28 FOREST REPORT 2005
1.1 Forest area
One third of Switzerland is covered by forest.
Whilst the Central Plateau has relatively little forest, the southern side of the Alps is particularly rich.
The forest area continues to expand, covering each year an area equivalent in size to the surface of Lake Thun. The forest is expanding fastest in the Alps.
Coniferous forests account for 56% of the forest area and more than twice as much as broadleaf forests. Mixed forests account for the smallest pro- portion.
Forest cover
About 30%ofSwitzerlandiscur- rently coveredby forest.Howev- er, there are large regional dif- ferences.Whilst only about 24%
of the Central Plateau is forest- covered,forestscover more than 40%of thelandon the southern side of the Alpsand the Jura. If areas onwhich treescannot grow anyway, e.g. on water or above the treeline,are excluded, then the proportion of area covered by forest is even higher:41%for the whole of Switzerland,rising to 76%for the southern side of theAlps.
If theSwiss forest were tobe apportioned per head of popu- lation, then it would have tobe split into small bits. Since Swit- zerland is heavily populated, each inhabitant would receivea mere0.17hectares of forest.This is equivalent to a 41m2 square.
However, there are considerable differences between theindivid- ual regions. For the inhabitants of Canton Basel-Stadt the sides of such a square would be only 8metres, but in theGrisons they wouldbe 105 metres.
Switzerland: 30%
■ 22–29,9%
■ 30–39,9%
■≥40%
1.1.1
Forest cover in Switzerland
Proportionof forest in thedifferent forestry regions.
Jura
Pre-Alps
Alps Central Plateau
South of the Alps
29 1 RESOURCES
Types of forest
56%of Swiss forestsareconifer- ous forests, defined as consist- ing ofat least three-quartersco- niferous trees. Broadleaf forests account for25%of thearea and mixed forests for 19%.The pre- dominance ofconiferous forests isaresult of thecoolclimateand the fact that,foralong time,for- estry favoured conifers.
Increase in area
Around1840 the forested areaof Switzerland was estimated to be about 0.71 million hectares. At that time entire mountainsides werebeingclear-felled and there were numerous floodsasa con- sequence. The first Swiss Law onForestsin 1876put astop to the unchecked deforestation.By about 1995 the forested areahad increased toabout 1.234million hectares – an increase of about 70%.It should bekept in mind, however, that “forest” was pre- viously defined differently from theway it is today.However,even taking thesedifferences intoac- count, the forest areahas grown by about 45% since then. This shows that Swiss forestry policy hasbeenagreat success.
And the forests continue to expand.A study of the latest available figures shows that be- tween 1985 and1995 the forest- ed area grew by 0.4% per year, whichis equivalent toabout 4800 hectares or the area of the sur- face ofLakeThun.Every second the forest takes over 1.5 m2 of land.Thislong-term trendhas re- mained unbroken.However, the forested area is not increasing in all parts of Switzerland. The largest increase (7.6%) between 1985and1995wasin theAlps.By comparison, the size of the for-
Changes
in the landscape
The expansion of the forest is
leaving its mark on Switzer-
land’slandscapeandscenery.In
the Alps pastures and meadows
arebecomingdegraded because farmers no longer use them, which has both negative and positive effects.Traditionally cul- tivated land may disappear and with it a landscape considered harmonious and pretty, which affects tourism. Species diversi- FURTHERINFORMATION
Swiss FederalResearchInstituteWSL 8903 Birmensdorf
ResearchDept. FOREST Section Silvicultural strategies (0)44/ 739 2486
ResearchDept. LANDSCAPE SectionLandscape inventories (0)44/ 739 23 43
Swiss Agencyfor theEnvironment, Forests andLandscape SAEFL 3003 Bern
Forest Agency
SectionForest conservation andbiodiversity
(0) 31/ 32477 78
56% of Swiss forests are coniferous forests. The predominance of conif- erous forests is a result of the cool climate and the fact that, for a long time, forestry favoured conifers.
ested areain theCentralPlateau hardly changed at all.
Forestsareable to expandbe- causelessland isbeing used for farming.But the expansion of the forest isalso aresult of reforest- ation,inparticular ofprotection forests,and the legal obligation tocompensate forany deforesta- tionwith the sameamount of re- forestation.
ty isalsodeclining since species- rich meadowsare giving way to forest.On the other hand,more forest means more wilderness, which meansbetter habitats for some endangeredspecies.
■Coniferous forest 56%
■Broadleaf forest 25%
■Mixed forest 19%
1.1.2
Distribution of different types of forest
Distribution(%)of different forest types.
