Warsaw's trees will gain additional protection. All municipal entities will have to inform the public about planned cuttings and their causes. The standard of access to information for residents is one of the seven main principles of the just adopted Tree Rights Charter.
Warsaw was the first in Poland to develop uniform standards for managing urban greenery. The Tree Rights Charter and accompanying documents will unify the rules for tree control and care developed and applied by the City Greenery Board. They will now apply to all city units and district offices. With the ordinance in place, residents are to be given access to transparent information about the fate of every city tree.
Tree Bill of Rights
Replanting trees on European Square.
photo ZZW
The Charter on the Rights of Trees and the 7 accompanying standards are, on the one hand, a symbol of a change in the approach to nature in the city, and on the other hand, a real tool for regulating interference in the capital's greenery. The standards set out rules for caring for and improving the living conditions of trees, instructions for monitoring their health, and define the conditions for their protection during investment processes. The documents also contain rules for the creation and care of low-growing greenery, adapted to the ongoing climate change. The first of the adopted standards standardizes the way of informing about the intention to remove a tree and the reasons for it, and the others will be gradually introduced in the coming months.
informing about felling
photo: Warsaw Greenery Board
The city has established rules of conduct for informing residents about the intention to cut down trees and the reasons for it. It is mandatory that the most important documents on tree cutting - applications for tree removal with justification and decisions of competent authorities - will be available online, in the city's map service. The standard also stipulates the rules for marking trees with uniform plaques and the conditions for holding informational meetings with residents, who will not have to seek information from individual offices. The capital's Environmental Protection Bureau will have a database of tree cutting carried out in the city, regardless of which authority authorizes it.
Planting street trees
photo by ZZW
