"We will take to the next meeting of the Chamber our afforestation plan for this year," said Francisco Queirós, who was speaking during the presentation of the registration of the urban grove of Coimbra.

According to the official, it is planned in the municipal afforestation plan (PMA) for 2023 the planting of about 2,400 trees, an instrument that also has about 700 specimens that remained unplanted in 2022.

"We believe that the House, considering it a priority that we plant all these trees, will be able to respond to this plan. It is fundamental and we will move in this direction, fulfilling and recovering what was left behind," he said.

According to the head of the division of green spaces and gardens, José Vilhena, 2022 was a year with "a very violent summer", which led to waiting for the end of the year to move forward with the plantations.

It was also presented the registration of the urban grove of Coimbra, a digital platform that allows citizens to view all the trees in the municipal urban space, their age and species.

The procedure for the creation of the platform cost "about 50 thousand euros" and places the municipality "in the top five of the Portuguese municipalities, in this field of tree management," said José Vilhena.

The platform allows municipal services to have access to all the phytosanitary information of the trees or interventions it has undergone over the years.

"It allows us to draw conclusions about what kind of measures we can implement in the management of the urban grove," said the head of division, noting that technicians will also have access to the platform, when they go to the field, to note updates or interventions made.

According to the register now made, the city has 26,054 trees in municipal urban space (does not account for forests).

According to the councilwoman with the responsibility of urbanism, Ana Bastos, this tool allows a better knowledge, when interventions are considered as well as identifying the risks that may exist for the trees present in the intervened zone.

"It is fundamental information for those who manage the public domain," she said.