Image 1: Piret Pungas-Kohv, Estonian Fund for Nature, presents on WaterLANDS project (Credit: Anna Birgitta Erikson)
In celebration of World Wetlands Day on 2 February 2026, partners from our Estonian Action Site hosted a Wetlands Day Conference in Pärnu. The conference was organized by the Estonian Fund for Nature, the University of Tartu, and the Environmental Committee of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. It was co-funded by the European Union (AdapEST and WaterLANDS projects).
The 2026 conference was subtitled “Ah, the bog!” and focused on the most current topics in the field of bogs. Sessions included wetlands within the Estonian GHG inventory, Estonia’s Nature Restoration Plan, giving rights to wetlands, and a presentation from WaterLANDS artist-in-residence Elo Liiv, amongst others.
Image 2: Illustration of the discussions by Piret Räni (1 of 3)
Alongside the event, an illustrator Piret Räni made three visual illustrations of the discussions across the day. These illustrations alongside further photos from the event can be viewed on the website gallery.
The final session, which featured an academic panel discussion, "Science and nature amidst values and disputes", was live streamed on the science portal of the national public broadcaster (ERR Novaator). The increasingly popular idea of giving aspects of nature, such as wetlands, the status of legal entities or legal personhood, was discussed within this panel and received coverage on the news outlet. The motive behind granting nature legal personhood seeks to move away from an anthropocentric view of the world, recognising the intrinsic value of nature, and providing a stronger, legally binding framework for environmental protection, which can be used to take legal action on behalf of natural ecosystems.
Image 3: Academic panel discussion (Credit: Anna Birgitta Erikson)
The event was a great success, with 102 in-person attendees and around 800 unique viewers joining the conference online across the day. The live stream maintained an average of 188 concurrent viewers throughout the event.
Image 4: Janika Laht, LULUFC Coordinator at the Environment Agency (Credit: Anna Birgitta Erikson)
