“Climate change has arrived, action must be taken now.”
These are the words of Volker Zahner, forest scientist and one of the two interlocutors who are exchanging ideas this Sunday in the Markt Schwabener Bürgersaal. “Forest and people” is the topic of the 109th Sunday meeting, to which the organizer of the discussion series, Bernhard Winter, invited. Volker Zahner is a forest scientist and professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Weihenstephan. Wildlife and zoology are among the focal points of his research. His counterpart is Hubert Weiger, conservationist and former chairman of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland. It is obvious that climate change also plays a role in this debate, which also deals with the crisis of the forest in Germany.
In some parts of Germany, large-scale dying of forests can be observed, says Hubert Weiger. This is a topic of central importance for society as a whole and also for politics, because it affects us all. Unfortunately, the passionate nature conservationist, who not only led the BN Germany for twelve years, but also the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern for 16 years, regrets that the explosive nature of the topic is still not clear to everyone, and the effects that the dying of forests can have in Germany will have on the climate, not everyone is aware of. Politicians must be made more aware of this, because the forest is a living intergenerational contract that must be preserved. Weiger poses the rhetorical question of what has to happen in order to achieve a different state, to slow down the situation and turn it into a positive one. How could this problem, which is obviously there, simply be ignored? There was silence on the subject. The forest is in an existential crisis, large parts of the German forests are diseased and this is a clear consequence of climate change, according to Weiger.
Volker Zahner agrees. Climate change has arrived. In his opinion, however, the forest is only partially dying, not all of it. The hot, certain tree species that man has brought to the lowlands are endangered. However, he believes that the discussion about it in society and in politics is definitely going on. But you also have to be aware that the forest is not just a field for wood, but also a living space: a separate ecosystem from which you can only take as much as you can handle. The functioning of this ecosystem must have priority, to which the use of the forest is subordinate, as this is the only way to prevent the forest from dying. “The animals also have specific and important tasks within this ecosystem. The interaction is what matters here,” says Zahner: A very complex system that should be viewed with reverence.
It must be managed more sustainably. Unlimited access to resources, which is operated worldwide in the spirit of capitalism, harms the preservation of nature everywhere. “We have to think within limits again,” says Weiger.
Some of the listeners in the well-filled room took the opportunity offered by organizer Bernhard Winter to make their opinions heard or to ask questions. Main topic: wind power, i.e. the planned construction of wind turbines in the Ebersberg Forest, the thrust: In principle, nobody has a problem with five wind turbines, you can overlook it, but the point is: when will it stop? After installing five wind turbines, what speaks against building another five and then another five? That is a problem. Because in concrete terms it is about: How many wind turbines can a forest tolerate? Forest scientist Zahner has a clear opinion on this: “I like wind turbines on the field or on the motorway better. Of course I’m not against wind power, but I think there are better places.” The forest has its own microclimate and the more you intervene there, the more it changes.
The next encounter is already certain. Between Angelika Niebler, Member of the European Parliament and Kerstin Schreyer, Member of the Bavarian State Parliament, Bavaria, Europe and the world will be the focus on September 11th.