Dec 19, 2023 at 9:42 AM Update: 38 minutes ago
Three quarters of the trees that municipalities plant are good for nature. Amersfoort and Ede top the list. This was evident from research by Nature & Environment on Tuesday. The organization examined almost 2.5 million trees in the 28 largest municipalities.
Three quarters of those 2.5 million trees are on the ‘green list’. These are species that have been scientifically proven to be good for species diversity in the Netherlands. Like the pedunculate oak. This tree attracts an average of 450 insect species. According to researchers, this makes it “an ecosystem in itself”.
Yet not everything is going well, because 4 percent of the trees are on the ‘black list’. The researchers warn that municipalities are hardly planting fewer ‘bad’ trees.
These are trees that do not naturally occur in the Netherlands and can even be harmful to nature. Plantings of these invasive species have barely declined in the past 23 years. While municipalities themselves say they are “keep a close eye on it”.
Tree of Heaven is infamous
The tree of heaven, for example, is infamous because the tree releases toxins into the soil and thwarts the growth of other species. This species is banned in the European Union, but it is still sometimes planted.
The Canada poplar is the most common species on the blacklist. Other ‘wrong’ trees are the false acacia, the silver willow, the pea tree and the lilac.
The American oak is also undesirable. This tree colors very beautifully in the fall, but it does not occur naturally here. In addition, it is not good for Dutch nature and attracts an average of only 13 insect species.
Amsterdam has the most trees, Zaanstad the fewest
Of the municipalities studied, Amsterdam has the most trees with 259,000 trees and Zaanstad has the fewest with 20,000. Amersfoort and Ede have the highest percentage of ‘green list’ trees at 81 percent. There are more trees in Ede than in Amersfoort.
Delft scores poorly on ‘green trees’ with a score of 50 percent. But this is mainly because the species of one in three trees is unknown.
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Nature and Environment received help with the research from scientists from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and FLORON (Floristic Research Netherlands).
Beeld: Getty Images
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2023-12-19 08:42:48
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