Madrid’s poor quarter demands more trees to cool streets in fatal heat waves

By Charlie Devereux and Michael Francis Gore

Madrid (Reuters) – As Madrid at the height of one of the longest heat waves in Spain, the temperature on a street in one of its poorest quarters – Puente de Vallecas – measured in the early afternoon 41.4 degrees Celsius (106.5 sessality).

A few hundred meters down the street it was 38.6 C.

The difference? Part of the street was trees, while the other was shaded by a series of leaf mulberries.

According to scientific studies, trees can play a key role in the weakening of the often total effects of heat waves and, as temperatures in Spain due to global warming, play a decisive role in regulating temperatures.

However, activist groups say that Madrid has lost tree covering, especially in some of its poorer districts, and the mayor urge more to plant more.

“The difference between trees on your street has an immediate influence on your health,” said Manuel Mercadal, member of the Sustainable Vallekas activist group, which measures the temperature differences in the streets of Vallecas to raise awareness.

San Diego, part of Puente de Vallecas, registered some of the highest temperatures in Madrid according to a study by Polytechnic University of Madrid, in which so -called “urban heat islands” identified, in which the temperatures were up to 8 C higher than in other parts of the city, such as. B. Parks.

The heat is tightened by a lack of air conditioning, since many households cannot afford it, said Pablo Chivato, coordinator of the neighborhood association for Puente de Vallecas.

Frequent heat waves strain older patients, especially in patients with underlying heart problems, said Antonio Cabrera, a family doctor in a basic supply center in La Elipa in the southeast of Madrid.

“Higher mortality rates have traditionally been connected to winter in European countries. Nowadays, this is the season for people aged 80 to 90 with several health conditions, in which many of them die,” said Cabrera.

Bumper

With increasing temperatures, trees have become a political problem. The mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, has gathered more than 1,000 trees for expanding a subway line since his power in 2019, especially due to plans.

Official data show that the total number of trees has increased by 2.4% under Almeida’s guard, which was mainly in the growing districts with medium -sorts in the east of the city. All besides one of the southern districts lost trees.

Puente de Vallecas has lost 1,314 trees or 3% of its total tree cover since 2019.

Part of the loss was caused by a strong snowstorm in 2021, which killed 80,000 trees. However, many are also felled when the city begins construction projects.

The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comments.

The left party Mas Madrid has undertaken to plant 75,000 other trees so that the city has a tree every seven meters.

The law used to be replaced to be replaced, but a recent reform means that under certain circumstances, the municipal councils can create a fund in which the costs for new trees can be cost, Lola Mendez said of the environmental group’s ecologists.

Almeida’s office stated that it had planted almost 40,000 trees in empty tree pits as part of a plan announced in 2022.

The data published by the city in 2023 showed that 1,318 trees were planted in Puente de Vallecas, but covered 719 empty tree pits. The city has not published any recent data.

Chivato said his neighborhood association worked with the mayor’s office to plant trees in 75% of the empty tree pits in the Puente de Vallecas district in San Diego. But many remain empty.

(Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Michael Francis Gore; Additional reporting by Antoine Demase; Editor from Sharon Singleton)