Statement by the initiative “Emmauswald bleibt!” on the announcement in the Neukölln BVV on 30 Aug 2023: The Emmaus Forest is now officially the first designated forest in North Neukölln!
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As recently as April, Buwog/Vonovia claimed that the former Emmaus cemetery grounds on Hermannstraße were not a forest, merely a plot of land with a few trees and bushes on it. At the urging of our initiative, the Neukölln district office asked the Berlin Forestry Authority for a new assessment. Now the forestry authority has officially confirmed:
The Emmaus Forest is a forest – and with its almost 4 hectares, the largest forest in Neukölln!
The EmmausWald thus triples Neukölln’s forest stock, which previously consisted of a single forest (2 hectares on the Rias site). Even so, forest still covers less than 1% of the district’s area – far below average. We cannot do without our new forest!
With its designation as forest, the “Emmi” now falls under the State Forest Act! This means the Buwog/Vonovia group must first commission an environmental assessment before the development plan can proceed. But the Senate is applying pressure and wants to accelerate the planning procedure.
Our demand is clear: in times of climate and biodiversity crisis, an intact mixed forest in the centre of Berlin must not be felled – least of all for unaffordable condominiums, and in a neighbourhood that already suffers from heavy environmental burdens and high usage pressure. Neukölln’s largest forest must be preserved and the development planning stopped immediately!