Kohtla-Järve, a historic industrial town in Ida-Virumaa, has decided to implement a green revolution in order to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects, and to install solar panels on the roofs of ten city-owned buildings. With the support of the European Economic Area and KIK, community gardens will be built in kindergartens, hedges will be planted next to the fences, and the Ahtme district will get 300 more trees.
Regarding the solar panels, the procurement has been done, the bidder has been selected and the contract is being concluded. Regarding the planting works, it is planned to initiate the procurement in June and to complete the work by April next year. "We have informed the population about our plans, and these green news have been very well received," adds Makarjev. "We opened our website to reflect the steps of the green turn, where you can read about the planned and completed works and familiarize yourself with the latest activities and messages. We also gather all the photo and video material on the website, and there we also announce the events that we plan to organize for the residents."
He states that, unfortunately, a large part of public buildings in Kohtla-Järve have not yet been renovated and are not very energy efficient. "This means that their CO2 footprint is very large, but at the same time we can now reduce emissions with small activities within the project. A total of nine kindergartens and the city administration building will participate in the project, the solar park installed on the flat roofs and facades will have a total capacity of 150 kW. In the future, this amount can cover the daily cost of food in the kindergarten and reduce the place fee paid by the parents."
Another goal of the project is to establish community gardens on the land used by the local government for the purposes of environmental and climate education. This means that mini-community gardens will be built on the territory of all 14 kindergartens in Kohtla-Järve, so that children can try gardening from childhood and be closer to nature. Some kindergartens already have such a garden and, according to the development advisor, there is great interest in others as well.
In order to supplement and/or create the wealth of life in the city districts and near the schools and kindergartens located in them, it is planned to plant a total of 1.5 kilometers of hedge plants and bushes in the city. The plan is to use plants that do not yet grow in the city and that bloom at different times. The purpose of building hedges is to improve people's well-being and reduce air pollution, in addition to increasing biodiversity.
As the last part of the project, at least 300 trees will be planted in the Ahtme district. Where exactly these 300 trees will be planted will be determined by the commissioned landscaping project. "We plan to carry out landscaping activities at the same time and to be ready by the spring of next year," says Makarjev. "Planting trees also improves the air and cityscape of our urban space, improves people's quality of life and health, reduces air pollution and the number of CO2 emissions, and mitigates the effects of heat islands in the city of Kohtla-Järve."
• KIK supports the Kohtla-Järve City Government's project "Activities to adapt to the effects of climate change in the city of Kohtla-Järve" with 306,297 euros. The subsidy comes from the funds of the European Economic Area.
• KIK and the Ministry of the Environment have planning support for local governments to improve the biodiversity of cities and build rainwater systems. The subsidy comes from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union. Hopefully, we can open the application rounds at the end of this year or in the first half of 2024.
• www.kik.ee
