Verum was sitting in the dorm room. She was eagerly waiting for her friends to return. She had important news to tell them. Minutes later, Scorch, Orak, and Felix walked into the dorm room.
“Where were you guys? I was waiting for you,” Verum said. “Never mind,” she said again before her friends could explain, “Listen to this. Norway has completed its rewilding project. It shut down a mining town on Svalbard and returned it to nature. Now polar bears, reindeer, Arctic foxes, and many seabirds are back in the town.”
“Really? This is great news!” Felix was delighted to hear the news. He got up and did his happy dance.
“How did this happen? Tell us everything, Verum,” Scorch said.
“Sveagruva was a coal mining town on the island of Svalbard, Norway, for 100 years. 300 workers lived there and mined coal. But the mining was harming the environment.
In 2017, the Norwegian government decided to shut down the mines and return the area to its natural state. All traces of humans were removed from the town, except three old cultural monuments. And now it’s all empty and open for wild animals to return!” Verum said, grinning ear to ear.
“It is the largest rewilding project in Norway’s history. This project only cost them $83 million. And it was not just the Norwegian government that participated in this project, but the entire population of Svalbard helped in cleaning the town and returning it to nature,” Verum said.
“Kudos to Norway for protecting nature,” Felix said.