Berlin will become the city of a million trees. By 2040, a tree is to be planted every 15 meters on all streets of the German capital. Berlin authorities committed to implementing this ambitious plan when support for the initiative was confirmed in a referendum.
The capital of Germany will implement the largest investment in greenery in the city's history. After last year's success of the referendum initiative, when PLN 33,000 was collected in just six weeks. signatures, at the beginning of November the capital's parliament adopted new regulations that are to change the appearance of the German metropolis within 15 years.
– In one generation, this will be a truly beautiful city – tells PAP Heinrich Stroessenreuther, spokesman for the Baumentscheid initiative.
The new law obliges Berlin to plant 700,000 trees on the streets. Not in parks, not in forests, but exactly where residents live and work. Today, there are approximately 400,000 plants growing in the city. street trees, of which 100 thousand by 2040 will need to be cut down due to disease or safety hazards. Without intervention, the number of trees would drop to 300,000.
Currently, the Berlin authorities are legally obliged to do so for every tree cut down, three new ones should be planted, and by 2040, a tree will appear every 15 meters on every street. This is already standard in many parts of Berlin, but now it will be the same throughout the entire metropolis of nearly four million people.
The green transformation of the German capital is expected to cost EUR 3.2 billionone billion of which has already been secured from federal funds. These are not only plantings, but also investments in improving the condition of existing trees, because today more than half of them are in poor condition.
One of the most urgent tasks is to improve the situation in 170 parts of the city considered “heat islands”. It is there, in densely built-up quarters with residents with average earnings lower than the average in Berlin, that the summer temperature rises the fastest. The city authorities want to reduce the temperature in these zones by two degrees Celsius during hot weather, and the way to achieve this is, among others, squares every 150 meters and larger parks every half a kilometer.
It will be an important task a list of tree species that the local administration will update every few years. The selection will take into account climate forecasts for the next half a century, planting experience, biodiversity needs, as well as allergy issues. Appropriate selection is crucial because it will determine whether the trees will survive the increasingly hotter summers. According to forecasts, in 2040 the number of hot days will be much greater than today.
Residents themselves are also to be invited to cooperate. It is expected making it easier to plant flowers around and under trees and the possibility of planting them. A tree map platform is intended to help with this, and its creation will take about a year.
– We are preparing a digital planting process. We want it to be possible to report the desire to plant flowers or a new tree with one click, explained Stroessenreuther. – You go into the application, you see: “There are no flowers here.” You click to plant. You do it for private money, and the area becomes nicer, he added.
Stroessenreuther admitted that plantings will sometimes require reducing the number of parking spaces or narrowing the road. But – as he argues – it has to be done gradually. – The trick is to plant just a few trees at first so that people say, “Oh, cool.” And then after five years another one and so on. As a result, trees will be built every 15 meters without any major rebellion, he emphasized.
In the German capital, this approach is supported by the decline in the number of cars – over the last five years, their number has decreased by 15%. And less pressure on parking spaces allows you to think about the city differently. – The Berlin parliament can reduce resistance thanks to a good car-sharing policy, e.g. every tenth seat is for shared cars – noted Stroessenreuther.
There was broad support for the initiative, although some raised arguments about the need to save money or underfunding of schools and hospitals. Some drivers also had doubts. However, the organizers ensured a broad coalition of groups supporting the initiative. Logos of various organizations were intentionally placed together on the leaflets. The eyes of Green voters were attracted by ecological ones, the Social Democrat electorate was attracted by associations of allotment gardeners' associations, and the Christian Democrats were attracted by business associations and entities responsible for supplying trees and Protestant churches.
Interestingly, the organizers' data show that support for the initiative was greatest among seniors. 88 percent were in favor of it. people over 65 years of age. The lowest rate was among young Berliners – 72%.
Politicians were supposed to be convinced by economic benefits, Stroessenreuther believes. Therefore, in his talks with them, he raised the argument that each day of heat equals a loss of productivity equal to half a day of strike, which in the perspective of the upcoming hot years may mean losses amounting to billions. Politicians also quickly realized that the referendum, if held, had a good chance of success, and they could be seen as having blocked it.
– There are a lot of pilot projects in Germany, but there is no grand plan, with a budget and legal obligations. Berlin is a pioneer here – emphasized Stroessenreuther in an interview with PAP. He also recalled the moment when he understood the personal dimension of the action. – I invited 10 people collecting signatures to my house. I asked why they were doing this. One woman said honestly: “Collecting signatures is no fun. But I do it for my children,” he reported.
Although every law can be changed, in this case it is difficult to expect such a decision. There are already success stories of other similar civic initiatives in the German capital, such as the ban on the development of the huge area of the Tempelhof airport, which is now a park, an open space for artistic initiatives, or a skate park. Politicians know that changing the purpose of this area would result in residents' dissatisfaction, and opposing their will would not make them popular.
From Berlin Mateusz Obremski (PAP)
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