Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
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The Swiss Forest in Brief
Approximately one third of Switzerland is under forest cover. Of the total forest area in Switzerland, around one third is located in the Alps region, 26% of which is under forest cover. The proportion of forest in the Central Plateau is 25%. At 41%, the Jura region is particularly rich in forest as is the Southern Alps region, 51% of which is under forest cover. The proportion of forest in the Pre-Alps is 34%. Switzerland’s total forest area is increasing, although the changes in forest area vary significantly from region to region. The strongest increase in forest area can be observed in the Alps and in the Southern Alps. Forest area in the Central Plateau is virtually static.
Switzerland's forests have 420 million m3 of growing stock. Of this, 30% is represented by deciduous trees and 70% by coniferous trees. The average growing stock of 359 m3 per hectare is more or less equivalent to that found in Austria and the neighbouring German federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The natural conditions in these countries are comparable to those in Switzerland.
The Swiss forest in figures
| Forest area (2006): | 12,786 km2 = 31% of the territory of Switzerland 1) |
| Ownership: | 69% public, 31% private 2) |
| Wood increment*: | 9.7 million m3/year 1) |
| Utilisation and mortality*: | 9.1 million m3/year 1) |
| Commercially exploitable wood increment: | 8.2 million m3/year 4) |
| Wood harvest 2009: | 4.9 million m3/year 2) |
| Wood consumption: | approximately 10 million m3/year (including reuse) |
| Employees in the forest sector: | 5,752 (corresponds to 4,881 full-time positions) 3) |
| Employees in the wood, chemical pulp and paper industries: | 87,616 (of which 75,198 in the wood sector) 3) |
* Stemwood with bark, bole brushwood and stump, not including branch wood (LFI3)
Sources:
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