The German Sawing and Timber Industry Association (DeSH) is urgently appealing to the state government that the forest concept should combine a variety of nature conservation, climate protection through wood use including forestry.
Minister of State Michaela Kaniber announced that a total of 5,000 hectares are to become part of a Bavarian network of natural forests. This would mean that areas in the Steigerwald, Frankenalb and large parts of the Isar riparian forests between Munich and Landshut could no longer be used for forestry purposes.
The German Sawing and Wood Industry Federation (DeSH) sees the selected regions as an approach for a middle ground between nature conservation, climate protection and the regional economy. From the association's point of view, blanket restrictions on usage are wrong.
“The biodiversity in these forests is the result of sustainable forestry. I consider this tried and tested practice to be fundamentally risky," said DeSH general manager Lars Schmidt.
The qualified forester refers, among other things, to a study by the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena Forest areas lost 50%-60% of tree species.
DeSH further stated: In the opinion of many experts, the blanket exclusion of forest areas is not only ecologically questionable, it also endangers the climate protection goals of the federal and state governments.
“Wood is CO2-neutral and can be used in a variety of ways as a construction and material as well as an energy source. There is no other renewable resource that can take on this role," added Schmidt. “According to the Bavarian climate protection concept, CO2 emissions should be reduced by 55 percent and the Free State should become the first climate-neutral federal state by 2050. Forest and wood can already be used in Germany today 14 percent of emissions are saved annually.”
