Ministry of Environment Clarifies Status of Remarkable Trees

On Thursday 27 June 2024, Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity responded to a formal objection by the Luxembourg environmental non-profit organisation Mouvement Ecologique asbl concerning the downgrading of 400 “arbres remarquables” (remarkable trees). 

In a press release dated 24 June 2024, the Mouvement Ecologique wrote that the list of "remarquable trees" by the Nature and Forest Agency (ANF), which contains 535 trees, has been reduced by 400 trees. Mouvement Ecologique further states in its press release that the ANF has restricted its foresters in their ability to propose "arbres remarquables".

“This is unfortunately a false reversal of the facts that has led to some confusion among the population in recent days,” the ministry emphasised, stressing that it would not reduce protection and/or funding for "arbres remarquables".

The ministry added that Mouvement Ecologique cited a list of 535 trees that was not the list of legally classified "arbres remarquables", but a list of potentially eligible trees kept by the ANF.

The actual list of remarkable trees was managed by the National Institute for Architectural Heritage (L’Institut national pour le patrimoine architectural – INPA) (formerly known as the national sites and monuments service - Service des sites et monuments nationaux) until 2022. There were just over 100 trees present on this list.

However, the number of trees under protection has been reduced to 64 over the past few years. The reasons for this decline, the ministry stressed, include the natural death of trees and damage caused by weather events, as well as authorised felling for safety reasons.

In 2022, Article 14b was added to the Nature Conservation Act. This provision stipulates that the ANF will henceforth carry out the designation and management of remarkable trees. In this context, a Grand Ducal regulation was subsequently issued, which includes a list in the appendix in which the 64 remarkable trees managed by the former national sites and monuments service were integrated.

In addition to this, other trees that meet the legal selection criteria are currently being added to the list on the proposal of selected foresters from the country's regions. This aims to ensure, on the one hand, that the targeted increase to 250 protected trees is achieved, and, on the other hand, that the trees are selected as evenly as possible across the Grand Duchy.

To conclude, the ministry emphasised that the list of "arbres remarquables" (remarkable trees) to be protected is not being reduced, but expanded. “Due to climate change and the loss of biodiversity, the protection and promotion of trees is an important concern for the Ministry and the ANF, and it is precisely for this reason that the currently unprotected "arbres remarquables" should be placed under protection as quickly as possible,” the ministry noted.