BERLIN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bundeswehr was investigating an aid mission in German forests to contain the devastating bark beetle plague, the German Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday.
"In view of the immense challenges in combating the bark beetle plague in various regions of Germany," the Bundeswehr had received "various requests" for support within the framework of administrative assistance, according to the ministry.
"Precise technical discussions are to be conducted with the participation of the affected persons at local level," it announced.
The defense ministry was requesting the federal states to "contact the relevant state commandos so that the necessary measures can be initiated in the event of the need for assistance".
An article in the Basic Law provided for administrative assistance by the Bundeswehr, although such assistance would not constitute a formal deployment and was limited to technical support such as accommodation, supply or transport.
"The situation in the forests is particularly dramatic at the moment," Lars Hoffmann, press spokesperson for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Germany told Xinhua.
"In addition to the historical monocultures of coniferous trees, there are other factors such as storms and drought, which exacerbate the current problems of the German forests with the bark beetle," Hoffmann said, calling for a "systematic conversion to mixed forests, where care is taken to ensure that the trees are in the right location".
The association of German forest owners (AGDW) described the situation in German forests as the "catastrophe of the century" because of the bark beetle plague, extensive storm damages and the long-lasting drought.
AGDW was assuming that in 2018 and 2019, around 70 million cubic meters of so-called damaged wood, which was essentially "beetle wood" and trees that have been bent down during storms, would be produced.
One solid cubic meter corresponded to one cubic meter, and according to estimates from the German forest owners, the removal alone could cost 2.1 billion euros (2.33 billion U.S. dollars).
In the fight against bark beetles, quickly removing infected wood from the forest is important but many private forest owners in Germany were struggling to keep up, according to the AGDW.
German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner had estimated that at least 1.5 billion euros would be needed in the coming years to save forests in times of climate change and to cope with current forest damage.
"To increase the adaptation of forests to climate change, we will need an additional one billion euros in the next few years," Kloeckner told the German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine on Monday.
