Turning a Coal Mine Into A National Park

With many countries abandoning fossil fuels for renewable sources, what are they to do with the now-toxic landscapes left behind? Norway has one very good idea. It’s turning its last Arctic coal mine, located on the Svalbard Archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, into a nearly 3000-squarekilometre national park.

The new Van Mijenfjorden National Park, named for one of Svalbard’s largest fjords, will help unify the wilderness area of the 61,000-square-kilometre Svalbard Archipelago. The archipelago of glaciers, islands, fjords and mountains already has six national parks, 15 bird sanctuaries, one geopark and six reserves. Some 20 million birds nest on the islands in late summer, while about 3000 polar bears use its sea ice as hunting grounds.