Italy crossed a historic threshold in 2020 when forest area surpassed cultivated land for the first time in over 500 years, with woodlands now covering 60,000 square miles. The shift reflects decades of agricultural abandonment and natural reforestation, particularly in mountainous regions, with significant implications for carbon storage and biodiversity.
Good News Network · Friday, 26 June 2026
#forest conservation#land use change#reforestation#Italy#carbon sequestration
For the first time since the Middle Ages, Italy has more woodland than agricultural land. Forests now stretch across 60,000 square miles of the Italian Peninsula, overly concentrated in mountain areas, but which nevertheless represent the gradual reversion of cultivated land to woodland again. The milestone was officially hit in 2020, but only revealed this […] The post Italy’s Forest Cover is Larger Than Agriculture Land for the First Time Since the Middle Ages appeared first on Good News Network.