Christian Hasse, president of the German Forestry Council, spoke to public radio station Deutschlandfunk and stressed the need for greater foresight in forest management

He said, “For us, as forest owners, this means forest conversion, forest conversion, forest conversion. We have to move away from pure conifer stands and toward mixed forests.”

Hasse pointed out that wildfires breaking out in areas until recently considered “wet regions” or “zones of high humidity” clearly show how far climate change has progressed. “We need to plant,” he stressed, also noting that he is a member of the German federal parliament for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

According to Hasse, the conversion of forests has already been under way for several years, though it “will certainly take another decade” to complete.

The head of the German Forestry Council noted that it isn’t possible to immediately turn large cleared areas into healthy forests, especially mixed forests. “Everywhere, people are in the process of planting young trees,” he said, adding that if the planting happens at the wrong time, the trees risk being lost.

He concluded by saying these “are processes that take some time, and we need to carry them out faster.”