"No life without forests"
Forest owner Markus Hoyos is the chairman of Land&Forst Betriebe Niederösterreich. He is concerned with the effects of the climate crisis on our forests and experiences the changes in his own forest on a daily basis. At "Friday in the Arena", the talk format of oekostrom AG, he talks to oekostrom AG-board member Hildegard Aichberger about forest dieback and whether biomass is sustainable.
At the beginning of the episode, Markus Hoyos describes the importance of the forest for us humans:
"We all live from the forest ecosystem. It is the basis of our existence, it produces oxygen and is home to many species - including humans. We are in a symbiotic relationship with the forests of this earth - if the forest no longer exists, we will no longer exist either."
With his business in the Waldviertel region, Hoyos noticed the effects of the climate crisis very early on:
"Between 2017 and 2020, I completely lost two hunting grounds due to the rise in temperatures. At the moment, temperatures in Austria are over 3 degrees plus, and we'll get another 3-5 degrees on top of that. This will have dramatic consequences that we can't yet estimate. It is illusory that we will be able to stay within the 1.5 degree limit worldwide. There are regions that are more severely affected - and Central Europe is one of them."
This also has a concrete impact on forest management:
"I have to think today about which tree species I can plant in the future. A forest needs 100 years or more to reach maturity. That's why it's important to act with foresight now. To find inspiration for new tree species, I looked around the Caucasus, for example. This region already has the climate we can expect in 100 years' time."
"Geoengineering is not a solution to the climate crisis"
According to Hoyos, politicians have also not yet recognized what the climate crisis is doing to our forests and that we need to act with more foresight:
"We forest owners also take politicians by the hand and go into the forest with them, because you only know what climate change is doing if you have seen it with your own eyes."
Tip on Friday from Markus Hoyos:
"I wish all the inhabitants of this planet a natural understanding. As humanity, we have forgotten how to live with nature and listen to nature. If everyone started to think about how their own activities affect nature, we wouldn't have such a problem with climate change. Let's learn to live in and with nature again."
The next episode will be published on Friday, March 15, 2024 with Armand Colard, ESG Plus, on green finance and financial flows as leverage in the climate crisis.
Freitag in der Arena" is available directly on the oekostrom AG website, on its YouTube channel and on various audio streaming channels.
