In Paris, the tree at the center of all attention

"We have never planted so much for 150 years, and never so little felled": the deputy in charge of revegetation Christophe Najdovski contemplates the 80 trees planted during the winter on a once "very mineral" square in the XNUMXth arrondissement .

A fine example, for the town hall, of the 25.000 trees planted over this period throughout the capital.

Same arrondissement, different tone when Thomas Brail, founder of the National Tree Monitoring Group (GNSA), presents a dozen mountain ash trees planted near the ring road, "50 cm from the wall, facing south with direct reverberation, without watering. ."

"Well, these trees are all dead", affirms the activist, denouncing the fact of "putting them in the ground to make a number (...) and letting them die".

Re-elected in 2020, Anne Hidalgo promised 170.000 more trees by the end of her mandate in 2026. With a total of 63.500 at mid-term, "more than a third of this objective will have been achieved", underlines the town hall.

This quantitative assessment is not unanimous. The town hall "calls trees shoots of 50 cm", in particular those planted on the embankments of the ring road (30.000 in three years), castigates Tangui Le Dantec, co-founder of the collective Aux Arbres Citoyens!.

"Urban Forests"

"When they do intensive Miyawaki", named after the Japanese botanist who theorized resilient groves thanks to their density, "they are not trees", assures Mr. Le Dantec.

"The planting density is much too high, they will never all reach adulthood", he underlines.

And when Christophe Najdovski is pleased that the felling rate "has decreased by around 20% for twenty years" to reach 1,5%, or 3.000 trees per year, Philippe Raine, Unsa union representative of lumberjacks-pruners of the city, deplores "all the work at the foot of the trees" which has "consequences for their durability and are a source of infections".

For opponents of Anne Hidalgo, the "Miyawaki forests" are synonymous with the "urban forests" that the elected socialist had promised in 2020 on prestigious sites: Opéra Garnier, Gare de Lyon and Hôtel de Ville.

Due to technical infeasibility, the first two were buried, the mayor keeping the hope of greening the forecourt of the Town Hall. In the meantime, the executive has found three other sites, including Catalonia Square (XIV) where work is underway.

Elsewhere, the greening of the capital is undeniably seen in many neighborhoods, especially in the hundred or so "school streets" where trees have replaced cars.

The 800 trees planted during the last season in the streets themselves "will be present in 100-150 years", assures Christophe Najdovski.

Objective 300 hectares

For this, the town hall, which has a huge nursery in Rungis (Val-de-Marne), is seeking to diversify its species in the face of global warming. "The Byzantium hazel, the Montpellier maple are more suitable, while the beech, which needs water, will migrate north", explains Emmanuel Grégoire, the town planning assistant.

Monday in city council, Mr. Grégoire will present the future local urban plan (PLU) which must dictate the evolution of Paris until the middle of the century.

The majority on the left promises to create 300 hectares of additional green space there – new or currently not open to the public – in order to reach the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 10m2 per inhabitant.

For now, only 53 hectares are guaranteed. "It's doable on one condition: put there an energy and a political bearing that we have never seen before," enthuses the elected EELV Emile Meunier.

But for Unsa, the leading union among Parisian green space agents, the city's ambitions are untenable given the reduction in staff.

"Everyone is leaving, while we have been warning for years about the need for a salary increase. Private boxes pay much better", laments Philippe Raine.