Belgium will host Europe’s biggest sportainment park
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Mayor of Beringen plants trees, Source: The Mayor and aldermen of Beringen planting trees / Beringen.be
This should make the city more resilient to climate change
The city of Beringen has signed the tree charter, informed the local authority on Monday. The Belgian municipality committed to planting 1,200 new “climate” trees thereby making the local environment more resilient to climate change.
The executive body of the municipality consisting of Mayor and Aldermen joined other Flemish authorities in their commitment to planting more trees earlier this week. Their pledge consists of the planting of 1,200 more trees in the period of 2019-2024.
Planting trees is associated with the reduction of the effects and speed of global warming, as they absorb carbon dioxide, explains the municipality. Trees also counteract important climate change factors like heat, drought and floods.
"In addition to the climate aspect, trees have many other advantages," explains Green Alderman Jean Vanhees, quoted by the municipal website. "For example, they are air-purifying, form a noise buffer, promote mental health and benefit biodiversity."
He clarified that the first 200 trees were already been planted last year and over the course of this year's spring. The city has also signed a commitment with the Sustainable Green Centre, in collaboration with the inter-municipal waste company of Limburg and Diest.
Thanks to this agreement, the city receives 50 climate trees every year and a one-off budget from the Limburg province, equal to approximately 50,000 euros that are to be used for the planting of trees.
In the autumn of 2020, a solemn signature of the tree charter will be organized for the participating local authorities in Flanders. What is more, as we have written in the past, several EU cities and regions have also launched ambitious tree-planting projects, including Debrecen (Hungary), Zadar (Croatia), Algarve region (Portugal).
Finally, similar initiatives exist on a global level. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has launched an initiative to stimulate mayors and local governments to plant more trees, and thereby increase the resilience and liveability of cities.
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
Naturally, many aren’t happy - not because of the reduced possibility for prayers, but because they felt it was an attack on welfare
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
Europe is striving to cut the costs of operating wind turbines on water
38,000 of these fellas help to purify the city air, so why not become friends with them?
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
As Europe strives to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, Turku and Dijon are among a group of cities seeking to reach this goal two decades earlier
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
The European Commission has published its first progress report charting the achievements of the socio-cultural movement that combines beauty, inclusion and sustainability
The 2023 edition of the creative initiative promises to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive
This initiative seeks to integrate the values of the New European Bauhaus into the European Commission’s 100 Cities Mission
Veni Markovski’s take on dealing with disinformation in the European Union's poorest country – Bulgaria
A conversation with the mayor of Utrecht on the occasion of her mission to COP27
A conversation with the President of the European Committee of the Regions, about energy, climate change and the underrated importance of cohesion policy