2024-05-07 23:55:21
INNSBRUCK. Today and tomorrow at Obertilliach, a forest summit is held in East Tyrol. They participate in the meeting the political and administrative leaders of the three territories of the Euregio and the competent Austrian federal minister Norbert Totschnig. The central point of the summit was the signing of a joint statement entitled “Cross-border strategies to strengthen our mountain forests”.
The declaration underlines the fundamental role of the forest for society in times of climate change and expresses the common will of Tyrol, Alto Adige and Trentino to support and protect the forest in all its functions, also through cross-border strategies. An important point of the event was the damage caused by the bark beetle. The territories are trying to manage the problems with different strategies, also with the support of the public sector.
Only in South Tyrolwere disbursed in 2023 14.5 million euros for removing damaged wood; in Tyrol were collected as a whole 24 million euros of public funds for the processing of damaged wood, the fight against bark beetle and reforestation. In Tyrol, especially in East Tyrol, the Vaia storm (2018) and the snow pressure (2019 and 2020) have “led to a bark beetle infestation in East Tyrol never seen before”, according to the director of the Tyrolean State Forests, Sepp Fuchs. From approximately 100,000 cubic meters of stock before Vaia, one million cubic meters of damaged wood was recorded. In South Tyrol, approximately 10,000 hectares of forest have been affected by the bark beetlehe reported Günther Unterthiner, director of the provincial forestry service. “The forest is not only sick in South Tyrol. Cross-border exchange has always been an obligation for the forestry sector, because the challenges affecting mountain forests know no borders”, he declared.
In Trentino, 40,000 hectares have been attacked by the bark beetle or damaged by Vaiahe reported Giovanni Giovannini, director of the Trentino Forests. This is approximately 10% of the forest area. “It is also a great economic challenge: Trentino’s sawmills need 1 million cubic meters of wood per year, which will be lacking in the future,” he said. Trentino has adopted a reforestation strategy that favors natural regeneration.
2024-05-07 23:55:21