The Ancient Beech Forests of Germany - The Last Witnesses (415/418)

The Ancient Beech Forests of Germany - The Last Witnesses (415/418)

The mighty, ancient beech forests, which since the last ice age have offered our forefathers protection and food from the Black Sea to the Atlantic, from Sicily to Southern Sweden, have practically disappeared. This single species of tree once dominated vast regions of the European continent. Beech trees are indestructible and resistant to practically all forms of climate change. Rain, snow, ice and even great heat can do them little harm. An intact beech forest is a closed eco-system, a type of super organism, which renews itself and creates a habitat for many fellow residents.

Since 2011, UNESCO has listed the five ancient German forests together with the primeval Carpathian forests of Slovakia and Ukraine under the somewhat unwieldy title of "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany" as a joint world heritage site.