PS urges a moratorium to protect Porto tree canopy

PS proposal to safeguard Porto’s arborisation

Arguing that the state of Porto’s arborisation is “very worrying”, Socialist Party (PS) councillors will table a proposal at this Tuesday’s City Council meeting, with the central aim of “preserving and developing the tree canopy”. The document also states that delivery of the city’s tree planting plan is behind schedule.

Porto tree canopy cover lags behind Lisbon and EU benchmarks

In the recommendation, seen by JN, the PS notes that Porto’s tree canopy cover stands at just 14.2%, “even worse” than Lisbon’s 16.8%. Even so, it remains “well below the European Union average of 30.4%, and the Nature Based Solutions Institute recommendation of 30%”.

Delays in the Porto tree planting plan and calls to curb felling

“In May 2023, Porto City Council presented the City of Porto Tree Planting Plan, envisaging the planting of trees across a wide range of streets in the city, but implementation of that plan is clearly delayed,” the PS alleges. It adds that, “of the 20 kilometres of streets prioritised for tree planting, only one kilometre had been completed by the end of 2025”.

The councillors argue that, while planting is falling behind, the same cannot be said for felling, which they say is happening at pace in private courtyards and gardens as new developments are built. In their view, the impact of approving urban development schemes that require the removal of large numbers of mature trees is being disregarded or, at best, not given sufficient weight in the assessment of property projects.

For that reason, the PS “recommends that the competent municipal services exercise particular caution when assessing all urban development projects that involve the felling of trees, in public and private spaces, carefully evaluating possible alternatives and the compensatory measures to be adopted when such felling proves indispensable, notably for plant health reasons”.

It also proposes the “adoption of a moratorium on the approval of urban development projects that involve the destruction of gardens and the felling of trees, even in private spaces, until the approval of amendments to the Porto Municipality Regulatory Code announced by the municipal majority at the meeting of 9 June 2026”.