As of March 31, the 16 federal states of Germany expect 28.6 million m³ of damaged wood to accumulate in 2024 © BMEL
After the federal states had made their first projections about the volume of damaged wood in early February, the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture expected 34.6 million m³ of damaged wood in 2023. As of March 31, the forest damage report puts the 2023 volume at 34.8 million m³. That is an increase of 235,000 m³ or 10%.
In the first three months, a total of 5.1 million m³ of damaged wood accumulated in Germany. The biggest volumes were reported by Bavaria (1.8 million m³) and Baden-Württemberg (1.2 million m³). Thuringia follows in third place with 647,000 m³.
For the full year 2024, the German Ministry of Agriculture forecasts 28.6 million m³ of damaged wood, i.e. a 6% increase compared to the federal states’ first projections, and bigger volumes of both damaged softwood and damaged hardwood. Compared to 2023, however, this corresponds to an 18% decrease. According to the forest damage report 2024, 89% or 25.6 million m³ of the damaged wood is expected to be softwood, while hardwood accounts for the remaining 11% or 3 million m³.
As for the period April to December, the state of Thuringia expects 6.2 million m³ of damaged wood, of which 5.9 million m³ will likely be softwood. Thus, in the full year 2024, that would be a total of 6.8 million m³. In Bavaria, 8 million m³ are projected and in Baden-Württemberg, 4.8 million m³ of damaged wood are expected.
The area which needs to be reforested in 2024 has been revised slightly downwards, from 59,233 ha in the first projections to 56,524 ha.
