“Scientists alarmed by bark beetle boom” (ScienceDaily,
2019), “French forests scarred as heatwaves bring bark beetle infestation”
(Euronews,
2019a), “Czech forest owners face $1.7 billion loss this year from bark
beetle crisis” (Euronews,
2019b) and finally “Merkel promises €500m to revitalise German forests” (Guardian,
2019) – these were only some of the many forest-related headlines in
European news in the past months.
It is obvious: How weather affects our forests, would
not have made it to the news ten years ago – but following the unprecedented
hot temperatures, long dry spells as well as severe storm events in Central
Europe, everybody was talking about the state of our forests. These extreme weather
events are a not only a huge burden for human health but also for entire natural
ecosystems. In Germany, extreme temperatures contributed to the extremely dire
state of about 180,000 ha of forested area and taxpayer support of 800 million
Euros for reforestation measures (FAZ, 2019). In the past, evolution gave
flora and fauna the opportunity to adapt to changing environmental conditions
and climates but the pace and scale of climatic changes that we experience today,
give our natural world a mountain to climb, regardless of the money thrown at
the problem.
