In the face of the climate crisis and high temperatures this summer, the coordinator of the environmental party Alianza Verde, Juan López de Uralde, recalls that the trees are excellent allies to combat the heat: “People demand more and more greener cities to live better; it’s incomprehensible to see cases like the massive felling of trees in Marrutxipi in Donostia.”

In the proposal submitted to the Government of Spain, the party has put on the table measures to protect and maintain the city’s trees, including a legal status for the trees to be legislated as living beings and not as objects.

López de Uralde has highlighted the importance of trees in the quality of life of cities: “They help improve air quality, balance climate and water cycle, favor biodiversity, are useful to combat noise pollution, also to reduce temperature, and offer oxygen, food, shade, shelter. They are necessary and essential from an ecological point of view, but they are also closely linked to social and community life”.