Report Shows 20 Percent of Europe's Forest Damaged
Copyright 2000 BERNAMA (Malaysian National News Agency)
October 11, 2000, Wednesday
BODY: Throughout Europe 36.3 percent of trees are classified as "healthy," some 41 percent are in the "warning stage" and 20 percent of all trees are rated "damaged," said a report published yesterday.
The report on the forest conditions in Europe said these results confirm the general trend of deterioration of the crown condition for the main tree species over the past few years.
"This long-term development must be seen in a differentiated way for each tree species and for individual regions separately. There is clear improvement for western and central European regions and a worsening in the Mediterranean regions," said the report of the European Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE).
In these regions the mean defoliation of nearly all tree species has increased considerably during the last five years. For the central and northern regions in Europe there are no clear trends, the report said.
With the results of the crown condition assessment and of the intensive monitoring program in European forests, the report said that on average the crown condition (defoliation) in Europe between 1992 and 1999 worsened on approximately 30 percent of the observation plots and improved on only 15 percent of the plots.
The report showed there is no overall improvement of the vitality of the forests and that great regional differences in development of the situation exist.
But it emphasized that further reduction of emissions is still needed to guarantee the multiple functions of forest in Europe as a basis for a sustainable forest management.