300 football fields of forest cut down in Flanders in 2024
An area of 209 hectares of forest – equivalent to almost 300 football pitches – was cleared in Flanders last year, under permits issued by municipalities or other authorities, De Morgen reports.
The Flemish Agency for Nature and Forests, which issues an opinion on every application, approved permits in 91 per cent of submissions.
In most cases, trees were cleared to make way for a house, road or industrial estate. In recent years, the number of permits issued was only higher in 2020, although the area deforested this year is slightly lower.
"Approval seems to be a formality, even when it comes to old, valuable forests"
“Anyone who wants to cut down trees in Flanders can still get their chainsaws out,” says Mieke Schauvliege, Flemish MP for Groen, who requested the figures from Environment minister Jo Brouns of CD&V.
“Approval seems to be a formality, even when it comes to old, valuable forests,” she said.
Brouns says the deforestation is being compensated. However, less than half of the forest promised in the previous legislative period has been realised.
Temperatures in parts of southern Europe have reached 45 degrees this week. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air, provide cooling and act as a natural water buffer, but the effect of a mature tree is many times greater than that of a young one.
“It shows that we will desperately need our trees in the coming years,” says Schauvliege, who is calling for a rescue plan modelled on the 1993 Dune Decree, with which Flanders effectively imposed a ban on concrete to protect the last remaining dunes on the coast.
#FlandersNewsService | Illustration © PHOTO ARTERRA
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