Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus calls it the largest reforestation program in Germany: for ten years he wants to make 400 hectares of state-owned fields available so that new forests can be planted on them. The first 750 hectares are done.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) – With a forest share of 24 percent, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is considered a country with few forests – but it is being reforested. Since the start of a program to plant trees on state-owned agricultural land in 2020, around 750 hectares of arable land have been reforested, as the Ministry of Agriculture in Schwerin announced at the request of the German Press Agency. According to a spokeswoman, another 600 hectares are being planned and implemented for the current planting period of autumn/winter 2022 and spring 2023. In total, that is 1350 hectares.
As part of the state initiative “Our forest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”, Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) wants to take 8,600 hectares and thus ten percent of the state’s agricultural land from agricultural use within ten years and make it available for initial afforestation as well as for moorland and nature conservation measures. Of this, a good 400 hectares per year are to be made available for forest growth.
According to the information, plants are planted throughout the state. It is the largest reforestation program nationwide, emphasized the spokeswoman for Backhaus. Planting trees is an important contribution to combating climate change. Due to many interests in use – from agriculture to settlement building to solar parks – there is hardly any land available on the open market for planting new forest. That is why the country is making its own areas available when lease contracts have expired, according to the Backhaus Ministry.
The environmental organization BUND welcomes the reforestation program. At the same time, state manager Corinna Cwielag calls for more commitment to the preservation of existing forests. “New plantings have a very difficult road ahead of them in climate change. We don’t know if they will succeed,” she said.
“It is ludicrous to approve forest clearing in this situation, as planned for the so-called Grabow green industrial park with 130 hectares.” The small town of Grabow in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district is planning large-scale deforestation for an industrial park on the newly built Autobahn 14.
Backhaus’ spokeswoman emphasized that forest preservation and the increase in forest areas through afforestation are effective natural climate protection measures. As a rule, the new areas would be founded with five different tree species in order to ensure the best possible adaptation to future climate changes. “The growth potential on areas that have already been realized is very good.” The results so far show that the decision for the afforestation program was correct.
