Switzerland's forests are being reshaped by drought faster than researchers expected
A University of Basel team has been simulating extreme dry conditions in an experimental forest at Hölstein — but this summer the real forest is now as parched as their test plot.
Beech trees, which make up around 70% of the Swiss canopy, are the biggest losers: their shallow roots cannot reach water in dry soil, and many are already shedding their crowns.
Botanist Ansgar Kahmen calls 2026 a break point, saying conditions have moved beyond anything seen before. Foresters will now need to plant species that can cope with a hotter, drier Switzerland a hundred years from now.
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