"Podgorica has suffered a great loss of surface which was under tree vegetation over the last few decades, and the main reason for this is from humans, which is reflected in irresponsible and unmanageable space management. Significant areas both in the suburbs and in the city’s core are lost," stated the proposal of the initiative submitted by KOD members Mirza Krnić, Vladan Laković, and Darko Zarubica. The organization KOD expressed its willingness to present the city authorities a way of funding the action, the model choice for seedlings and the proposal of areas on which 100,000 seedlings should be planted.
"We also demonstrated the willingness to help in the planning of the dynamics of this process. The areas that need to be covered are very different, starting from planting trees where they do not exist to larger areas. With this project, we would make the citizens active again and provide the opportunity to involve companies that would consider it appropriate. Funding is possible to be provided by the donor support, but it would be necessary to include companies that are the biggest polluters and those who have cut most trees in the past period," said the initiative. They informed the mayor that they are ready to provide their full support in the realization of this proposal.
"In May 2014, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism published the Plan for Planning and Regulation of Public Disputes in Montenegro, within the LAMP Project (Land Administration and Management Project), which states that 'in the structure of the city it is customary that the green areas occupy 15 - 50% of the total urban area. The standard for the old urban unit is about 5-15 m2 per inhabitant, while the normative for new towns and settlements is about 25-50 m2 per inhabitant. With a naked eye it can be seen that many parts of the city have not even met this criterion, and the 100,000 trees initiative can help to meet the goals already proclaimed by the competent authorities and state institutions," reported the organization. They indicated that this action would remind everyone that Montenegro, with Clause 1 of its Constitution, is defined as an ecological state. Trees, or forests in general, play an important role in preventing the flood and land erosion. Forests are an outstanding filter for getting drinking water, cleaning up a polluted atmosphere, reducing noise... These are all the problems with which the city's core Podgorica and/or its suburbs are dealing with and could become bigger in the future. Therefore, this initiative represents, in addition to addressing the existing problems, an adequate response to the upcoming issues," said KOD.
The KOD organization mentioned an example of Pakistan with a population of 197 million and a GDP of 1,300 euros per capita, almost five times less than in Montenegro.
"In Pakistan, in 2017, a two-year action of planting a billion trees is completed, and this is only in part of the country, and is expected to continue throughout the country. Therefore, over five trees per inhabitant, in Pakistan. This is how forests are being made in Pakistan. This project cost EUR 169 million. The project is part of the efforts to rebuild the forests that have been exposed to cutting and natural disasters, "KOD made the comparison. And New Zealand has similar plans - planting one billion trees, which would mean almost 200 per capita. For this project, the Government announced a new EUR 240 million, which makes the total budget of EUR 485 million. They understood that this was very important in the struggle with the climate changes," reminds KOD.
They reminded of the example of Montenegro, which had exported roughly EUR 108 million of crude wood only in the past four years. "We are transforming the forests into the desert, and it is time to change it. This action is the answer to this problem," said KOD.
25 to 50 square meters of green areas per capita are needed in a city, according to the standards issued by Montenegro in 2015
PHOTO: KOD
Text by Goran Kapor, on September 5th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
