HELP US SAVE A REMARKABLE TREE THREATENED WITH DESTRUC-TION IN THE HEART OF THE EUROPEAN CAPITAL. 

Brussels-Capital, more than 21,000 trees condemned in the last 5 years, 17,000 felled and 5,000 pending, despite the motion of climatic and environ-mental urgency voted by the councils from the agglomeration and the Canopée 2020-2030 plan (Tree Charter) adopted by the City who clearly establishes that the issue of trees in the city, or more broadly of nature, is now a central axis in urban policies.

Trees have several strengths: they purify the air by storing kilos of CO2 and fine particles, they provide air conditioning to avoid heat islands, they limit the impact of cold winds, reducing energy consumption for heating, they maintain biodiversity by providing shelter for animals and insects, etc.

It is easy to understand that their presence in cities is essential to the green network, especially in large cities.

 

 

By unanimously approving this emergency motion, our elected leaders have recognized the various reports presented by scientific and academic ex-perts on the state of our planet likewise the irreversible risks it faces if we do not act quickly (IPCC - Scientists4climate - IPBES).

Various natural disasters occurred in front of  our eyes during many years: fires - devastating forest fires, canicular episodes, droughts - desertification in some places, torrential rains - deadly floods in others, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, climatic migrations, famines, soil depletion, species extinc-tions, pandemics, holes in the ozone layer, disruption of biodiversity, etc. 

On the geological scale of the planet, we are just one step away from the point of no return of this 6th major mass extinction crisis, located between 2025 and 2045, according to the experts.

 

 

 

 

In such a context, it is incomprehensible for the residents of the legendary Quartier du Chant d'oiseau, located in the municipality of Woluwé-St-Pierre, as well as the owners of the land on which a majestic warty birch tree stands, which it has adorned superbly since 1982 and which has been clas-sified as remarkable by the DPC (Direction du Patrimoine Culturel), that they will soon have to witness its unjustified felling, despite the fact the tree is also under the 30-year protection.

Both the DPC and an expert-engineer from the Water and Forestry depart-ment, specialist in tree assessment, have given formal opinions on the per-fect health and maintenance of the tree. Its heritage value is 10.4 out of 16, placing it in 19th place among the largest birches of its species in the Brussels-Capital Region. Awaiting his inclusion at the safeguard list. 

 

Despite the opinion from qualified experts, a simple municipal employee of W-St-P (in charge of animal welfare!), pricked by an excess of zeal during his weekends, during strict lockdown, surreptitiously came on the site, at the request from a malicious neighbor, without announcing himself to the owners of the tree, to issue a personal opinion of a private nature, disguised as an official opinion, thereby engaging the responsibility of the municipality, which has never contradicted it to this day 

A pithy opinion, a compilation of slander and false truths, which makes one wonder on what convincing expertise it is based to condemn the birch tree to the slaughter! contradicting the two qualified experts. 

In an even less understandable way, this unofficial opinion was then used in a legal procedure against the birch tree, still initiated by the same malicious neighbor but orchestrated by his lawyer who also holds a position as alder-man in the same municipality and who, as a reminder, participated in the un-animous vote of the motion for a climatic and environmental emergency in 2019, sitting within the College of Mayor and Aldermen.

Between 2019 and 2023, more than 1881 felling permits were issued by the municipality of W-St-P only for tall trees, placing the municipality in the top three in the Brussels agglomeration for more than 10 years. This is in total contradiction with the environmental commitments made at the time of the declaration and recognition of the climate emergency. 

 

https://openpermits.brussels/fr/arbres/2019

 

As incomprehensible as ever, both the Justice of Peace from the canton and the Court of First Instance of Brussels, which should be the first judicial levers for the strict application of environmental protection laws in view of the various commitments of the Brussels-Capital agglomeration in this respect, the stakes in terms of public health, social justice, and the guar-dians of democratic processes, have condemned the tree to be felled, in disregard of all the elements that plead in favor of its preservation. Dismis-sing the cries of alarm from numerous climate experts and the two reports from qualified experts who support its maintenance. 

This is the tree who hides the forest! 

If you too are chock by being the powerless witnesses of repeated ecocides, if you are shocked by the abusive, unfair and unjustified condemnation from a tree, in perfect phytosanitary condition, which is part of our cultural heritage and which provides many services to its environment. If you believe our leaders must provide us an healthier environnement of life who include more broadly the nature. 

Our tree, Your tree, needs all your support to press the last lever it has left, to block definitively any future felling permit issued by the municipality until he's in a safe and healthy condition, by reminding our political leaders their commitments and obligations in environmental matters. 

Every tree counts. Demand a better protection for all the natural environnement in Brussels area. 

HELP US TO KEEP THIS TREE ALIVE, ACT TODAY BY DEMANDING TO OUR LEADERS A FIRM ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND JUSTICE IN URBAN AREAS. SIGN THIS PETITION! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. 

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