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Tree alarm in Berlin: Initiative wants a million new city trees!
The Berlin Senate plans to adopt the bill for the “Bauentscheid” initiative unchanged in order to plant hundreds of thousands of new urban trees by 2040.
Tree alarm in Berlin: Initiative wants a million new city trees!
Something is happening in the area of urban greening in the federal capital Berlin. The “Bauentscheid” initiative is putting pressure on people because it has set itself the ambitious goal of planting one million new trees in the city by 2040. But the Berlin Senate, consisting of the CDU and SPD, has so far hesitated to adopt a draft law on this project and has now even forgone its own draft. As the RBB reported, this shows the complexity of the situation that developed during the negotiations between the parties.
The government coalition apparently does not see any significant need for changes in the current draft of the initiative. The parliamentary group leaders Dirk Stettner (CDU) and Raed Saleh (SPD) communicated this decision in an official letter. The bill is now scheduled to be heard at the next meeting of the main committee on October 8th, with a recommendation for a resolution to be made on October 17th. However, the initiative has already threatened legal action if its demands are not met.
The importance of urban trees
Trees play an important role in a metropolis like Berlin. They are not only air filters and shade providers, but also contribute to improving the climate and the quality of life of citizens. In recent years, numerous street trees have been felled without appropriate replacement planting being possible, which leads to a loss in quality of life. The Senate has over 430,000 street trees in Berlin, making the city one of the greenest metropolises in the world. However, the situation is tense as many tree plantings are financially and logistically challenging. The senate estimates that the average cost of planting and maintaining a street tree is around 3,000 euros.
The SPD Environment Senator Linda Vierecke has announced that she will make progress on the draft law by November 3rd. However, financing remains a hurdle: there is a need for clarification regarding the targeted sum of 7.2 billion euros, and the CDU's environmental expert, Danny Freymark, has recognized the advantages of the tree project, but rejects a 1:1 adoption of the draft initiative. The Daily Mirror reports that the Greens are accusing the government parties of not submitting amendments.
The legal pressure and the next steps
The initiative sees itself under pressure as a result of the current discussions and is planning to file an urgent lawsuit before the Constitutional Court. Co-initiator Heinrich Strößenreuther expresses concern about possible legal disputes that depend on the adoption of the draft initiative by the state parliament. The discussions and the upcoming vote in the Environment Committee on October 2nd could decide the further course of the project and thus the future of the city trees.
The discussion about city trees makes it clear how important committed action is to preserve and further expand Berlin's green infrastructure. The loss of many trees in recent years underlines the urgency of a clear political decision that takes both ecological and economic aspects into account.