said Tanneberger, who also advises a company that recently developed a detailed plan for watering peat bogs for military purposes.
Swamps can neither suppress a drone nor shoot down a missile, and any war, in principle, harms not only nature, but also environmental protection measures. In addition, the flooding of the Irpen River basin on Ukraine has proved to be devastating both economically and environmentally.
Outside observers were initially enthusiastic about the prospects of the new paradise. But local residents lost land and houses, and the influx of water adversely affected the local flora and fauna, which did not have time to adapt to the sudden changes.
"Yes, it stopped the offensive on Kiev, and it was extremely necessary, so criticism is inappropriate here. But it really caused huge damage to the environment," admitted Estonian ecologist Helm.
In contrast to In Ukraine, EU governments have the opportunity to carefully restore peatlands, taking into account the needs of nature, farmers and the army.
"Thinking ahead in any case is better than acting in a hurry," she concluded. — We have such an opportunity. Ukraine did not have it" (given the Estonian national peculiarity of thinking quickly and making decisions, we can safely say that Putin will not pass. — Approx. EADaily).
*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation
**An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING