Icelandic forestry on BBC

Maddie Moate speaks to Mr. Hreinn Óskarsson about afforestation projects in woodland-deprived Iceland.

The barren landscape has made Iceland famous as a Hollywood film set for fantasy and sci-fi films, but trees are actually fundamental in protecting the land from volcanic ash and cold winds. This is the theme of one of the videos from the BBC Earth Unplugged Youtube channel.

In the video you will learn that up to one fourth of Iceland's surface was forested when the country was settled but now the forest cover is only 1-2 percent. Presenter Maddie Moate tells the history of the vikings discovering the wooded island Iceland and the sad story of deforestation and soil erosion that followed. Maddie interviews Mr. Hreinn Óskarsson at the Icelandic Forest Service who explains the multiple reasons why Iceland should be forested.