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 great risk of 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!