Local services
Hungary’s largest urban afforestation program continued with a large-scale tree planting in Debrecen on January 31, 2025.
By the end of the programme set out in the Green Codex adopted last year by the City Assembly, including “Let’s plant 10,000 Trees in Debrecen”, the “Let’s plant another 10,000 Trees” programme and the “Forest Regeneration and Green Corridor near Tócó”, a total of nearly 30,000 small horticultural trees and 40,000 forestry saplings will be planted.
Today, 450 trees, including native field maple, Tatar maple, flowering ash, silver linden, rowan, and oak seedlings, were planted next to the Northwest Economic Zone.
More than 500 people joined the community tree planting: citizens and families who want to do something for Debrecen, young people, elderly people, athletes, company employees, civil society groups, members of the Green Working Group, DVSC handball and football players, DEAC basketball players, DVSE water polo players, as well as members of the Debrecen Charity Board, the Move, Debrecen! Movement, and the Debrecen Pensioners Association. The event’s main organisers, the Future of Debrecen Association and the Green Saint George Circle (Zöld Szentgyörgy Kör), are committed to active environmental protection, so today’s action was organised in this spirit.
Mayor László Papp, Deputy Mayors Lajos Barcsa, Ákos Balázs and Diána Széles, and numerous municipal representatives attended the event.
As László Papp said on the spot, “Debrecen has experienced an unparalleled period of success in the past 10 years. It has been the site of many successful domestic and international investments, and we hope it will continue to be so in the coming years. Many new jobs have been created, giving many thousands of Debrecen residents work and a purpose in life. However, it is imperative not to focus only on economic development, as life is much more diverse and colourful than that. In addition to economic successes, environmental protection is at least as important, significantly determining our quality of life.”
The Mayor emphasised that he was happy to see that several hundred Debrecen residents gathered here at the entrance to the Northwest Economic Zone and planted 450 trees in almost no time, for every shovel and every tree had its owner. László Papp highlighted that this process has not just begun, so it is not for the moment, as the afforestation works have been happening in the Northwestern Economic Zone for months. A green corridor is being created, its protective afforestation is taking place, and as part of the entire programme, the city will plant nearly 3,000 trees here, around the BMW plant in Debrecen, by spring next year. The Municipality is preparing to do the same in the Southern Economic Zone, where it will also plant thousands of trees and create protective forests to ensure that industrial and economic development can have a noticeably positive impact on environmental aspects and biodiversity.
Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs talked about how the Debrecen City Assembly adopted the Green Codex last year, one of the most essential parts of which is the city afforestation and fortification programme, which the participants could also be part of today. The Deputy Mayor thanked the main organisers, the Green Saint George Circle and the Future of Debrecen activists, for their work. There is an active green community in Debrecen, and many people would like to join it. This afforestation is of great importance since it is crucial to plant as many trees as possible in the vicinity of industrial zones. These trees significantly contribute to helping to bind airborne dust since only fortified areas can bind more than 500 tons of dust per year and help to neutralise 150 tons of carbon dioxide, so they have a beneficial effect on the air quality of the city of Debrecen. The Municipality is continuing this work, and more and more people are helping it.
The forest belts planted between the economic zones and the city’s residential areas are essential in air cleanliness, noise reduction, and improving climatic conditions. The tree plantings completed in Debrecen so far, and continuously carried out, are done in the interest of the people of Debrecen; they protect the health of the people living here and contribute to preserving their mental health and well-being. Of the 50 environmental protection measures of the Green Codex, the afforestation programmes received the most votes from the people of Debrecen after the continuation of the Civaqua programme.
By the end of the protective afforestation programme, the new green belts around the city will be more than 30 hectares, larger than the park forest area around Lake Békás.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
