Swamps, marshes, mires, bogs, and fens (all usually called "Belarusian: балота" (balota) in Belarusian) are important parts of the natural landscape in Belarus. Vast swamplands historically covered the country, and currently there are around 2.5 million hectares of wetlands in Belarus. Notable swamp regions are Pinsk Marshes and Olmany swamps in Polesia and Yelnya Swamp in Vitebsk region.
Swamps, marshes, mires, bogs, and fens are all usually called "Belarusian: Балота" (balota) in Belarusian,[1] though there are many synonyms: Belarusian: Багна, Belarusian: Дрыгва, Belarusian: Гiжня, etc.[2] [3]
In the early 20th century, almost 40% of the territory, 8 million hectares, were wetlands. Around 2.56 to 2.94[4] million hectares were swamps and marshes (more than 12% of Belarus's territory). Today, about 4% of the territory is swamps, or 863 thousand hectares.[5] Over half of Belarus's swamps were drained for agricultural and forestry purposes between the 1960s and 1970s, leading to loss of biodiversity, increased droughts and frosts, and depleted groundwater levels in some areas. Efforts to revive and rehydrate drained peatlands in order to restore their ecological functions began in the 2010s.[6] [7] [5]
There are 9,192 swamps in Belarus.[5] Low type peat deposit area is 81.6% (2,103.800 ha), transitional area is 3.4% (106.200 ha),and high one is 15.0% (333.700 ha).[4] Yelnya Swamp, one of the oldest swamps, was formed about 13,000 years ago.[8]
The draining of wetlands in Belarus has a long history, going back to the Western Swamp Drainage Reclamation Expedition (1872–1902) (Russian: Западная экспедиция по осушению болот) under the direction of General . This massive project constructed thousands of kilometers of drainage canals throughout Polesia, converting swamps into meadows, arable land, and timber transport waterways. While innovative for its time, it disrupted the natural hydrology of the region. Around 410,000 hectares of swamps were drained.[9]
In 1911, the Minsk Swamp Experimental Station (Russian: Минская болотная опытная станция) was opened, under its first director botanist . It started research on the in Minsk. By the late 1920s, this swamp covering 218 hectares had been completely drained after works began in 1925. In 1930, the station became the All-Union Research Institute of Soil Science and Melioration, with a goal of systematically studying the wetlands of the Soviet Union.[10] [11]
Belarus has one of the world's largest deposits of peat. Peat has been mined industrially since 1896, and in Soviet times it was the main fuel for power plants.[12]
Large-scale swamp draining efforts were revived in the Soviet era during the 1960s–1970s, with over 60% of Belarus's wetlands being drained, primarily for agriculture and peat mining. Though increasing production in the short term, severe disruption of wetland ecosystems led to soil degradation, groundwater depletion, biodiversity loss, and local climate changes.[7] [5]
Recognizing the important ecological roles that swamps play, including storing carbon, maintaining hydrological cycles, and providing habitat for flora and fauna, Belarus has made efforts since the 2010s to restore portions of its drained peatlands. This "rewetting" process involves techniques like blocking drainage canals to raise water tables.[6]
International environmental organizations like the UN Development Programme have partnered with the Belarus government to fund and execute restoration projects on over 60,000 hectares of degraded peatlands so far. While still a small fraction of what was lost, these restored swamps aim to revive ecological functions and mitigate impacts like wildfires, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity decline caused by draining.[6] [13] [14]
Belarus's swamps and wetlands host a diverse array of flora and fauna: 267 species of flowering plants and ferns, including 37 woody species, 167 herbaceous species, and 63 species of mosses. The wetlands provide habitat for over 50 valuable medicinal plants, as well as berry plants like cranberry, lingonberry, and bilberry. Rare and threatened species found here include insectivorous plants, sphagnum mosses, cotton grass, and plants listed in the Belarus Red Book. The wetlands are vital for conserving bird populations, sheltering significant portions of European populations of species like the aquatic warbler, black stork, white stork, lesser spotted eagle, and great snipe. Mammal species like elk, raccoon dog, and wolf also depend on these wetlands. Belarus has designated 20 potential territories of international and national importance, covering 2.9% of the country's area, to safeguard this exceptional biodiversity concentrated in fen complexes, bog complexes, river floodplains, forest–floodplain–lake mosaics, fishery ponds, and forests.[4]
Swamps played a big role in Belarusian literature, with many authors writing about "swampy land" or "swampy country", like Yakub Kolas's novella The Morass ("Belarusian: Дрыгва", 1933), Yanka Maur's novella ("Belarusian: Палескія рабінзоны", 1930), and Ivan Melezh's novel ("Belarusian: Людзі на балоце", 1962). Uladzimir Karatkevich's novella King Stakh's Wild Hunt ("Belarusian: Дзікае паляванне Караля Стаха", 1964) is set on a swamp. Swamps are often seen as a symbol of Belarus; swampy lands were the cheapest and their agricultural output was very poor, so the theme of melioration and developing a better land was popular in Soviet times.[15] Belarusian poets described Polesia as the land of swamps and forests.[16] In Victor Martinovich's 2013 novel, Sphagnum, Belarus is compared to a peat moss, sphagnum.[17]
| Name | Native names | Photo | Status | Area (ha) | Turf type | Coordinates | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ельня | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site[18] | 18,794 | 55.55°N 78°W | One of the largest raised bogs in Belarus with numerous lakes scattered throughout. Located in Vitebsk Oblast, Miory district. | ||||
| Альманскія балоты Ольманские болота | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site[19] | Poddybiche - 48,292; Vilya - 4,741 | 51.7833°N 48°W | The largest complex of raised, transitional and fen bogs in Europe located in Stolin district, Brest region. | ||||
| Pinsk Marshes (or Pripet Marshes, Polesie Marshe) | Прыпяцкія балоты Припятские болота | National park, Ramsar site | Kandel-Yalovets-Olkhovo - 22,020; Mezhch - 25,326 | Transitional | 52.15°N 27°W | Vast complex of transitional and raised bogs in the extensive floodplain of the Pripyat River in Lelchitsy district, Gomel region. | ||
| Yukhvichy Swamp | Юховичское болото | Republican landscape reserve | 1,655 | Raised bog | 56.0435°N 28.6108°W | Raised bog overgrown with pine and birch in Rossony district, Vitebsk region. | ||
| Спораўскае балота Споровские болота | Republican biological reserve, Ramsar site[20] | Total: 19,384; Peschanka - 2,224; Berestovets - 2,671; Oborovskoye - 6,597 | Fen | 52.4167°N 44°W | Complex of fen floodplain bogs along the Yaselda River in Brest region. Habitat of globally threatened Aquatic Warbler. | |||
| Званец | Republican biological reserve, Ramsar site[21] | 10,441 | Fen | 52.0333°N 76°W | One of the largest fen bogs in Europe, habitat for the globally threatened Aquatic Warbler in Drogichin district, Brest region. | |||
| Мох | Republican hydrological reserve | 4,298 | Transitional | 55.6226°N 27.4466°W | Regulates water levels of surrounding lakes in Miory district, Vitebsk region. Transition mire with open sections. | |||
| Kozyansky Swamps | Козьянские болота | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site[22] | Obol - 4,900; Yamilshcha - 2,087 | Raised bog | 55.45°N 50°W | Raised bogs with numerous small lakes scattered throughout in Polotsk and Shumilina districts, Vitebsk region. | ||
| Домжерицкое болото | National park, Ramsar site | 8,995 | Raised bog | 54.7241°N 28.3672°W | Large raised bog in Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve, Lepiel district, Vitebsk region. Up to 6 endangered plant species per m2. | |||
| Slobodskoye Swamp | Слободское болото | National park, Ramsar site | 2,565 | Raised bog | 54.6955°N 28.6136°W | Raised bog in Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve, Lepiel district, Vitebsk region. High diversity of endangered plant species. | ||
| Асвейскае Освейское | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site[23] | 3,357 | Raised bog | 56.0667°N 37°W | Raised bog adjoining Lake Osveya, the second largest natural lake overgrown with peat in Belarus. In Verhnedvinsk district, Vitebsk region. | |||
| Servech Swamp | Болото Сервечь | Republican hydrological reserve, Ramsar site[24] | Servech - 4,542; B. Sitse - 1,607 | Raised, fen | 54.9667°N 56°W | Wetland complex including Lake Servech and Servech River floodplain. Northernmost habitat of the Aquatic Warbler in Belarus. In Dokshitsy district, Vitebsk region. | ||
| Выганашчанскае балота Болото Выгонощанское | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site | 40,207 | Fen | 52.6935°N 25.8217°W | One of the largest preserved wetlands on the divide between the Black and Baltic Sea basins in Ivatsevichi and Lyakhovichi districts, Brest region. | |||
| Марочна Морочно | Republican wetland reserve, Ramsar site | Marochna - 5,969; Marochna-1 - 1,314 | Raised bog | 51.8532°N 26.5919°W | Largest raised bog in western Polesie, important cranberry site and water regulator. In Stolin district, Brest region. | |||
| Stary Zhaden Swamp | Болото Старый Жаден | Republican wetland reserve, Ramsar site[25] | Smolyarnya - 3,101; Shchashchits - 3,143 | Fen, raised bog | 51.9°N 63°W | Complex of fen and raised bogs in Zhsykavichy and Lelchycy districts, Gomel region.Continued: | ||
| Астравы Дулебы Болото Дулебское | Republican hydrological reserve, Ramsar site[26] | 30,772 | Raised bog | 53.7833°N 58°W | Raised bogs and old-growth forests, former military site, in Klichaw and Byalynichy districts, Mogilev region. | |||
| Zaozerye Swamp | Болото Заозерье | Republican hydrological reserve, Ramsar site | 4,965 | Raised bog | 53.8442°N 29.4557°W | Boreal raised bogs in Byalynichy district, Mogilev region. | ||
| Дакудаўскае Докудовское | Republican biological reserve | 933 | Raised bog | 53.8004°N 25.4481°W | Remnant raised bog in Lida district, Grodno region. Swan Lake in center. | |||
| Kotrya Swamp | Котрянское болото | Republican landscape reserve, Ramsar site | 6,138 | Fen | 53.8175°N 24.367°W | Large forest-bog complex at the headwaters of the Kotra River in Kotra Forest, Shchuchyn district, Grodno region. | ||
| Mokhovoye Swamp | Болото Моховое | National park | 983 | Raised bog | 54.9078°N 27.0953°W | Raised bog surrounding Lake Dyagili in Narochansky National Park, Myadel district, Minsk region. | ||
| Габы | National park | 4,397 | Raised bog | 54.8673°N 27.3303°W | Large raised bog with well-developed ridge-hollow complexes in Narochansky National Park, Myadel district, Minsk region. | |||
| Lebediny Moh | Лебединый Мох | Local wetland reserve, Ramsar site | 2,584 | Transition, raised bog | 55.7347°N 29.0581°W | Complex of forests, bogs and lakes including Lake Stradan in Polatsk district, Vitebsk region. | ||
| Drozhbitka Swamp | Болото Дрожбитка | Republican wetland reserve, Ramsar site[27] | 2,293 | Fen | 55.5833°N 52°W | Wetland complex including fens, bogs and 14 lakes in Polatsk district, Vitebsk region. | ||
| Дзікое Дикое | National park, Ramsar site[28] | 6,967 | Fen | 52.7833°N 38°W | One of the three largest undisturbed fen bogs in Polesie region, located in the watersheds of the Yaselda and Narew rivers. Limited cranberry harvesting occurs. In Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park. | |||
| Болото Жада | Republican wetland reserve | 4,555 | Forest-mire | 55.4291°N 28.0168°W | A large forest-mire massif in the upper reaches of the Plavno River. Part of the swamp was previously drained and has become re-wetted. Includes open raised, transitional bogs and forested wetlands. In the central part there are two dystrophic lakes: Ilovo and Strechnо. | |||
| Vileity | Вилейты | Ramsar site[29] | 8,452 | Fens and transitional mires | 55.25°N 72°W | "a waterlogged forest with a complex of fen and transitional mires, floodplain meadows and marshes, rivers, oxbow lakes and a system of channels overgrown with woods." | ||
| Выдрыца Выдрица | Ramsar site[30] | 17,403 | Forested peatlands | 52.7333°N 69°W | "lies on a floodplain between the Berezina and Vydritsa rivers ... is a system of oxbow lakes, forested peatlands, meadows, marshes, swamps and drainage channels" |