Area of wooded land

The physical forest area balance in EFA Table A 1a represents the total German forest area in the respective reference year as well as the agricultural area used for the production of wood. The area is differentiated into the following categories

1.	Forest available for wood supply (forest area AWS)
2.	Forest not available for wood supply (forest area NAWS)
3.	Other wooded land (not relevant in Germany)
4.	Other land with tree cover available for wood supply (including, e.g., agroforestry areas and short rotation plantations).

Further, changes of forest area due to e.g. afforestation and deforestation are depicted in EFA-table A 1a. The statistical reclassification accounts the transition of forest area AWS to forest area NAWS.

In EFA-table A 1b, the value of the forest soil without tree stock is shown for forest area AWS and for other land with tree cover available for wood supply.

Forest area change in Germany since 1987, subdivided into afforestation, deforestation and forest land set-aside:
Forest land set-aside may arise, inter alia, by designating national parks, biosphere reserves or Natura 2000 areas, and reference areas for certification.

download chart (pdf)
download table (pdf) | (xlsx)

Further Forest area balances

Physical forest area balance (EFA-table A 1a):
Development of forest area in 1,000 hectares, subdivided into forest area available for wood supply (AWS), forest areas not available for wood supply (NAWS) and other land with tree cover available for wood supply (e.g. short rotation plantations). With around 4,000 ha, the proportion of other land with tree cover AWS for raw wood production is very low in Germany.

download chart: (pdf)
download table: (pdf) | (xlsx)

Monetary forest area balance (EFA-table A 1b):
Development of forest area in million Euro, subdivided into forest area AWS and other land with tree cover AWS (with a low share). Forest area NAWS are not valued economically.

download chart: (pdf)
download table: (pdf) | (xlsx)

Publications

Seintsch B, Englert H, Dieter M (2020) Kalamitäten führen zu forstlichem "Rekordergebnis" : Ergebnisse der Forstwirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung 2018: Großer Produktionswert und hoher Unternehmensgewinn. Holz Zentralbl 146(27):506-507 PDF Dokument (nicht barrierefrei) 1884 KB
Rosenkranz L, Englert H, Seintsch B (2019) European forest accounts for Germany - Quality of data bases and accounting methods. Allg Forst Jagdzeitg 190(1-2):31-52
Rosenkranz L, Englert H, Seintsch B (2018) Die Bewertung des Holzvorrats in der Waldgesamtrechnung. AFZ Wald 73(23):11-13 PDF Dokument (nicht barrierefrei) 216 KB
Rosenkranz, L (2018) Produktionswert der Forstwirtschaft leicht rückläufig. Ergebnisse der forstwirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung 2016. Holz-Zentralblatt 144 (17): 393
Rosenkranz L, Englert H, Jochem D, Seintsch B (2018) Methodenbeschreibung zum Tabellenrahmen der European Forest Accounts und Ergebnisse der Jahre 2014 und 2015: Abschlussbericht Teilprojekt 3. 2. revidierte Fassung. Braunschweig: Thünen-Institut, 86 p
PDF Document

Methodology

Physical forest area balance

Starting point for the calculation of the physical forest area balance is the forest area data of the National Forest Inventory (BWI 2012). These are divided into forest area AWS and forest area NAWS.

The forest area NAWS consists of two parts. First, the base of the NAWS forest area is calculated from the BWI 2012. It corresponds to the inaccessible area plus the forest area on which the timber harvesting is not permitted or not to be expected, e.g. for reasons of nature conservation or site conditions. In addition, the total protection area designated in the year under review, taken from an annual survey of the ministries responsible for forestry in the German Federal States, is added. Accordingly, the forest area NAWS consists of a constant base from the BWI 2012 and the total protection areas which change over time.

The forest area AWS is calculated from the total forest area from the BWI less the forest area NAWS. The calculation of the changes of forest area AWS is based on the annual survey of afforestation and deforestation of the ministries as well as on information on afforestation and deforestation of the BWI 2012. It should be noted that only the officially registered afforestation and deforestation activities are included in the reports from the ministries. Forest area changes that have already been approved e.g. in the context of landscape or green area plans are not included. Areas of forest land-set aside have only been reported since 2014.

Other land with tree cover AWS (here: area of short rotation plantations) is taken from the triennial agricultural census (STBA F 3 R 2.1.1) of the German Federal Statistical Office. In the interim years, the area of short rotation plantations is perpetuated.

Monetary forest land balance

The value of forest area is calculated using the land expectation formula developed by Faustmann (1849). Here, the revenues and expenses accruing in the course of the production cycle are discounted to the point of production. It is assumed that always the same tree species is planted and that yields, expenses, timber revenues and soil capacity are constant. The land expectation value is calculated as an average value weighted by the current share of tree species groups (beech, oak, spruce, pine) in Germany.

Assuming that forest area NAWS has no utility value from a forestry economic point of view, the calculated average value of one hectare of forest soil is extrapolated to the forest area AWS only.