On a recent spring day in a scrubby forest an hour outside the Lithuanian capital, diggers were digging trenches and people felling trees in an effort to restore the waterlogged, mosquito-infested ecosystem of the Soviet era.
The reason for this is twofold: to help the climate and to protect the country from invasion.
The area was once a vast peat swamp, and peat swamps are highly efficient at storing planet-warming carbon dioxide. They are also very good at stopping tanks, as spongy soil cannot withstand the weight of armored vehicles. Tanks often become permanently stuck and sink.
Lithuania’s Deputy Defense Minister Tomas Godliuskas said that the swamp would become “an integral defensive line” when combined with other military tactics. He said the project also had the advantage of being relatively cheaper compared to other measures such as tank ditches and minefields.
Lithuania isn’t the only EU country using the swamp to deter Russian aggression. For example, Latvia and Finland are also seeking to restore marshes for both environmental and defense purposes. And the Ukrainian swamp helped delay an unsuccessful attempt by Russian troops towards Kiev in 2022.
Richard Hooker, a former director of the National Security Council who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research organization that focuses on international security, said peatland restoration could play an important role in defending Lithuania against invasion from the east.
He said only one major highway runs from Minsk in Belarus to Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, and the Russian army is heavily mechanized, without the kind of light infantry units that the U.S. Army has. This meant that reclaimed, impassable peat bogs would force attacking troops onto roads and trails, where they would be more vulnerable.
“The idea that you can use natural barriers combined with man-made barriers to slow down an attacker is an excellent idea,” Mr Hooker said. “Much more can be done than has been done, but early signs are promising anyway.”
The dangers of the swamp were illustrated last March, when a US Army 70-tonne M88 armored recovery vehicle sank during a training exercise near Pabrade, a town in eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus. Four crew members died.
Part of the marsh restoration project Total Defense Doctrine of LithuaniaA security strategy that calls for the military, civilian, and private sectors to be prepared in case of Russian aggression. Mr Godliauskas said the country wanted to restore 6,000 hectares of peatlands.
But it is about much more than just protecting the border. It is also about carbon capture.
Peat bogs form when oxygen-deficient conditions in wetlands prevent bacteria and fungi from completely breaking down organic matter such as plants and dead animals. In Lithuania, part of the resulting peat was extracted by the Soviet authorities for burning in power plants and to expand agriculture.
Lithuania’s deputy minister of the environment, Aira Paliukaite, said the restoration effort is a priority for many agencies in the government. The Ministry plans to continue the restoration for the next 30 years as part of its policy to align with EU nature restoration law.
That measure requires each country in the bloc to implement a plan with the goals of reducing carbon emissions over the coming decades and restoring biodiversity and habitats.
Lithuania looks to be in a good starting position. Large quantities of underground peat still exist in the country. By rewetting it, officials said, they could turn the land back into a carbon sink or storage system, because peat can hold carbon longer than forests.
However, this is not a simple process. Technical planning and site preparation can take years. Projects are still in the early stages, especially on the border, but they are starting to work with non-governmental groups such as the Foundation for Peatland Restoration and Conservation.
While some people in the country are skeptical about the resettlement process and its efficacy, others are welcoming the plan.
Albertus Luckauskas, a 52-year-old teacher and politician, has spent his entire life in Zaslyai, a small town near one of the foundation’s projects, the restoration of about 150 acres of dry land where peat was extracted to supply the Soviet Union with energy.
Mr. Lakstauskas said he, like some others in the city, was skeptical that peat bogs alone could stop the Russian invasion, but he said he felt it was a matter of national pride to support the environment.
“If we can do some things to get better, I think it’s a good opportunity,” he said. “And I chose to participate.”
