Iceland is famous for its barren, lunar landscape — apparently inhospitable, characterised by ice, rocks, volcanoes and geysers — but it wasn't always this way. At one time, almost half of the small Nordic nation was covered in lush forests teeming with rich wildlife. The habit of overexploiting the land one settles is not a recent vice of Homo sapiens but, almost, one of its defining traits. It was the Vikings who razed Iceland's forests to the ground to obtain pasture for livestock and firewood. When the Vikings arrived in Iceland in the ninth century AD, 40 per cent of the island was covered in forests; today, woodland cover stands at a mere 2 per cent.

How an ecosystem died

Settlers cut and burned the forests to grow hay and barley and to create pastureland. They used the timber to build houses and boats, and charcoal for their forges. According to several accounts, the island was largely deforested within just three centuries. The destruction of Iceland's ancient forests and its varied ecosystems was exacerbated by the sheep introduced to the island by the Vikings. These animals, which British writer and environmentalist George Monbiot describes as a "white plague", actively contribute to impoverishing the soil, accelerating its erosion and preventing the growth of plants and shrubs. "Sheep grazing prevented the regeneration of birch after felling, and the woodland area continued to shrink," explains the Icelandic Forest Service. Erosion itself — caused also by ash spewed by volcanoes — makes farming and grazing virtually impossible and represents one of the small nation's main problems.

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Target: 12% by 2100

Iceland plants an average of up to three million new trees every year. The country began its reforestation effort more than a century ago, planting millions of spruces, pines, larches and birches, but replacing the destroyed forests is a long and slow process, especially in such a cold place. The goal of the Icelandic Forest Service is to increase forest cover from 2 to 12 per cent by 2100. After attempting to use exclusively native species — now unsuitable due to rising temperatures — non-native species have been selected "that guarantee resilience and sustainability".

Trees resilient to climate change

Iceland's native tree, the downy birch (Betula pubescens), can no longer take root because of climate change, and trees planted over the past half-century are dying. The National Forest Service has therefore sought plants suited to the new climate, such as spruces, pines and larches. The seeds, sourced mainly from Alaska and carefully selected, have given rise to forests that are now growing vigorously — "better than anyone ever thought," said Þröstur Eysteinsson, director of the Icelandic Forest Service.

When Iceland was green

Fossil remains discovered, preserved between layers of lava, suggest that Iceland, between five and fifteen million years ago, was a wooded land with a temperate climate, home to a great variety of tree species, including sequoias, magnolias, sassafras and trees of the genus Pterocarya. For a period the island was covered in beech forests, while in the late Pliocene, shortly before the onset of the Pleistocene glaciations, boreal forests of pine, spruce, birch and alder predominated, suited to a cooler climate. With the subsequent glaciations, Iceland's flora became increasingly poor in species, and the downy birch came to dominate.

The benefits of forests returning

The gradual reforestation process brings Iceland numerous benefits: forests first and foremost halt soil erosion, supporting agriculture, and absorb large quantities of CO2. They also contribute to enhancing the country's landscape value and to providing shelter and sustenance for wildlife. Thanks to the forests, Iceland will be able to more easily meet its climate targets and offset its high per-capita greenhouse gas emissions. The country aims to reduce its emissions by between 50 and 75 per cent by 2050. Iceland's choice to restore its ancient forests is driven by necessity, but is at the same time a bold initiative. This lengthy process will in fact alter the country's iconic appearance, for which it has become famous and beloved by tourists. It also teaches us about the long-term damage caused by the destruction of the environment and the importance of rewilding. It is not too late to take a step back, ease our pressure on ecosystems and try to heal the wounds we have inflicted on the land for centuries — the results might surprise us.