The objective seemed grandiose, even untenable. During the last municipal electoral campaign, the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, promised to plant “170,000 trees” over the entire term of office. More than a third of this objective would be achieved, according to the presentation of the results of the second year of the “Trees plan” this Monday afternoon in the Paris Council committee. “More than 63,000 trees have been planted since the start of the mandate,” announced Christophe Najdovski, deputy for greening, who recalls that more than 25,000 trees were planted during the last planting season, in 2022-2023.
This year, like last year, the majority of trees planted by the city were in the woods and on the embankments of the ring road. Of the 25,000 plantations, more than 11,500 surround the urban boulevard, while 7,300 were used to “renature the woods”. There are 800 trees in the streets, corresponding to around 80 Parisian streets which received an average of around ten trees. Nearly 2,700 trees have been planted in cemeteries and nearly 2,500 are used for renewal, given, Christophe Najdovski tells us, that 3,000 of the approximately 200,000 trees in Paris must be cut down each year “for phytosanitary reasons”.
“We cannot take the risk of a dying tree falling on passers-by. But this figure of 3,000 is stable and rather decreasing, and fellings for urban projects are a minority in terms of volume compared to phytosanitary fellings,” reassures the deputy for revegetation.
61 to 84% mortality for the Miyawaki method
The plantation figures are dizzying and unverifiable for the average person. Above all, they are more and more gigantic, without the Parisian landscape seeming to reflect these thousands of trees announced with great publicity. “This planting season is going to be an absolutely impressive season, we are going to plant 40,000 trees in Paris,” announced the mayor herself, for example, during the presentation of the climate plan to the press. But can we include small forest plants of a few centimeters in the count, in the same way as shrubs or small trees 10 or 20 years old? “We still don’t know what type of plantations these are,” laments elected environmentalist Chloé Sagaspe.
Especially since many of these plantations are carried out using a method with very high mortality, the Miyawaki method. “Developed by the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, it consists of densely planting tree species native to the region. This density is doubly beneficial for their development. Underground, it creates a strong root synergy between the trees; in the open air, it gives rise to virtuous competition for access to light”, explains the town hall on its website. But a European study reports 61 to 84% tree mortality 12 years after planting.
“An acorn is a tree”?
However, the plantations on the ring road would largely be carried out using the Miyawaki method, criticizes the Changer Paris group: “The figures for the woods and the ring road allow the City to “inflate” its statistics”. “63,000 trees doesn’t mean much, it’s misleading. Essentially, they plant stems. We need to see how many trees will thrive. And before these trees are a source of freshness, it’s at least 30 years of waiting, and they will not all reach 30 years” comments Véronique Baldini, Paris councilor for the 16th arrondissement responsible for green spaces and the cleanliness.
Asked about this subject by 20 minutes at a press conference to present the Climate plan, Anne Hidalgo pretended not to understand the question: “We didn’t have fun putting [dans le décompte] all the little thoughts, we planted small shrubs in the woods and we also plant very large trees, and in the squares there are trees that are between 10 and 15 years old.” A stratagem which allows him to avoid criticism, without responding to it. Later, during a smaller committee meeting, the mayor and her first deputy persisted: “An acorn is a tree.”
“We will not have 170,000 trees in the end, when we plant forests there is a natural selection that takes place,” admitted Christophe Najdovski more humbly, interviewed last year on this subject.