The British land has had a similar fate. The quaint quintessential image of England today is the end result of deforestation by early human settlers to make room for agriculture thousands of years ago.
When the issue of deforestation appears in the media or politics today it is always with respect to developing countries in South America and South East Asia. The damage that first world countries did to their lands (and therefore to the global environment) was done long ago, and they continue to benefit economically from the changed land use.