Call out for support for forest occupation in Belgiu,

Since the first of Juli we (an action group from the Dutch Earth First!) have occu­pied a for­est in Wilrijk, south of Antwerp in Bel­gium. So far there’s been no talk about evic­tion but this is about to change. The legal pro­ce­dures keep­ing the own­er from being allowed to cut are almost fin­ished.

 

Sep­tem­ber 15th till Ocot­ber 15th are the only weeks they are allowed to cut the for­est (this is to ‘pro­tect’ the bats and birds in the for­est), so we real­ly need peo­ple to come and help us pre­pare for evic­tion! Lots of work to be done, both on the ground and in the trees.

 

We expect the chance of evic­tion will be the great­est from Sep­tem­ber 12th till Sep­tem­ber 20th. So the more peo­ple in the for­est the bet­ter!

 

adress: fotografielaan 7, wilrijk

train to antwerp cen­tral

from roo­sevelt­plaats bus 500 to boom

get off close to the piz­za­hut (ask bus­driv­er)

walk to the piz­za­hut, go right, at the end of the road (cows) go right, first left, you’ll see the ban­ners

you can con­tact us at: steungroep.groenoord@gmail.com

for more info: www.groenoord.be / www.facebook.com/steungroep.groenoord

0032485507274

 

The area has been mapped as a for­est since 1771 and is an eco­log­i­cal­ly very valu­able oak for­est which is a habi­tat for lots of birds and endan­gered bat species. The for­est is a so called wrong­ly zoned for­est, it’s been zoned as an indus­tri­al area since 2005. Flan­ders (the dutch speak­ing part of Bel­gium) is the sec­ond poor­est region in Europe when it comes to forests, only 8 % of the land if for­est. About a third of those forests are wrong­ly zoned which means they are often threat­ened. Most of these forests are cut with­out any­one ever know­ing. So we are not just fight­ing for this spe­cif­ic for­est, we are fight­ing for a more just for­est pol­i­cy in Flan­ders.

 

The own­er wants to cut the for­est to build an office and stor­age space, but it is not clear if they have some­one to rent it yet. Their old part­ner end­ed the con­tract because the plans were delayed.

 

There’s heaps of emp­ty office build­ings in Flan­ders. With­in a minute’s walk from the for­est there’s 4 emp­ty build­ings that could be ren­o­vat­ed or bro­ken down to make space for a new build­ing. Yet they still want to cut the for­est.

 

Because they have nev­er done prop­er geo­log­i­cal stud­ies there’s big prob­lems with the water in the area. The water can’t go any­where so part of the for­est is often under water, which has killed a lot of the trees. Mea­sures need to be tak­en to ensure the sur­vival of the for­est.

 

When­ev­er cut­ting forests in Flan­ders, they talk about com­pen­sa­tion. Which is bull­shit. You can’t just cut a for­est here and plant a new one some­where else.

 

NO COMPROMISE IN DEFENSE OF MOTHER EARTH

 

Help us defend the trees!