Dead pine trees near Visp in spring 2017 (Photo: Andreas Rigling, WSL)
Dead pine trees near Visp in spring 2017 (Photo: Andreas Rigling, WSL) Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL Climate change will significantly alter the Swiss forests. This could jeopardise important forest services for humans, such as wood as a raw material or protection against natural hazards. WSL is researching these changes, developing scenarios and proposing solutions to the forestry sector and the population. Climate change is progressing much faster in the Alps than in other regions of the world. In future, a number of tree species will no longer thrive optimally in their current locations, including the economically important spruce and, in certain locations, the beech, which is currently predominant on the Central Plateau, or the Scots pine, which is widespread in Valais. This has consequences for timber yield and revenue, the protective effect of the forest against natural hazards, biodiversity and also the landscape. The risk that the future forest will be less able to provide important services for humans due to climate change is increasing rapidly.
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