Condition of German forests stabilising but still reeling from 2018-2020 droughts

The condition of Germany’s forests has stabilised in 2025, despite difficult weather conditions, according to a survey of tree canopies conducted by the German agriculture ministry. However, the forests have not yet recovered from the dry years of 2018 to 2020, and only about 20 percent of trees can be classified as healthy.

Since 1984, the share of trees that have experienced moderate and substantial crown thinning – the visible loss of leaves or needles – has increased for all tree species. In 2025, observable leaf and needle loss in tree canopies remains at a very high level, but the situation is stable compared to the previous year. The number of trees that died during the observation period also declined compared to the previous one starting in 2024, for both deciduous and coniferous trees.

"Substantial canopy thinning", the highest level of tree canopy thinning in the report, applied to about 35 percent of all trees, while the so-called “warning level” applied to about 44 percent of trees. In particular, the proportion of damaged pine trees has increased, as only 13 percent of pine trees did not have observable needle loss, whereas this was still 20 percent in 2024.

Agriculture minister Alois Rainer emphasised the positive results of the latest survey: "Despite difficult weather conditions, the state of our forests has stabilised overall," the minister said. "This is also a success of long-term forest restructuring, in which we support forest owners," he added. 

Healthy forests, which are a carbon sink, are seen as key to Germany meeting its climate targets. Germany's forests only recently returned to being a net carbon sink in 2025 after years of droughts, storms and bark beetle damage turned them into net CO2 emitters, according to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).