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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Plan to fell trees near Eiffel Tower causes backlash from residents in French capital

Paris is aiming to redevelop the area around the Eiffel Tower in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, but the city's residents are beginning to rebel over a plan that would see 22 trees ripped up.

People sit below the Eiffel Tower on the Champ-de-Mars on a sunny day in Paris.
People sit below the Eiffel Tower on the Champ-de-Mars on a sunny day in Paris. Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

The Paris mayor’s office wants to build tourist facilities and offices at the foot of the world-famous landmark. Architect’s projections show semi-submerged buildings covered in greenery.

But campaigners have launched a petition urging the mayor’s office to ditch the plan, expressing particular concern over the fate of some very old trees.

“We reject the felling and endangerment of dozens of healthy trees, in particular the 200-year-old and 100-year-old trees, which really are the city’s green lungs,” says the petition, launched by four environmental groups.

Around 35,000 signatures have been gathered so far.

Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire sought to mollify opponents of the scheme. “No 100-year-old tree will be cut down,” he said.

His aides told AFP they were working to reduce the number of trees to be felled for the project, having already cut back from 42 to 22.

They also stressed the redevelopment was part of a plan that involved planting dozens of trees and creating a green space across the clogged centre of the French capital.

But campaigners remain unconvinced. “They are creating some vegetation, but they are destroying a lot of it at the same time,” said Philippe Khayat of the SOS Paris association, one of the backers of the petition.

The Eiffel Tower welcomes some seven million visitors a year.

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Member comments

  1. Typical out of touch politicians dazzled by the prospect of their own glory at the 2024 Olympics. The games do occaisionally make money for the host nation but generally end up loosing money that the tax payer has to cough up for while the smarmy politians preen themselves in the spotlight.
    I remember a few years back that there was a move to cut down the rows of trees that line so many roads in France, and are a beautiful feature of this country, on the grounds that they were a danger to road traffic. Did anyone ever see a tree attack a car?

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

There will be no French fries but plenty of lentils on offer to athletes attending the Paris Olympics, with organisers unveiling a Games menu that combines eco-minded recipes with French gastronomy.

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

The 3,300-seat restaurant at the Paris Olympic village, which will welcome athletes next month, was given its first test-run on Tuesday by a hungry crowd of sports figures, officials and journalists.

Based in a vast former power station, the food hall includes six dining areas offering meals from around the globe, with half of the 50 dishes available each day being 100 percent vegetarian.

“People are going to meet here in France, with its culture, its heritage but also its gastronomy and so there are expectations,” chief Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet told reporters.

Although many athletes would stick to their usual nutrition before competing, they will also be offered the chance to discover France’s famed food, with several Michelin-starred chefs taken on as advisers.

“We’ve allowed ourselves to put French gastronomy in pride of place so that curious athletes from around the world can try French culinary excellence,” Estanguet added.

The giant warm-food buffets will not include French fries, however.

McDonalds, a long-time Olympics sponsor, had its own fast-food restaurant in the Olympic village until the Rio Olympics in 2016, but athletes wanting a hit of junk food will have to look elsewhere.

“For technical reasons, we can’t offer fries,” said Estelle Lamotte, deputy director of village catering at food group Sodexo, told reporters.

She explained deep-fat fryers were not allowed in the temporary kitchens at the site, which is usually used as a film studio.

Gregoire Bechu, head of sustainable food at the Paris organising committee, stressed the quality of the ‘delicious’ lentil dahl recipe that has been developed for athletes.

“One of the major commitments by Paris 2024 was offering vegetarian meals in order to halve the carbon footprint of each meal on average,” he said. “We wanted vegetarian meals everywhere.”

At sports venues, 60 percent of food offered to fans will be vegetarian and the temporary stadium hosting skateboarding, BMX and breakdancing at the Place de la Concorde in central Paris will be entirely meat-free.

In a further bid to lower carbon emissions, only two of the six restaurant areas at the village will be air-conditioned, with the rest in outdoor courtyards sheltered by fabric sun shades and ventilated with overhead fans.

Tuesday’s test event, held under fierce sunshine and in 27C heat, saw some people visibly sweating.

“I think we’ve found a good compromise between offering the right temperature but also reducing our carbon emissions,” Estanguet said. “It’s one of the main challenges of the Paris 2024 edition.”

In a break from Olympic tradition, the 2,800 apartments at the village do not come with air-conditioning as standard.

But many Olympic teams have decided to install portable coolers at their own cost.

Paris has suffered a number of record heatwaves in recent years with temperatures peaking above 40C in July and August, but 2024 has so far been wet and cool.

The Paris Olympics run from July 26th to August 11th, followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th.

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