“Our trees deserve to be seen!” Under this title, the Ministry of the Environment, together with the Nature and Forest Agency, is launching a new information and awareness campaign to draw people’s attention to ‘remarkable trees’ and raise awareness of their importance.
In Luxembourg, around 240 of these exceptional trees have so far been officially recorded and placed under special protection. The campaign also invites the public to help identify potential remarkable trees that could be protected.
Classification criteria
More than 300 years old, with a circumference of over five metres, and the status of a historic liberty tree, the oak tree in Moutfort near ‘Roudebësch’ is one of the 240 ‘remarkable trees’ currently listed and protected in the national register. To be classified as such, a tree must meet certain criteria.
Martine Neuberg, head of the Forest Department from the Nature and Forest Agency explained that these criteria may include a thick trunk, a very broad crown, or the tree’s age, which plays a particularly important role.
In some cases, the shape of the tree can also be decisive, she said, such as trees growing on a rocky outcrop and clinging on in that specific location. Trees planted to mark a particular event, for example a historical event, may also be taken into account, according to Neuberg.
Anyone who has such a special tree on their land, or sees one somewhere in nature, can report it to the Nature and Forest Agency.
Neuberg explained that people can fill in a form with a description of the tree, upload a few photos, add a signature, and send it back through the official channels.
She added that the agency then collects the proposals and analyses whether the tree genuinely has the required characteristics. If it does, it is added to a pool of candidates, from which the trees ultimately selected for future classification as ‘remarkable trees’ are chosen, she said.
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Up to 75% of costs covered
Once a tree is added to the register of ‘remarkable trees’, it is protected under the nature conservation law.
Environment Minister Serge Wilmes explained that this means it must be properly protected. Its root area or crown may not be cut, and people cannot simply carry out work near the tree, he said.
If it is located on private property and work is needed to secure it, provided this work is carried out in compliance with the rules, up to 75% of the costs can be covered through subsidies, according to Wilmes.
Storing CO2 and preserving biodiversity
The Nature and Forest Agency stressed that it is important to protect such remarkable, and above all old, trees, because it takes an extremely long time for a new tree to reach such a unique size and store the same amount of CO2.
At the same time, these old trees provide important habitats for many animal and plant species, making a key contribution to preserving biodiversity.
Further information on the national register with its 240 listed trees and on the option to propose trees for classification as ‘remarkable trees’ can be found in French on emwelt.lu and arbresremarquables.lu.
