Denmark will plant 1 billion trees and convert 10 per cent of farmland into forest

Denmark's Minister for the Green Tripartite Jeppe Bruus, centre, and members of the coalition in Copenhagen, Denmark, Nov. 18, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -

Danish lawmakers on Monday agreed on a deal to plant one billion trees and convert 10 per cent of farmland into forest and natural habitats over the next two decades in an effort to reduce fertilizer usage.

The government called the agreement "the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years."

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"The Danish nature will change in a way we have not seen since the wetlands were drained in 1864," said Jeppe Bruus, head of Denmark's Green Tripartite Ministry, created to implement a green deal reached in June among farmers, the industry, the labour unions and environmental groups.

Under the agreement, 43 billion kroner (US$6.1 billion) have been earmarked to acquire land from farmers over the next two decades, the government said.

Danish forests would grow on an additional 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres), and another 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres), which are currently cultivated on climate-damaging low-lying soils, must be converted to nature. Currently, 14.6 per cent of land is covered by forests.

The deal was reached by the three-party Danish government -- made up of the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the centre Moderates -- and the Socialist People's Party, the Conservatives, Liberal Alliance and the Social Liberal Party.

A vote in parliament on the deal is considered a formality.

In June, the government said livestock farmers will be taxed for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs from 2030, the first country to do so as it targets a major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to global warming.