The challenge here is that Karlsruhe City is very near to Hardtwald. And water supply,
for example, oxygen supplies and cool air, everything depends on the Hardtwald. And
that actually motivates me to keep that forest alive and to keep that forest
healthy. If we do not have a healthy forest we will not have a healthy city or society.
My name is Somidh Saha. I work as a research group leader at institute for Technology
Assessment and System Analysis at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
We have randomly selected plots of all of Karlsruhes forests and also outside the city
and also inside the city. Here we are in the plot where we are measuring the trees. Their height,
their size, so that we can calculate the ecosystem services. We are measuring how many species are
there, and we are also measuring ecological processes like photosynthesis, for example,
how much CO2 a tree can sequestrate in a par unique time and a par unique area. And also
we are measuring how much CO2 is getting out of soil. So our ultimate goal is to quantify
the potential of this area, whether the forest can be resilient to future or not.
We have found that 25% of the trees that we have surveyed have a bad health. However,
we also found that a lot of carbon and a lot of benefits these trees are
providing. And this is a big problem of our time and of our region that
many trees near Karlsruhe city in the Hardtwald are actually dying.
So in my opinion, we should not take a do nothing approach, but we should give nature
a chance and at the same time we should intervene. We should have more diversity in the forest like
more species which are tolerant to future drought. And that is one of our main goal of research to
know which tree species can do better in the future. And how to increase the biodiversity of
the forest so that it can survive and become more resilient to climate change impact.
For example, the Kings of Baden - they already introduced multiple tree species
in the 19th century. For example Quercus rubra, or Roteiche, redoak . They are doing quite well,
but they may also have a problem in the future. So we need a balanced approach.
Sometime I also feel very sad because that's true. That we are losing our trees in a very high rate.
But as a scientist, I also see a hope. The hope is that we need to work together hand
in hand with the nature. Solutions should not be created only based on science and engineering,
but should be close to nature. For example, having right species at
right place or promoting biodiversity. Then we can create a forest which is more resilient.