On projects in the city of Klaipeda allegedly reducing the green area of the centre  

Petitsioon on adresseeritud: Petitionsausschuss des Europäischen Parlaments

The petitioner is quoting the data of the Institute of Hygiene of the Republic of Lithuania, according to which Klaipeda is the ‘leading’ city with the highest percentage of population affected by diseases of the respiratory tract, circulatory system, tumours and endocrine system. Urban pollution is on the rise, but the environmentally unfriendly projects in the city centre rise instead of diminish. The situation of green areas deteriorate since many mature trees are being cut and the seedlings planted do not have the same air-cleaning capacity of felled. The petitioner informs that in the years 2011-2013 1,615 trees were felled and 187 replanted; in 2015-2017, 567 trees were felled on nine downtown streets and 434 trees were planted. According to the current standards of the Republic of Lithuania, there should be 25 sq. km. of meters of recreational greenery per capita, but in Klaipeda it is only 10, 5 sq. m. The petitioner expresses concerns regarding ongoing projects, that are led without regard to public protests, in violation of the Aarhus Convention and are financed by the EU funds.