“Stop cutting down trees” is the name of a petition recently circulating on social media in response to a wave of tree cutting across the country. Besides the petition, various hashtags were also launched including #No-to-tree-cuttings.

The petition calls on all relevant government agencies and ministries “to immediately stop the chopping down of trees that are carried out in violation of the law and to undertake their constitutional and legal obligations regarding the recurrence of the phenomenon of cutting down trees in several governorates at the same time.”

Lawyer Ahmed ِِِِElseidi said the petition which he started is targeting 1,500 signatures. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that over the past years, cutting down trees has increased in various parts of Cairo and other governorates. He said trees are being taken down in order to expand streets and create more room for cars and shops, and that the wood is being sold as an energy source by converting it to charcoal in coal stoves, which produces extremely high emissions which is very dangerous to the environment and human health. Trees are not the only victims as a result of these actions, Elseidi said, but citizens are also victims due to pollution, high rates of exhaust and pollutants in the air.

“Constitutional obligations ensure the protection and development of green zones in urban areas, as well as the commitment to the rational use of natural resources in a way that ensures sustainable development and preserves the rights of future generations to those resources,” Elseidi said. He added that he will file a complaint to the Council of Ministers and then file a lawsuit against the offenders.

Parliament representative and vice president of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party Maha Abdel-Nasser submitted an interpellation to the prime minister and ministers of transportation, public development, and environment. Abdel-Nasser told the Weekly that reports and statistics on environmental affairs in Egypt state that 910,000 green spaces were destroyed in Cairo alone between 2017 and 2020, in addition to the decline in green spaces from 7.8 million square metres in 2017 to 6.9 million square metres in 2020.

This led to Abdel-Nasser calling on the government to conduct a comprehensive investigation into who is responsible for cutting down trees and reducing green spaces, and to hold those involved accountable, in addition to implementing urgent and rapid greening and afforestation campaigns in various parts of the country, in parallel with implementing expanded awareness campaigns about the importance of trees and vegetation in helping moderate climate.

The campaigns would also encourage the public to plant and preserve trees, in addition to launching national initiatives for reforestation and increasing green spaces in cities and villages, which contributes to improving the environment and reducing temperatures, Abdel-Nasser said.

Giving a prompt response to the debate among civil society organisations and tree lovers, the Ministry of Environment held a national dialogue on preserving everything green, especially trees, according to a statement issued by Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad who added that the dialogue was meant to strengthen and accelerate the implementation of the Million Trees Initiative launched by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi while issuing clear recommendations to deal with trees, criminalising felling them in the absence of legal reasons, and creating a legal framework that guarantees good governance in the issue.

Regarding the initiative to plant one million trees, according to a press release published by the Ministry of Local Development, the total number of trees planted in the first phase amounted to 7.6 million for the fiscal year 2022-23 costing LE200 million.

Minister of Local Development Hisham Amna received a detailed report on the governorates’ efforts to implement tree planting related to the presidential initiative in its second phase for the fiscal year 2023-24, which aims to supply three million trees to all governorates with funding from the Ministry of Local Development. In cooperation with the ministries of military production, agriculture and land reclamation, and at a cost estimated at LE98 million, the plan includes having fruit trees planted on main roads and side streets and in villages and cities and on the banks of canals, which contributes to doubling the green area across the country in a way commensurate with the weather of each governorate, especially with the arrival of the summer season, according to a ministry press release.

Part of the presidential initiative is Shagarha (Plant Trees) which started in 2016. Its founder Omar ElDeeb told the Weekly that 27,000 trees were planted in August 2022 and two campaigns — Fruitful Schools and Eat from the Street — started on the occasion of the project’s eighth anniversary. “We aim to plant 170,000 fruit trees and medical and aromatic plants in six governorates from 2024 to 2026,” ElDeeb said.

For Asmaa El-Halwagy, chair of the Tree Lovers Association, caring for trees has been a long-life mission. She believes that those who are responsible for planting trees should take into consideration that it is a scientific process. “Each tree is ‘fruitful’, not only trees that produce fruits. Trees provide shade, stabilise the banks of canals, and absorb 10 to 20 kg of carbon dioxide. Some trees produce wood and flowers.”

Areas need certain trees and this should be recognised by those responsible for planting, El-Halwagy said. The association’s efforts towards saving trees started since its launch in 1973. In 2019 a letter was sent to the prime minister asking that the environmental impact of national projects be studied, since decades-old trees represent the nation’s memory and national wealth. She said another letter was sent in 2022 highlighting the dangers of planting fruit trees on streets.

El-Halwagy said she believed that cutting down trees should stop immediately and that raising awareness among local development employees is a must. “Cutting trees affects humans, animals, birds, and the atmosphere. Life becomes under threat.”

Sohailah Al-Sawi, board chair of the Egyptian Association for Environment and Community Services, agrees. “Trees and birds have a communalistic relationship; birds benefit from having a place to build their nests, while trees remain unharmed and not impacted by the bird’s presence,” Al-Sawi said. “By butchering our trees we are making so many birds homeless.”

* A version of this article appears in print in the 27 June, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly