The group Los Árboles Hablan has organised a demonstration outside Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Hall this Friday, July 26, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., to request the mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez (Coalición Canaria), to show mercy to these living entities.
In a statement, the group emphasises that “given the critical neglect and abuse of the city’s trees by Parks and Gardens and the Department of Public Services and Strategic Planning under the management of Carlos Tarife, the collective #thetreesspeak urges the citizens of Santa Cruz to save the trees.”
According to the organisation, the Santa Cruz City Council is presently “allowing many of the old and large trees in various areas of the capital to die of thirst” due to the lack of irrigation. Multiple organisations such as @iniciativas10, the Santa Cruz Tree Table, and #The trees speak have urged residents on social media to water the trees near their homes and businesses to prevent their demise. The organisation reports that in recent days, hundreds of people from the city centre, El Toscal, Tomé Cano, Pino de Oro, and other neighbourhoods have joined in watering the trees.
“The Santa Cruz City Council is implementing an unethical tree killing strategy, termed the tree-killing cycle by #thetreesspeak,” the group claims. They outline the council’s actions – planting trees in inadequate pits, failing to water or fertilise them, subjecting them to aggressive pruning, neglecting pest control, allowing them to dry out, cutting their roots in development areas, or simply felling them due to non-inclusion in new urban projects. Eventually, the trees wither, are cut down, and replaced by a new tree that faces the same fate.
“This tree killing is morally unacceptable,” they state, arguing that it contradicts the recommendations from the Spanish Government and the EU to combat climate change and safeguard “the health and quality of life for urban residents.”
The group continues to criticise the Santa Cruz City Council, highlighting the disparity between their loud promotion of sustainability and establishment of sustainable Foundations to secure European Funds juxtaposed with their actual practice of mass tree-killing of old, large trees, the botanical heritage of Santa Cruz citizens. They stress the adverse impacts – rising temperatures, reduced shade and moisture leading to the heat island effect. The lack of trees also escalates environmental pollution and endangers vulnerable individuals during heatwaves, they argue.
In response to Councillor Tarife’s remarks boasting of felling 194 trees but planting 447 with a “positive balance,” #thetreesspeak deems the cutting down of a single tree due to inadequate maintenance as a “failure and an ecocide”. They advocate for proper tree care instead of felling them, citing risks to public safety from falling branches when trees are not maintained adequately.
Emphasising that no tree can be simply replaced, they stress the duty of the councillor, technicians, and Parks and Gardens company to plant, water, fertilise, and care for thousands more trees. They call for a proliferation of well-tended trees and plants in Santa Cruz’s streets, squares, and parks, promoting green roofs, urban gardens, and floral displays to combat the emergence of asphalt and barren landscapes in the city and its environs.
“We urgently appeal for the watering, fertilisation, and treatment of the trees. Transplantation as a last resort. An immediate halt to indiscriminate tree felling,” they conclude.
