The Auenwald is also doing badly.

Trees with bare, brown branches tower into the idyllic picture of the floodplain landscape on the Sieglitzer Berg between Dessau and Vockerode in Saxony-Anhalt.

Here, in the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve, are the largest contiguous hardwood alluvial forests in Central Europe.

The floodplain forest is a "water forest", explains Guido Puhlmann, head of the biosphere reserve.

Katja Gelinsky

Business correspondent in Berlin

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But there have been hardly any floods since 2013.

The water reserves that are still available in the soil, in the flood channels and in the floodplain waters have decreased significantly in the drought years since 2018.

Biosphere ranger Lothar Händler is concerned: “There are locations where every second tree is dying.

This happens where the diversity of tree species is low and the trees are of a similar age.”

It is not only in the biosphere reserve that people are concerned.

Forestry is also sounding the alarm because of the many forest fires.

"A fire summer like this year must not be repeated," warned Andreas Bitter, President of the umbrella organization AGDW - Die Waldeigeneigner at a press appearance with the German Fire Brigade Association in Berlin.

Almost 4300 hectares of forest were burned in Germany this year.

A sad record.

And yet the fires are only a small part of the problems caused by heat and drought.

In the drought years from 2018 to 2020, around 400,000 hectares of forest were lost in this country - around three percent of the forest area.

A large part of the losses were caused by the bark beetle in spruce stands.

But also beeches and oaks have suffered.

Only a fifth of the trees in German forests are not damaged by drought according to this year's forest condition survey.

"Forest conversion is a generational task"

If you take the value of the wood, the damage caused by this year's summer fire is between 30 and 40 million euros, according to calculations by the forest owners' association.

The association estimates the total damage to the economy, nature and climate and human health at more than 600 million euros.

In order to reduce the risk of forest fires and to better adapt the forest to climate change, it needs to be converted.

Forest owners, conservationists, scientists and politicians all agree on that.

Georg Schirmbeck, President of the German Forestry Council, summarizes to the FAZ: "Climate-stable forest conversion is a task for generations." Creating regionally adapted mixed forests of different tree species and age groups will take decades.

How best to proceed is controversial and fraught with uncertainties, such as whether to drive forest conversion using tree and shrub species that have proven drought and heat resilience in other countries.

Which tree species are “drought tolerant”?

Scientists like the Jena plant ecophysiologist Henrik Hartmann warn that the current state of knowledge does not yet allow "clear statements about which tree species are particularly drought tolerant".

But drought tolerance alone is not enough.

In any case, in the alluvial forest, the trees also have to cope with flooding.

In addition, there are economic requirements for the wood quality.

Trees like the ash maple, which comes from North and Central America, have so far not met economic expectations, say the experts in the biosphere reserve.

Whether with or without non-native "climate change trees" - forest conversion will cost a lot of money.

"We assume that the capital requirement over the next 50 years will be around 50 billion euros," says Schirmbeck.

"Politicians have to step in and pay the forest companies compensation for their services." The Federal Environment Ministry wants to spend 4 billion euros in the "Natural Climate Protection Action Program" to improve the condition of the ecosystems.

However, the forest conversion is only one project among many and the program is limited to 2026.

The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture has recently rewarded measures for more climate protection and more biodiversity in German forests.

200 million euros are available for this this year.

In the next five years it should be a total of 900 million euros.

Association President Bitter spoke of a "milestone" to reward forest management with positive effects on climate and biodiversity.

From the point of view of the interest groups, however, the funding amount is far from sufficient.