The environmental organization Greenpeace and the neighborhood group No to Logging have “gifted” this Friday to the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, a four-meter wedding bouquet made with branches and trunks of trees felled in Madrid to symbolize their ” commitment to the disappearance of the city’s trees”.
A dozen activists and neighbors have deposited the bouquet at the doors of the City Hall next to a banner that read “Madrid loves trees. Until logging do us part.”
In a statement, Greenpeace indicates that “there are already more than 55,000 adult trees that have been lost in Madrid between 2019 and 2023”, among which are century-old trees protected by Madrid law, such as the Himalayan cedars located within the Landscape. of Light, recognized as a World Heritage Site.
Thousands of people from the affected neighborhoods took to the streets to defend their trees, but in the end a few were saved, despite the fact that there were alternatives, recalls the environmental group.
Greenpeace advocates protecting and increasing urban trees at street level and in all neighborhoods, especially those that suffer the most heat, while criticizing transplants or the planting of young trees in peripheral parks far from the population that supports them. needs.
In Madrid, the temperature difference between the center of the city and the non-urbanized areas of the periphery has reached up to 8 degrees Celsius, the environmental organization points out to point out that the asphalt, concrete and the height of the buildings in The city forms “a real oven” and produces the phenomenon known as a “heat island”, due to which in the summer of 2023 the temperature in the center reached 40 degrees, above high risk level 2 in the heat alerts. heat (38 degrees).
Trees, argues Greenpeace, reduce temperatures by up to 4 degrees Celsius, clean the air, contribute to physical and mental health, as well as create spaces for coexistence and socialization, protect urban biodiversity and give life to people and neighborhoods. and to the cities.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that people have a green space of at least half a hectare 300 meters from their home, they highlight.
In the face of climate change and heat waves, which are becoming more frequent and intense, Greenpeace urges municipal governments to conserve and increase trees and plant cover in cities and ensure access for the entire population to nearby green spaces.
