At Berlin's Sanssouci Palace, Centuries-Old Trees Dying From Drought & Heat

https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=&w=1000&q=100&f=jpg
Sven Hannemann manages the forest surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany. Its ancient oak trees are suffering from drought induced by climate change. | AFP-JIJI

Climate change is taking a heavy toll on the ancient trees of Sanssouci, the sumptuous summer palace built in the 18th century as the Prussian answer to Versailles. The palace's sprawling grounds with manicured gardens in the city of Potsdam, southwest of Berlin, are surrounded by a park filled with soaring, centuries-old giants that are now feeling the bite of persistent droughts.

Earlier this month, forest manager Sven Hannemann, standing at the foot of an oak with a 6-meter trunk circumference, gazed up at the forest's canopy, which once stretched over 500 square meters. Now the oak's sickly branches are dotted with green. Hannemann gave the old giant another two years, "then it will be dead."

In its 600 years, the tree had withstood storms, frigid temperatures and two world wars, but the lack of rain in the last few years due to the climate crisis has sounded its death knell. "In 2018 when it was very dry, it suffered a real shock like many woody plants here in the park," Hannemann said. "And since then it's actually been shrinking." Sanssouci Park stretches across 300 hectares and has been part of Potsdam's UNESCO World Heritage collection of stately homes and gardens since 1990.

Its palace draws more than 300,000 visitors each year. The park, which counts some 26,000 trees, is now losing between 180 and 300 a year — at least three times the number that died annually before severe weather hit in 2017-18, a spokesman for the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin foundation said. Although 2023 has been less dry than previous years, rainfall has proved insufficient to counteract damage caused by past drought and around half of the trees are showing signs of distress, he said. On top of the lack of moisture, voracious insects have been feasting on the trees.

EDIT

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2023/08/09/climate-change/germany-sanssouci-palace-drought-trees/