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Writer's picturePhilip Kennedy

Weekly update: German forests at risk, 'British variant' spikes COVID infection rates

Climate change


In Germany, the climate is changing faster than trees in forests can adapt. As a result, experts now believe that it will be necessary to import non-native varieties, such as cedars from Turkey and Douglas Firs from the USA, in order to maintain resilient forests for the many demands humans will place on them.

A forest in Bavaria. Photo: jplenio via Pixabay


The German Weather Service (DWD) are is now able to identify the effects climate change has on Germany’s weather more clearly than before. This methodology has now been applied to extreme weather events in recent years in Germany to predict the effect climate change had. For example, the extremely hot summer of 2019 (when Germany experienced a record-breaking 41.2°C!) would have been 1.5 - 3.0°C cooler without the effects of climate change.


Coronavirus


Pandemic expert, Viola Priesemann, warns that Germany is now in the “worst possible situation” due to the stagnation of infection rates, a rise in cases of the ‘British variant’ and lockdown gradually being relaxed.

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