Climate and animal rights activists in Germany began a week of action against the destruction of forests and wetlands. On Monday morning, they blocked streets and entrances near the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin.
Last week, the German government started cutting down trees in part of the Dannenroeder forest to make way for a highway. Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion want the destruction of forests for commercial gains, like industrial agriculture and airport and highway projects, to stop.
Activists sat in front of the ministry, holding placards with the protest week’s motto “Stop the destruction of our basic resources”.
The forest, which the activists call “Danni”, lies in a nature protection area north of Frankfurt. “Danni is symbolic for a failed German climate and environmental policy,” Extinction Rebellion spokesman Tino Pfaff told Reuters. “It is not only Danni who is destroyed but other German and European forests as well.”
Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion followed the blockade with a “March of the dead trees” through Berlin. “Industrial agriculture destroys valuable ecosystems such, as forests and wetlands. Our biodiversity is threatened, and soils are drained,” Extinction Rebellion Berlin said in a Facebook post.
“Forest is life! That’s why we demand: all forests stay! Forest instead of asphalt! If the forest dies, man dies!”
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