What has been new since around 2021 is that bark beetle infestation has reached a new dimension: In South and East Tyrol and in Upper Carinthia, forests are dying up to the tree line as a result of the drought and subsequent infestation with bark beetles. 2023 will likely see the accumulation of substantial volumes of damaged wood due to the density of the beetle population.
More than half a billion cubic meters
In the five countries of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Switzerland alone, a total of 550 million m³ of damaged wood accumulated in the years from 2015 to 2022, as official figures show. The Holzkurier estimates that another 130 million m³ will approximately be damaged in the period 2023 to 2025. Northern Italy (Trentino, South Tyrol, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) is also struggling with double-digit million cubic meter damage. Unfortunately, more precise and reliable official figures are not available.
Converting those damaged areas into more resilient forests is a Herculean task. There is a lack of almost everything: sufficient suitable plants, personnel to plant them, care and fence construction, adapted hunting strategies, etc. The German state of Lower Saxony alone assumes that it will need 500 million plants for its forests. This number gives you a good idea of what is needed in the EU as a whole.
© Timber-Online.net
All tree species affected
The tree species, which is affected the most by various kinds of damage, is spruce with its shallow root system. According to the Thünen Institute, the area covered by spruce forests in Germany will halve by 2050. However, not only spruce is affected. “All tree species are struggling with the extreme weather caused by climate change,” Dr. Andreas Bolte, head of the Institute of Forest Ecosystems at the Thünen Institute in Hamburg, emphasized at a recent event. “In 2022, the poor condition of pine trees was noticeable, and there has been a further increase in damage to beech and oak as well.” (see article Supply at the limit already).
€43 billion needed in Germany
The purely economic damage is not limited to the sawmill industry whose main source of revenue is becoming increasingly scarce. The damage to the economy as a whole is enormous, too. Germany would have to reforest the damaged areas and convert the remaining forests at a rate of 95,000 hectares each year. The costs for these measures could amount to up to €43 billion by 2050.
| in million m³ | ||||||||||||
| Country | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total 2015–2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 12.9 | 7.8 | 12.3 | 35.7 | 68.8 | 66.3 | 41.6 | 38.4 | 21.8 | 19.2 | 16.5 | 283.8 |
| Czech Republic | 8.2 | 9.4 | 11.7 | 23 | 30.9 | 33.9 | 26.3 | 19.8 | 17.8 | 15.8 | 13.8 | 163.2 |
| Austria | 7.4 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 8.9 | 6 | 7.1 | 9 | 6.5 | 5 | 62.9 |
| Slovakia | 5.2 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 4 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 35.5 |
| Switzerland | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 4.7 |
| Total | 33.9 | 27.4 | 35.7 | 75 | 117.9 | 113.7 | 77.3 | 69.1 | 53.2 | 46.3 | 39.7 | 550.1 |
