The German forest is miserable. After two years of extreme drought in the summer months, forest fires keep burning him. The bark beetle plague destroys pine forests to an unknown degree. German forest owners speak in the face of the situation of a "century catastrophe". The umbrella organization of forest owners assumes that in 2018 and 2019 a total of 70 million solid cubes of so-called damaged wood will be incurred - mainly beetle wood and weakened trees that have collapsed during storms.
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Issue 36/2019
Can we be rescued?
How much FOREST the human needs to surviveDigital Edition | Printed issues | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
This clearcut is not good, because trees filter CO2 from the air. Germany, lagging behind in its climate goals, could well use intact forests. Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) wants to reward forest owners in the future if they do more in their tree population for climate protection. "There should be bonuses for those who focus their forest conversion primarily on the benefits for nature and climate protection and not on the timber production," said Schulze the SPIEGEL. "Trees must be big and old."
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With this, the minister contradicts her cabinet colleague, Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner (CDU), who, with funds for reforestation purposes, has in mind above all wood extraction. Schulze, on the other hand, wants government incentives for the function of the forest to protect the climate. "If the state uses tax money to help private forest owners to rebuild forests, society must also have some of it," she told SPIEGEL. However, the money should not be distributed with the watering can. Therefore, clear criteria for funding were necessary, Schulze explained. At the end of September, Schulze will attend the forest summit convened by Agriculture Minister Klöckner.
In view of the devastating conditions in German forests, politics has brought the issue back on the agenda. In Saxony and Thuringia just under a third of the forest population could be lost. Accordingly, the forest dying there becomes the dominant theme in the election campaign. Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) met in August with Julia Klöckner (CDU), together adopted the "Moritzburg Declaration". In it, they demand 800 million euros to adapt the German forest to climate change.
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