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The UNOG tree heritage

Emmanuelle GANTET, ONUG

The preservation of the UNOG tree heritage is a high priority for Eric Lüscher, appointed Chief of the Parks and Gardens Sub-Unit in 1996. For instance, the Chemin
de fer and Pregny gates projects have been planned in such a way as to preserve a maximum of trees.
The UNOG grounds boast a stock of around 800 trees and profit from an annual replanting programme because a certain number need to be cut down every year. Thanks to a SwF 40,000-50,000 budget, 20 or so trees are purchased and planted each year: beech, pine, horse chestnut and elm to name but a few. For the technicallyminded, fagus sylvatica, pinus, aesculus hippocastanum and ulmus.
Planting takes place in the autumn, but the trees are picked out the summer before, in the nursery, when they have reached the age of 15 or 20 years and a height of 4 to 6 metres. Younger trees, just 2 metres high, may also be planted in denser stands, to be thinned out in ten years’ time.
They are watered regularly – requiring 300-500 litres at a time – in order to help them acclimatize and take proper root.
Tree enthusiasts can follow a circuit that starts from the Allée des Nations (with the flags) and loops round the Palais, passing specimens of 120 different species, each with a name plate.

You have got into the habit of reading every three months the Newsletter of the Buildings and Engineering Section, that blue and green booklet of 8 pages informing you about the building and renovation projects, the maintenance of the park, the buildings and the technical facilities, its 20 different professions.
The newsletter n°8 (April-May-June 2005) which should have been published that month, will not be distributed, and nor will the following numbers.
Information from the Buildings and Engineering Section are available on its Intranet site: http://scaserver.unog.un.org/sbst