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Video Companion
Iceland Is Growing New Forests for the First Time in 1,000 Years
The landscape of Iceland has changed dramatically over the last millennium. When the Vikings first arrived in the ninth century, the land was covered in 25-40% forest. But within a few centuries, Iceland became “among the worst examples in the world of deforestation.”
Today, the Icelandic Forest Service has taken on the mammoth task of bringing back the woodlands, charged with expanding the country’s forest cover by as much as 8% over the next 100 years. As Thröstur Eysteinsson, the group’s director, notes in the video, “To see the forests growing, to see that we’re actually doing some good is a very rewarding thing, a very satisfying thing.”