Boris may be scheming to plant new trees, but it may not be enough to recover the foliage losses London experiences every year. According to Trees for Cities, 9,000 trees were felled in London last year, which would eat away the vast majority of Boris’ proposed 10,000 planting project.
Trees for Cities works with local communities to create green areas in urban settings. The independent charity is currently campaigning to secure protection for city trees, especially mature trees, claiming that if old building are protected from demolition, old trees should be protected too.
Trees for Cities are also responsible for the Million Trees Campaign. Launched in 2002, the goal of the campaign is to get one million trees planted in London before the 2012 Olympics. Trees for Cities say that 425,000 trees have been planted thus far. But while they’ve discounted last year’s losses against what Boris plans to plant, there is no word yet what losses over the last 5 years should be compared to the 425,000 trees planted. Regardless of number crunching, it's still safe to say that trees are good.
Image curtesy of Hachimaki via the Londonist Flickrpool.