Spain reclaims land with 800-hectare forest

Around 1900, forester Francisco Mira y Botella began systematically stabilizing and planting the shifting dunes near Guardamar del Segura, Spain. Over decades, he and others planted more than 600,000 trees. Today, an 800-hectare forest and dune area now lies between the city and the Mediterranean Sea.

The project transformed previously mobile sand dunes into a substantial forested landscape.