Rio Undergoes “Tree Relocation”, Receives Requests for Almost 100 Prunings per Day

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio‘s locals have observed leafy trees giving way to nearly two-meter-high stumps on sidewalks and flowerbeds on important roads in Rio’s neighborhoods. The procedure is part of what the municipality is calling “tree relocation”, which involves rectifying problems with trees planted in the wrong places.

Besides, after the storms and 100-km/h winds that struck the city in February and April of this year — which knocked down over 300 trees in the city — residents have intensified requests for pruning and tree felling on the 1746 call-in number, to nearly 100 per day.

According to Tarquínio de Almeida, president of Comlurb (Rio’s Sanitation Service), people were concerned about the large trees. The very old ones were sharply tilted after the windstorms. In Rio, there are more than one million trees in urbanized areas, that is, streets and squares.

In an attempt to solve what it terms “a demand that has been stifled for more than forty years,” Comlurb is carrying out a relocation program to readjust the species to urban spaces and ensure optimal plant coverage for the city.

“We have a suppressed demand of over forty years. We would have to carry out around 6,000 tree relocations per month to readjust the trees to the urban area,” he said.

The president of Comlurb says adjustments need to be made even in the case of native species. “They should not be in urbanized areas, such as streets and squares, because they place the population at risk,” he explains.