No tree will ultimately be felled. The town hall of Paris backpedals after the controversy over the felling of old trees at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The majority finally announces that they want to avoid the felling of the 22 trees concerned by the “OnE I” project, which aims to vegetate and pedestrianize the perspective from the Trocadéro to the Iron Lady. “In a context of ecological crisis where the place of the tree is extremely strong and symbolic, this question arouses a strong emotional charge of public opinion which must be taken into account”, advances Christophe Najdovski, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of revegetation of public space.
The majority seems to have decided to completely reorient its planning policy. “Madame Hidalgo’s decision is to say that, from now on, urban projects are made from trees,” explains the elected official. Rather than impacting them, we design projects in such a way as to preserve this heritage. In this sense, the premises intended for the employees of the Eiffel Tower and the luggage storage which were to be built on the Champ-de-Mars could be moved.
Preserving ancient trees
The “OnE I” project plans to cut and revegetate 1.7 hectares between the Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower. To do this, 22 trees would have had to be felled, and 200 others planted as compensation. An initiative decried by environmental activists, through a petition which today exceeds 111,000 signatures. “Debiting the Trocadéro will not give the same soil as the Champ-de-Mars”, mocked Christine Nedelec, president of France Nature Environnement Paris, before knowing the reversal of the town hall of Paris. It recalled the rich biodiversity in the garden at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, a listed wooded area.
“To think that we are going to cut down an old tree, in full maturity, and that we will be able to compensate for this by planting young trees elsewhere, is not to understand nature, she added. It would be necessary to plant 3,000 trees to hope, in the future, to obtain something which has an ecological equivalence with these trees. Not to mention the 30 to 40 year time lag before these trees unfurl.
Rethinking urban planning in Paris
The project “does not respect the tree protection charter [adoptée en octobre 2021] “, said yesterday Fatoumata Koné, president of the environmental group, who voted in favor of the project. We were told that it was not possible to build elsewhere without jeopardizing the project, but obviously there has been new information”, thus referring to a tweet from Emmanuel Grégoire promising not to destroy any century-old tree. .
“We asked for an appointment with the town hall for a revised study of this “OnE I” project and other urban planning projects in progress, to see if other trees could be saved”, indicated Fatoumata Koné. A will on which seems to align the majority at the town hall. “The big change is that now we will continue to plant trees even if we don’t cut them down,” promises Christophe Najdovski for his part. Since the start of Anne Hidalgo’s mandate, 38,500 trees have been planted, including 23,273 during the winter of 2021/2022.