FW-R-1: Financial support for forest transformation
Click to enlargeSource: Mitifoto / stock.adobe.com
2023 Monitoring Report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change
Click to enlargeSource: Mitifoto / stock.adobe.com
FW-R-1: Financial support for forest transformation
The transformation of state, corporate and private forests is promoted by funding from EU, Federal and Länder sources, as well as from individual budgetary sources. In the aftermath of the devastating drought years of 2018 to 2020, in particular the Federal government and the Länder have made available considerable amounts of additional funding in order to drive forest transformation forward and to facilitate the reforestation of calamity areas.
The illustration FW-R-1 ’Financial support for forest transformation’ contains a biaxial diagram. The stacked column chart illustrates the annual investments in forest transformation in million Euros from 2000 until 2021. The chart differentiates between investments made by Federal Forestry in the Federal Forest Estates, investments made by the Länder for measures taken in forests owned by individual Länder, as well as the EU funding proportion, the proportion of Federal Government funding and the proportion of Länder funding as well as the additional funding from public funds and funding purely from Länder budgets contributing to the IASCP/EU funding. In total, the annual investments until 2018 amounted to roughly 75 million Euros. In individual years such as 2008 and 2009, the investments rose to 100 million Euros. In every year, the measures taken by the Länder in Länder-owned forests account for the greatest proportion. As of 2019, the total investments increased distinctly. In 2021 the investments amounted to just under 225 million Euros. Measures taken in this context were financed predominantly by GAK funding. In addition, one line in the chart illustrates the transformed forest terrain or the forest terrain being transformed in hectares. This time series does not indicate a significant trend. After an increase from 2018 onwards, just under 25,000 hectares were transformed in 2021.
Active forest transformation and reforestation are required
Natural regeneration is usually considered a favourable and natural form of forest regeneration. This process involves focusing forestry operations on the removal of individual mature trees and groups of trees from a stand. This results in gaps of sufficient size to provide enough light for seedlings to grow which emanate from neighbouring trees. The traditional near-natural method of structuring forests used to consist exclusively in letting natural regeneration take its course.
However, the adaptation of forests to changed climatic conditions often requires a targeted restructuring of existing stands. Natural succession does not always lead to a change in tree species, especially when there are no suitable seed-bearing tree species nearby or in places where game and deer browsing is excessive. The occasional exception are trees that emanate from natural wind dispersal of lightweight seeds, for example pine, birch or poplar trees, which can drift into a stand even from considerable distances, and they can also emanate from being dropped or buried by jays and squirrels thus giving rise to oak and beech trees. Where it is the aim to convert site-inappropriate conifer stands to mixed forests or to incorporate more thermophilic species or trees with thermophilic provenance into stands, it is imperative to adopt methods of artificial regeneration. This involves incorporating the desired tree species into stands either by sowing or planting, and in cases where browsing by deer and game is a problem, by taking appropriate protective measures to get such tree species established. In this approach, it is also possible to carry out targeted supplementation of otherwise spontaneous natural regeneration.
Following the devastating drought of 2018 until 2020 it was necessary to reforest an area of roughly 285,000 ha118; by 2023, an even larger terrain of up to 540,000 ha is to be expected due to consequential losses. Natural succession in all areas is not very likely. As a result, new stands have to be created with the aid of seeding and planting. On calamity sites it is often necessary to carry out additional removal of vegetation in order to prepare the ground appropriately for new plantings. It will be necessary to decide whether it is advisable to remove any natural regeneration (for example of previous tree species that were inappropriate for the site). However, natural regeneration has better initial growing conditions compared to planting due to uninterrupted root development and potential epigenetic adaptation
Forest transformation is an objective that has meanwhile been embedded in silvicultural strategies and programmes at Federal and at Länder level. Appropriate funding is being provided at EU level and by Federal and Länder governments for the transformation of private, corporate and state-owned forests. In addition, there is now also extensive funding available for the reforestation of calamity areas. Funding mechanisms vary among individual Länder. As far as private and corporate forests are concerned, the majority of funding activities have so far come from the GAK and EAFRD programmes. EU, federal and state funds are combined differently by the individual Länder. In addition, some Länder support forest conversion measures under specific programmes with state funds only. At the end of 2018 GAK agreed a new funding eligibility status entitled ‘Funding for remedying impacts on forests / woodlands caused by extreme weather events’ which was augmented by funding provided by Federal government. This is why – especially from 2020 onwards – extensive additional finance was invested in private and corporate forests in several Länder. Furthermore, in 2022 the funding programme entitled ‘Climate-adapted forest management’ was established by BMEL for the benefit of private and municipal forest owners; this fund is endowed with funding from the KTF for the purpose of accelerating the development of stable and climate-resilient forests / woodlands. The funding is bound up with stipulations. For instance, preparatory regeneration is one of the obligatory requirements. Natural regeneration takes priority over planting. The objective is to use or promote predominantly autochthonous tree species. The diversity of tree species is to be increased, and more deadwood and habitat trees are to be left in-situ. Furthermore, measures to conserve soil quality and water retention are obligatory. Up until the end of 2022 an amount of 200 million Euros was available. This amount has not yet been taken into account for the indicator ending in 2021. As far as private forests are concerned, it has to be taken into consideration that many woodland or forest owners carry out transformation measures for which they have not requested funding. The extent of transformed areas is therefore likely to be greater than might be thought judging by the terrain transformed with the aid of funding.
As far as forests are concerned that are owned by individual Länder, forest transformation is pursued almost exclusively as part of ‘normal’ forestry management which receives the bulk of its funding from budgetary sources. Proactive transformation measures – as taken into account for the indicator – usually serve the objective to establish autochthonous tree species and to increase the mix of tree species. This includes, apart from reforestation, actions to supplement natural regeneration in young stands as well as advance planting and underplanting. Advance planting involves the planting or sowing of new target tree species in a typically single-layer main stand, to be incorporated into the main stand once the existing stand has been harvested. In some of the Federal Länder additional funding was made available for the Länder-owned forest areas, in response to the great demand prevailing for major reforestation.
The proportion of federally owned forests amounts to just 4 % of Germany’s overall forest terrain. Essentially, this is forest on (former) military exercise sites and along Federal waterways and motorways which come under the remit of Institute for Federal Real Estate (BImA), Department ‘Bundesforst’. In the federal forest, too, site-inappropriate stands are being converted into stable and more natural forests. In 2021, funding for these tasks was more than doubled compared to the previous three years, but was in the same order of magnitude as in 2017. Compared to the share of Länder-owned forest amounting to 29 % of Germany’s overall forest area, the proportion of funding allocated to the conversion of these forests from 2011 to 2020 was disproportionately high, at just under 57 % of the total national funding. By comparison, the proportion of funding for the conversion of private and corporate forests, which cover around 67 % of the total forest area, was lower at an average of 40 %. Given the additional GAK funding eligibility status, this relationship has been reversed as of 2020. In 2020, private and corporate forests received 62 % of the funding.
118 - Bolte A., Höhl M, Hennig P., Schad T., Kroiher F., Seintsch B., Englert H., Rosenkranz L. 2021: Zukunftsaufgabe Waldanpassung. AFZ-DerWald. 04/2021: 12-16.
