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Description
The project responds to the need to network and strengthen interventionist activists and engage them in shaping long-term tree protection policies. Trees are a key, non-reproducible piece of green infrastructure that enhances quality of life and supports us in reducing negative impacts of the climate crisis. Currently, trees are massively cut down and destroyed due to investment pressures and laws that take into account neither the actual value of trees nor public participation in the green management process. As part of the project, we will set up a Tree Friends Academy and conduct four two-day training sessions in different regions of Poland. We will transfer knowledge and skills in the areas of implementation of interventions, campaigns, negotiations, watchdog activities and building partnerships. We will develop a joint communication and cooperation strategy. We will conduct media events, develop an information toolkit, expand the Friends of Trees map, which inspires, networks and makes it easier for residents to get access to organisations and leaders. Together with Friends of Trees, we will plan and conduct events that support their activities and help solve local problems. We will develop promotional and educational tools, including infographics, podcasts and a guide to tree protection standards. By expanding the Friends of Trees map http://drzewa.org.ol/przyjaciele-drzew (which currently includes over 240 initiatives from all over Poland), we will help residents exchange experiences and reach out to trained activists and NGOs.
Summary of project results
Trees are a key and essentially irreplaceable element of green infrastructure that significantly improves the quality of life and helps us reduce the negative effects of the climate crisis. Currently, they are being cut down and destroyed en masse due to investment pressure, limited application of good practices and protection standards, and liberalized law, which does not take into account either the actual value of trees or public participation in the process of managing tall greenery. The "Citizens for Trees - Trees for the Climate" project was a response to the need to network and strengthen the growing number of activists who act on interventions and engage them in the consistent shaping of long-term tree protection policies.
As part of the Tree Friends Academy (4 two-day training meetings in different regions of Poland: Kliczków, Wrocław, Łódź and Toruń), we provided knowledge and skills in conducting interventions, campaigns and negotiations for tree protection, guarding activities, and educating about trees. At online networking meetings (3 meetings), we informed about the actions taken in the field of tree protection and talked about a common communication and cooperation strategy, including the process of introducing changes to the tree protection law. Together with tree friends, we planned and carried out promotional and information events that supported their activities and helped solve local problems (Willow Day 2023 media campaign, field mediations, etc.). By developing promotional and educational tools (2 cards, 2 posters and a mini-guide to tree protection standards), we increase the opportunities for activists to influence, among others: on decisions of local authorities. We increased knowledge about trees and their role, among others: by recording a series of podcasts from the #SpeakTrees series. Thanks to the expansion of the Friends of Trees map (currently covering over 300 initiatives from all over Poland and available at http://drzewa.org.pl/przyjciele-drzew), we helped to act together and exchange experiences, but also to reach residents to trained activists and NGOs. Our constant organizational, substantive and legal support also translated into the effectiveness of intervention activities undertaken by friends of trees.
Participants of both online meetings and field training within the APD expressed their gratitude for the meeting and declared an increase in their knowledge in the field of taking actions to protect trees. Right after the meeting, the field training participants set up a working group on Facebook, exchanged data and stay in touch, exchanging experiences. Over 60% of the participants of the online meeting declared their willingness to participate in activities promoting tree protection standards (local advocacy, educational activities, etc.), and they very precisely specified their possible involvement. Joint media campaigns to which we invited all members of the Tree Friends Movement (drzewa.org.pl/Przyjaciele-drzew) provide a sense of community, which was pointed out by activists taking action together with us. Thanks to this, we go beyond intervention activities and focus on strategic activities leading to a change in the perception of trees and the need to protect them. As part of the "Citizens for trees - mentoring and networking" task, we supported several initiatives and built a sense of greater agency of local NGOs and informal groups. We helped prepare and implement the project titled: "Świeradów cares about greenery" (applied for by the Flins Association and financed by the AOFR Intervention Competition). The implemented activities served to introduce a higher standard in maintaining greenery in the Świeradów-Zdrój commune, as well as to spread awareness among residents about the role of trees in the urban environment, also in the context of climate change. https://fer.org.pl/dzialamy-ze-spółniem-flins-na-rzecz-zieleni-w-swieradowie/