Tree Charter (Bomencharter) - Flanders

The Tree Charter motivates cities and municipalities across Flanders (Belgium) to commit themselves to obtaining a certain number of additional trees ('the target') within the territory of their city or municipality. Started as a citizen's project, the Tree Charter aims to obtain more trees in Flanders and symbolises the collective struggle against climate change. The counting of the number of planted trees is an essential part of the Tree Charter. Some cities and municipalities work with a "Tree Counter" to keep track of how many trees are uprooted and planted in the public domain. The commitment of the local authorities is formalised in the Charter, but every authority decides on the practical implementation. Some cities pledge to plant one tree per citizen, other cities pledge to replace every uprooted tree by two or more new trees. The Tree Charter covers the period from 2019-2024, corresponding with a government term. All trees planted from the 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2024 are included in the count. Together with 178 local governments and 30 partners, 1.7 million trees will be planted by 2024. So far, more than 1 million trees have already been planted.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Community-based agreement with the support of the government

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Drought and fire risk
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Noise
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

This measure is a nature-based solution at its core, aiming to increase the tree coverage of the region to address climate change, protect biodiversity, green the area, and support human wellbeing, amongst other benefits. More specifically, the trees are intended to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, absorb the carbon, and pump the oxygen into the air s to slow global warming, protect against the consequences of climate change (drought, heat, floods), improve air quality by removing fine dust from the air and forming a sound buffer. Additionally, the trees are intended to benefit biodiversity, produce fresh fruit and nutritious nuts, benefit human health and well-being, and promote a sense of happiness amongst citizens and visitors to the area.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Support multifunctional NBS

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Tree Charter is a citizen initiative by Jo Maes. He works closely together with the “Centre for Botanical Enrichment vzw” (https://www.botanischeverrijking.be/) and “Heart for Trees” (Ilse Eelen). Together they form the Tree Charter Team. Flemish Minister of Home Affairs Bart Somers and Flemish Minister of Energy and Climate Zuhal Demir support the initiative and call on local authorities to sign the Tree Charter. The role of (30+) partners is crucial in this approach: in addition to the Ministers, the Provinces, (green) organisations, experts and many other organisations and partners play a role. The strength of the Tree Charter is that it brings all parties together, connects them and exchanges knowledge. The trees can be planted by everyone, including citizens.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

local authorities

Details about the implementation:

The Tree Charter started as citizens project in the municipality of 'Bertem' with planting 2000 trees. The municipality - together with a school, retirement home and a nature conservation organization - jointly purchased trees. To upscale the initiative, citizens contacted other villages and cities via mails and site visits to convince them to sign the Tree Charter. Ceremonial signature events were organized, where local authorities, partners and press were invited to sign the Tree Charter and plant a symbolic 'climate tree'. The Flemish government has the ambition to realise 4000 ha of forest extension by 2024. To reach this goal, the government counts on the local authorities to green their municipality or city. 269 local authorities have signed the European Covenants of Mayors to reduce their CO2 emissions and 86 of them even aim for a 40% reduction by 2030. The planting of trees is crucial in this regard.

How did the government support the instrument?:

Different Ministers have officially recognized and promoted the Tree Charter, and also made reference to the Charter on national television. In particular, the province of East Flanders has provided a lot of support and helped to mobilise the local authorities for the Tree Charter.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public local authority’s budget

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The local authorities or partner organizations fund the planting of new trees. Citizens can also plant trees via joint purchases of trees.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

Once a year (in January) the local authority receives an email asking to report the number of trees planted in the previous year. The numbers are reported on the website (number of planted trees set against the target) and added to the “Tree Counter” for Flanders. There are 3 ways of setting a target: by an exact number, a range or 'as much as possible'.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

In 2024, an evaluation of the concept through the users is planned.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

More than 170 local authorities have signed the Tree Charter to date. Together, they are committed to planting 1.7 million additional trees. It should be noted that there is no hard control on the figures: the counting procedure is based entirely on trust.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The Tree Charter is a low-threshold citizens' initiative with a bottom-up approach. Suggestions formulated by the local authorities were taken into account during the start-up phase. The commitment to plant a number of trees is part of a 'soft approach', compared to a 'hard' obligation. Partners and local authorities work in mutual trust and the counting process is very simple ('a tree is a tree'). There is a soft element of competition in the approach (to plant the most trees), but the overall objective prevails (we all plant trees together for the sake of all the shared benefits that can be generated). Cities and municipalities can 'score' with planting trees and build up a positive image. Media attention has been essential during the formal signing of the Tree Charter and planting (climate) trees together. The public count on the website also serves as a motivation to plant extra trees. Communicating together and sharing knowledge is central to the approach. The expert of the Centre for Botanical Enrichment is part of the team, in addition to many other partners with expertise (INBO, BOS+, Professors, Velt, Natuurpunt, Hart voor bomen,...). One downside is that each tree is counted as a tree, while in reality each tree has a different value. If you replace a monumental tree with a young tree, this is not noticed in the figures of the Tree Charter. The Tree Charter cannot yet weigh in sufficiently on the preservation of trees; on the other hand, the awareness of trees and their value is increasing.

Sources and further information

References

Interview(s):

The Tree Charter Team

Further documents

Documents:

Treecharter local authorities (Dutch only).pdf

Treecharter presentation.pdf

Weblinks:

https://bomencharter.be/

Photos

@J.Maes