This year, residents of The Hague will be able to receive a free tree from the local municipality. The hope is that the scheme will make the city greener and fight petrification in the area.
There are currently approximately 120.000 trees in The Hague, and the plan is that the scheme will see a further 600 to 1.000 planted each year by locals. Trees will be delivered to residents in the autumn, and schools will also be able to request one.
The initiative was presented by GroenLinks two years ago, as The Hague is known as one of the most petrified and densely populated cities in the Netherlands. GroenLinks hopes the scheme will help turn The Hague into “an attractive and liveable city where we can better absorb the effects of climate change."
Other municipalities have introduced similar schemes: recently, Utrecht announced plans to plant 900 trees in honour of the city’s 900th birthday in 2022, and last year Amsterdam announced that between 8.000 and 10.000 trees would be planted in the city over the next three years.