Seventeen organisations and associations (ATAN, the Tree Table, Vamos Movernos, the Canarian Environmental Coordinator, the Tree Watchers of Gran Canaria, and the community groups Urban Centro El Perenquén, Rambla de Pulido, El Toscal de las Tribulaciones, La Ninfa Ifara and La Arboleda, among others) participated yesterday in a demonstration organised by Los Arboles Hablan and Initiatives10 to protest against the “indiscriminate” logging of urban trees carried out by the Santa Cruz City Council and other municipal bodies.
Over fifty individuals gathered in Weyler Square in the capital to present a manifesto advocating for trees, which they described as “defenceless against the ongoing felling and aggressive pruning conducted by the City Council, which appears to favour chainsaws,” as expressed by the organisers. They highlighted that “one of the most recent examples is the assault on the Gabon tulip trees, destroyed last November in Orche Square, with the reasoning being a lack of substrate and allowing better accessibility for people to the ongoing works.” “This action is an attack on this space.”
“The assertion from the City Council that 100 trees are cut down while 150 are planted does not hold water, as it merely reflects a lack of environmental awareness and sensitivity, since there are still 60 fewer trees for citizens,” they remarked. Consequently, the organisers are demanding that Parliament urgently approve the Canarian ILP for the Protection of Urban Trees, which has been in process since 2019, in addition to the corporation halting logging and complying with the Transparency Law by making public the technical reports that justify the pruning, thus allowing citizens to make objections.
In response, the Councilor for Public Services, Carlos Tarife, informed DIARIO DE AVISOS that “the City Council possesses an effective technical service in Parks and Gardens, alongside a contract that we aim to tender in 2025 to enhance these services. Moreover, the Green Infrastructure Plan will be presented shortly. The city has analysed its 50,000 trees, and we are aware of their condition, which is why our actions are guided by technical reports to mitigate any risks. For every tree that is felled, four more are planted, a fact that does not warrant a demonstration that seems to be driven by political motives.”
