Klimawald Bayreuth won the award in the category for research and educational institutions!

Klimawald Bayreuth is a project that was initiated by students from the MSc Global Change Ecology program at the University of Bayreuth. In April 2019, three founding students with the help of roughly 250 volunteers planted over 4,500 trees in a forested area in Bayreuth which had been damaged by storms and drought. Fundamental concepts of the initiative include that planting these trees strengthens forest resilience to climate change, increases carbon sequestration, and promotes biodiversity.

In 2020, a new generation of MSc Global Change Ecology students joined the existing Klimawald leadership team to organize follow-up events including watering the planted trees and an educational excursion, “Wir entdecken den Klimawald,” which happened during Wandelwoche in October 2020. The Klimawald Bayreuth forest project is now used by a network of various interest groups including researchers, forest practitioners, and the local population. Excitedly, the project has inspired implementation of similar projects, for example, in the Höxter Climate Forest and Arisu Climate Forest Project South Korea. 

Reports on the planting campaign in the media:

• Bayern-Online.de Forest-for-Future (April 23, 2019)
• BR24, regional news Franconia (April 24, 2019 – minutes 4:30 to 7:12)
• BR24, 5,000 trees in three days: Bayreuth gets a climate forest (April 26, 2019)
• TV Upper Franconia: Planting 4,719 trees for less CO2 (April 25, 2019)
• Nordbayerischer Kurier: Bayreuth’s Climate Forest – More than 4,700 trees for climate protection (April 26, 2019)
• Bayreuther Tagblatt: 270 helpers in the climate forest: Bayreuth planting campaign starts (April 25, 2019)
• Frankenpost:  Solidarity for the climate forest (April 30, 2019)
• Radio Galaxy: Almost 5,000 trees for climate forests (April 26, 2019)
• Heinrichtsblatt, Diocese of Bamberg: Inspired by papal encyclical (May 2019)
• Deutsche Welle: Climate forest in the report Studying in Germany / Eco India (7 June 2019)
• Review on the GCE blog: Klimawald Bayreuth: About planting trees and seeing change (June 11, 2019)
• 2nd casting campaign August / Nordbayerischer Kurier: Climate change – The search for the tree of the future (3.8.2019)

Project website: www.KlimwawaldBayreuth.de

The post Klimawald Bayreuth Wins Blauer Kompass 2020 Competition appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Again, taking the corona crisis as an example, what we are doing now is trying different available antiviral drugs, convalescent plasma therapy and undertaking vaccine trials. In our hypothetical scenario with forest and climate change, the Klimawald (“Climate forest”) concept is like a combination of two methods: antiviral drugs and convalescent plasma therapy. Wherein the former is about using a certain combination of existing drugs to treat the disease, and, the latter involves transfusion of plasma from a COVID-19 recovered patient into an infected patient. Thereby, the antibodies present in the plasma of the recovered patient helps to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the infected patient. Similarly, in our climate forest, a species is selected to be planted for its ability to tolerate drought or the ability to enhance the resilience of the forest in future climatic conditions. We planted 11 species of conifers and broad-leaved trees; 7 of them are native; 4 come either from Southern Europe, the Mediterranean mountains or from North America.

Now, let us move on to the real world, where things are more complex and challenging. Just like it is not easy to convince people to adopt social distancing, it is not easy to bring people from diverse backgrounds and different interests for a common cause. “Why did we build Klimawald?”, “What was the need?” and “How far we have succeeded?” were some questions we asked ourselves. We acknowledge the responsibility of maintaining the beauty of this planet in a way that it was given to us. Centuries ago, Ludwig van Beethoven said, “How happy I am to be able to walk among the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass, and the rocks! For the woods, the trees and the rocks give man the resonance he needs.” We hope our future generations will be able to describe the beauty of forests as he did.

The project Klimawald began under the title “Carbon Offset Week” in which we – the initiators –  wanted to organize a planting campaign for people who wish to offset their carbon emissions. When the Office of Land, Forest, and Agriculture (AELF) and Hospitalstift willingly offered a hectare of land for plantation, the concept of “Carbon Offset Week” was revised. Now, the aim was not only to plant trees, but also to restore a damaged forest, and, therefore, with Dr. Gregor Aas and Dr. Birgit Thies we developed the concept of Klimawald (“Klima” meaning climate and “wald” meaning forest in German). We identified four major threats to German forests: low species diversity, long and intensive droughts, the velocity of climate change and the dispersal rate of trees. Klimawald model suggests thinning, planting diverse species, and selecting future-oriented species. We built Klimawald to acknowledge our carbon footprints, take responsibility for the impact of human-induced climate change and contribute to prepare forests for future scenarios.

Ecologist Eugene P Odum once said, “The future belongs, not to those who have the most, but to those who do the most with what they have”. In our case, we had one hectare of forest land which was converted from spruce-pine forest to mixed forest with the help of scientists, forestry practitioners, students, and citizens. Apart from the human resources, the financial resources for the project were covered through donations and support from our partners. The success of a project depends on how an action is followed up by another. In the case of Klimawald, the planting event in spring was followed by two watering events in summer. The average survival rate was about 90% at the end of August 2019.

What we learned from this project is that the knowledge can be translated into action when individual interests synergize. Klimawald also showed us a way to hold dialogue with different sections of our civil society. Some of our partners and supporters who had never worked together found common grounds to cooperate. The idea of Klimawald not only generated interest among the citizens of Bayreuth, but it has moved beyond its borders and motivated students from Höxter to develop their own Klimawald Höxter. It also led to the development of a similar project by our team members in South Korea. In the meantime, the Klimawald site has become a spot for excursion and environmental education. The project also stirred a debate on the model of climate forests. In the forthcoming year, we want to improve the project, build close networks and take further actions.

Overall, the experience of developing an idea of Carbon Offset Week into a Klimawald project was very enriching. According to a Korean proverb, “고생 끝에 낙이 온다 (gosaeng kkeute nagi onda)”, delights come at the end of hardship (English translation), and a delightful moment has arrived in the journey of Klimawald. Out of 160 projects in Germany, Klimawald is now nominated for the award “Blauer Kompass 2020” of the German Federal Environment Agency. Apart from three jury awards, there is an audience award for which the voting has already begun, and we are in the second spot as of April 15, 2020. Global Change Ecology (GCE) is an international study program and so is our team. The diversity of nationalities is a strength of GCE students. And to confront a global problem like COVID-19 or climate change, we need this strength!

We hope that the help and support received during the planting and the watering event will be showered on us again for the “Blauer Kompass 2020” competition. Klimawald was built with your participation and will stand the test of time with your participation. Because the story has just begun…

On this link, you click,

Klimawald you select,

While you press Abstimmen

Remember this simple request,

Same time again tomorrow,

On the same address,

You can vote for us,

Till 20 April.

For more information visit: https://en.klimawaldbayreuth.com/

Blauer Kompass 2020: www.uba.de/tatenbank

(written by: Nikunj Pathak on behalf of Kun Ro, Ahram Chae, Theresa Landwehr, Steffen Schwardmann and the Klimawald team)

References: https://www.bmz.de/en/publications/topics/climate/Materialie283_forest_action_plan.pdf

The post From Carbon Offset Week to COVID-19: The story of Klimawald appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“In those three days, 245 people have helped us to plant 4719 saplings”, Kun says. The 28-year old GCE student from South Korea had the idea for Klimawald already last year. “I wanted to something on the ground together with my fellow students. To have a good time and plant trees somewhere in Bavaria.” As trees (and plants in general) work as carbon sinks, because they absorb CO2 through their leaves, this would contribute to reducing our carbon footprints. As GCE students travel quite a lot due to conferences, internships and science schools, Klimawald was intended as a compensation measure for this study programme.

He proposed his idea in a project management seminar. First, Nikunj Pathak from India and study colleague of him, wanted to help in the project. “He suggested Bayreuth as a suitable location for this project. Seminar leader Birgit Thies suggested us to have at least one German speaking student in the group as this would make communication with local authorities easier.” At this point, GCE student Theresa Landwehr joined the team for the Klimawald project. Gregor Aas, head of the Ecological-Botanical Garden in Bayreuth (ÖBG) also supported the students with his knowledge.

After various attempts to contact different city departments of Bayreuth, finally the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Bayreuth (AELF Bayreuth) and the City Forestry Bayreuth (Stadtförsterei Bayreuth) showed interest in participating. “Before our first meeting with them, we were not sure how much land we would get. Normally, the landowners use it for timber production and other forestry activities”, Kun, who is originally coming from South Korea, says. The experts from AELF and Stadtförsterei proposed a forested area of one hectare and thousands of saplings. “This was very unexpected, and we were really happy about it. From this point on, there was no way back, we had to do it”, Kun says and laughs. The landowner of the forest area, Hospitalstiftung, agreed with the plans to plant species adapted to climate change.

As a next step, the team had to agree on a date when the Klimawald project should take place. “We had to make sure that students would be back from the semester break. Also, we had to take into account a suitable time for planting. Late April was not ideal, but students were back then”, Kun says. On the site, some older trees got cut down in order to lower competition for the new saplings. “Normally, the most common tree species to be found in this region are pine and spruce. Both species have suffered during the last years due to heat stress, bark beetle outbreaks, storms and droughts”, Kun says. Also, a fence was set up around the site to prevent wildlife from eating the saplings.

When it came to decide which species to plant, the opinions of experts from the city and the county were different from the students’ ones: “They wanted to stay at a scenario with 2°C warming and plant beeches and oaks, which are local native species. But we from the university thought a bit differently, as the average temperature in Bayreuth has already risen by 2°C. Gregor Aas therefore suggested some non-native species which we could merge with the ones proposed by AELF and Stadtförsterei. For example, Turkish hazel and Douglas fir, Turkish and Sicilian firs, and Lebanon cedar as they are more drought tolerant as well as adapted to extreme winters.”

A little smile hushes over Kun’s face as he remembers the workload of the project. “There was so much work involved I hadn’t even thought of. We had to design a website, a logo, organize drinks and food to give to the volunteers. Thankfully, my girlfriend Ahram Chae (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) joined our team at some point as the designer for the website.” Such projects often bring unexpected turns: During Klimawald, various media teams arrived, interviewing the students – most of all focussing on Theresa as she is the only German speaking team member. “This was really hard for her and we hadn’t thought of this problem before”, Kun says.

In the end, it was worth the effort. People with very different backgrounds and from all age groups participated: high school students, students from various departments of the University of Bayreuth, parents with kids, some professors, parents without their kids. “Even high school students from Bamberg came to plant trees, I heard that the Fridays for Future movement is quite strong there.” Another interesting side fact: around two thirds of the volunteers were women. “This is something, I see often in this field. More women are involved in environmental issues”, Kun says.

What is preoccupying Kun now, one month after the event, is the impact of the planting. “One hectare is nothing.” The forest area in Germany is around 11.4 million hectares and stores 52 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Therefore, the one hectare used for Klimawald accounts for around 4.5 tonnes of stored CO2 annually. Just to compare: Germany emitted 905 million tonnes of CO2 in the year 2017.

“I would like to extend the project, maybe introducing it in other cities, other universities as well”, Kun says. For the next five years, the Klimawald project is going to be continued in Bayreuth. “There will be a planting phase next spring. If it is needed due to droughts, the new trees will be watered once in summer. This is something new in forestry, normally, the plants are let alone.” Probably a “gap filling” is needed in October this year, as the beech saplings were of bad quality and some are likely going to die. This means, that new trees will be planted to replace the dead ones.

Is the result of Klimawald satisfying? Kun thinks for some moments and answers: “My character does not allow me to feel too much self-esteem, but with Klimawald, I was really happy and satisfied. It was a big dream of mine to plant trees for a long time.” His decision to study ecology was inspired when he read a book with the title “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Jean Giono some years ago. “This was something so simple: To plant trees and see change”, he says. And yet, Kun was not satisfied with just leaning over science books, reading through scientific papers and similar aspects of academia. “I started to lose the simplicity of action. Obviously, studying and gaining knowledge is important but I didn’t actually do anything with it yet.” Therefore, Kun decided to plant trees.

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