Czechs forests suffering increasing damage due to bark beetle infestation

Czech forest owners face losses to the tune of 40 billion crowns ($1.70 billion) this year from an escalating spread of bark beetle, an industry think-tank said on Monday.

The Czech Forest think-tank said about 30 million cubic metres of timber will be affected this year, a figure that has surpassed earlier estimates and is nearly double the 18 million last year.

The Czech Republic is one of the worst-affected countries in Central Europe, where spruce forests are a key source of income for the timber industry.