On National Tree Day, several Luxembourg municipalities took part in the tree-planting challenge to support reforestation and urban greening efforts.
In recent weeks, a number of videos have appeared on social media showing municipal authorities and associations planting trees.
These are part of the Tree Challenge, a campaign that originated in Germany and has now spread to Luxembourg. The initiative encourages groups to plant not just one tree, but several at once.
The idea is simple: one group plants a tree and nominates three other associations, clubs, or municipalities to do the same. In this way, the challenge can quickly result in dozens of trees being planted and nominations circulating within the same town.
National Tree Day is celebrated every third Saturday of November in Luxembourg. This year, municipalities across the country planted a wide variety of trees. In Useldange, alderman Raoul Schaaf expressed his support for the challenge, calling it a meaningful step towards the broader European goal of planting millions of trees by 2050.
Dudelange also took part. In such a densely built urban area, increasing greenery is essential. Alderman René Manderscheid explained that paving over large surfaces reduces residents' quality of life. He highlighted the town's new urban greening strategy, launched earlier this year in the city centre, as a way to combat this trend.
Today, forests cover around 35% of Luxembourg's territory, while traditional hedgerows are still present on 15% of land used for agriculture.
However, according to a 2023 assessment by Luxembourg's Nature and Forest Agency, the condition of the country's forests is a cause for concern. Planting new trees is one of the key strategies being pursued to address this issue.
