Cutting down old trees in Cairo sparks nationwide outrage
In Cairo, Egypt, the cutting down of old trees on the busy Gamal Abdel Nasser Street sparked a wave of outrage on social media and television talk shows. Authorities say the trees were cut down as part of road development work, but critics believe they could have been preserved with better planning, The National reports.
Gamaa Al-Duwal Al-Arabiya Street is one of the centres of nightlife in the Egyptian capital, with clubs, restaurants and cafés. At the same time, the old trees on this street provided much-needed shade during the daytime heat. After the felling, piles of soil, stumps and branches drying in the sun remained where the plantings had stood.
Reaction from environmentalists and the public
Critics call the tree cutting a “massacre” and stress the loss of Cairo's few green spaces, in a city home to around 25 million people. Environmental activists believe that tens of thousands of trees may have been cut down in the city over the past decade.
Nader Noureldin, a Cairo University professor and water resources specialist, noted that some urban trees were between 100 and 150 years old. According to him, cutting them down means losing environmental value that is difficult to replace with young saplings. Old trees form an underground root network that enables them to provide themselves with water, he added.
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Authorities explain the cutting by the need to widen roads and build new overpasses and structures. Some critics suggested that the motive may have been financial gain from turning the wood into charcoal and selling it. Human rights advocate Nasser Amin called for a criminal investigation.
Authorities' decisions
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the greening of all open spaces in Cairo. Cairo Governor Ibrahim Saber promised that trees would no longer be cut down and that pruning would be carried out only when absolutely necessary. He said he intended to expand green areas, plant more trees and protect them.
The Ministry of Environment also instructed local councils not to permit tree cutting without written authorization from the provincial governor. Environment Minister Manal Awad asked governors to inform the government about the implementation of the plan announced last year to plant 100 million trees across the country.
