A citizens’ association in Brussels wants to extend the ecological management of trees throughout the Brussels-Capital Region and identify the trees that will be felled in order to replant them, according to the newspaper Le Soir.
The Collectif des arbres et de la biodiversité (“The Collective for Trees and Biodiversity) wants to protect trees in the Brussels Region and set out in Le Soir this Tuesday its proposals to promote this greener ecosystem in the streets of the capital. In particular, the citizens’ association wants to extend the ecological management of trees to the entire Brussels Capital Region, and not just to the Forêt de Soignes, as is currently the case.
In addition, the collective wants park managers to identify trees that need to be felled and others to be replanted systematically. It also wants to create a fund for the greening of Brussels. The association proposes that the fund be managed by Brussels Environment and monitored by a nature protection association. This fund would thus be financed from the “monetary” value of the trees.
Thus, the Collective has proposed that the felling of a tree should lead to a fee of 2,000 euros paid into this new fund by the tree’s owner or manager, and a fee of 200 euros paid by the municipality in which the tree is located. Cutting trees without a permit during the nesting period would result in a fine of 2,500 euros. However, when replanting, a premium of 200 euros would be paid by the fund.
Brussels Environment has stated that it awaits future political decisions on this subject but points out that felling a tree is sometimes an obligation. “We cannot leave a tree diseased, and we must also diversify species better in order to limit the drying of soils reinforced by global warming,” explains Stéphane Vanwijnsberghe, Director of the Brussels Environment Forestry Service.