Tasks of Environmental Forest Monitoring

Data collection is the core of monitoring and inventory. In addition to experimental plot maintenance and sampling, terrestrial surveys are the main focus. Remote sensing and modeling products increasingly complement these observations.

Structure

The department "Environmental Forest Monitoring" is part of the forest monitoring program ICP Forests and provides data for evaluations at the state, federal, and European levels.

• Inventories assess spatial and temporal changes in forest condition
• Monitoring captures time series of key environmental drivers in selected forest ecosystems and physiological responses of sample trees
• Research generate information and allow conclusions about forest development

In the course of data collection and information gathering, environmental forest monitoring assesses the stress and resilience of forest ecosystems in Brandenburg and Berlin.

The objective is to provide data-based policy advice that identifies scope for action in forestry for sustainable forest development, quantifies tolerable environmental impacts, and provides scientific justification for necessary adaptations to climate change.

The forest environmental monitoring program ForUm dates back to forest damage research in the 1980s. At the time of “acid rain”, the monitoring led to political action with regard to measures for better air pollution control. The reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions was achieved and gave the forest the opportunity to recover.

Today, extreme weather events and droughts are the focus of concern. Forest conversion measures aim to create more structurally rich and stable forests. Forest environmental monitoring accompanies these developments and provides important data for research of causes and effects.