€2.4 million for climate crisis in Brussels, as protesters carry out actions
The Capital-Region is offering up to €150,000 to each of its 19 municipalities for projects that directly or indirectly reduce emissions, conserve water or recover biodiversity
‘Priority of this government’
Maron is calling for proposals from Brussels’ 19 municipalities for projects that directly address the climate crisis. Every municipality can get up to €150,000 for projects.
Proposals should focus on measures to limit direct or indirect emissions in the food and waste sectors, conservation programmes, water management or the establishment or recovery of biodiversity.
“Combating climate change is one of the priorities of this government, and the corona crisis has laid bare an urgent need to accelerate the development of a more environmentally friendly city,” said Maron. “It is up to all of us to make the necessary changes together.”
Our Future, Our Choices
The local chapter of climate crisis movement Extinction Rebellion, meanwhile, has launched Our Future, Our Choices, a wave of actions to culminate on Saturday, 27 June, in Brussels’ pedestrian zone. The group is keen to resist the “hectic race to get back to business as usual,” said spokesperson Leen Schelfhout.
The coronavirus crisis “is not an isolated incident,” Schelfhout continued. “Virologists, economists and climatologists have made it clear that more crises like this will follow. And they might even get worse. These are health, economic, ecological, political and social crises that all have a direct or indirect connection to the same thing: A way of life that damages the environment and all living things.”
We do not want to put anyone in a dangerous situation, but we need to be visible
While the federal measures to control the spread of the coronavirus limit public gatherings to 10 people, police did not intervene in the recent Black Lives Matter protests, except when fringe groups of protestors gathered outside of the designated areas or when things got violent, as they did in Brussels.
Since then, however, federal interior minister Pieter De Crem issued a letter to municipal and provincial councils asking that they limit or prohibit protests in keeping with coronavirus measures. How Brussels-City mayor and police plan to respond to the 27 June event is not yet known.
“We do not want to put anyone in a dangerous situation, but we need to be visible,” said Schelfhout. “We feel that this is the moment to let our voices be heard in public space.”
Organisers are asking people to gather in Brussels’ pedestrian zone to disrupt daily life, “from consumerism, finance and politics to transport, pollution, advertising and exploitation.”
Photo: The Extinction Rebellion held a protest on Paleizenplein last October
©Antony Gevaert/BELGA
