Total of 100m EUR for forests in Belgrade

On the occasion of the celebration of the Day of Planet Earth, the Belgrade Afforestation Strategy was presented yesterday (April 21, 2010) in Old Palace, based on which over 50,000 ha of land on the territory of Belgrade should be planted with trees within next ten years.

There are 35,783 hectares of forests in Belgrade, which is 11.2% of the city territory. Experts find the afforestation project a capital project in the area of environment protection, which should be the framework for all other city development strategies. The whole project will cost 100m EUR or 10m EUR per year, which should be provided from several sources (from fees and taxes for use of natural resources, fees and fines paid by polluters, the loans given by the state, city and municipality, as well as from international sources).

The City Secretary for Environment Protection, Goran Trivan, said that the realization of that project would increase the share of Belgrade's territory covered by forests to 20%.

- We have only 0.025 ha of forest per capita in Belgrade, while the ideal would be 0.33 ha per capita. That is the standard that ensures healthy and clean environment. We have been running away from the nature for so long that it is now running away from us and it is the question where that race will bring us if we don't start protecting what we have - said Trivan.

The aims of the Belgrade Afforestation Strategy are the following: protection of nature, biodiversity and forests, influence on air quality and climate changes, protection of land, protection from noise, influence on energy efficiency, etc. The project coordinator is the Institute of Forestry.

The President of the City Assembly of Belgrade, Aleksandar Antić, said he believed that the City Assembly would quickly adopt that strategy, which was seen by him as maybe the most significant contribution that the City of Belgrade could give to the preservation of our planet and the fight against climate changes.

Parts of Voždovac, Banovo Brdo and New Belgrade are only some of the locations that are included in the afforestation strategy.