There are particular challenges in the conservation and use of forests because climate change threatens not only individual tree species, but now also entire forest ecosystems. Against the backdrop of the effects of drought and temperature on tree populations in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, forestry and timber experts discuss various approaches to adapting forests to the changing conditions in the daily newspaper taz, including the opportunities offered by epigenetics to select drought-resistant genetic material, the reassessment of nature conservation, possible changes in land use, and concrete measures for water management and canopy conservation. In addition, forest "services" such as carbon and water storage should be rewarded.
Also addressed are questions about sustainable wood production and the possible shortage of native wood in the future. "At the moment, there is still enough wood," says Matthias Dieter of the Thünen Institute for Forestry. However, more detailed findings on tree stocks will then come with the publication of the federal forest inventory next year.
The timber industry is also confronted with changes in the supply of raw materials. For example, the managing director of the Association of the Wood-Based Panel Industry, Anemon Stromeyer, points out that the decline of wood as a raw material is already noticeable. Companies are trying to compensate for this decline by using recycled wood and increasing the use of hardwood.
Why aren't companies investing even more in innovative material uses for wood? One important reason is the high demand for wood for pellet heating or power plants, says Andreas Krause, head of the Thünen Institute for Wood Research. There is a consensus that large-scale energy use of wood is not acceptable for the forest.
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