The symposium "Tree avenues, from war to peace" has just been awarded the "European Year of Cultural Heritage" label by the central services of the Ministry of Culture. It is a well appreciated recognition of the quality of the project.

The European Year of Cultural Heritage was adopted on May 17th by the European Parliament. The aim is "to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe's cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space".

Tree avenues belong to Europe's cultural heritage. They crisscross the European landscape, each with its local specificity and its own history. Exploring these avenues is within the reach of everyone, be it in daily commuting or touristic trips. The aesthetic dimension of avenues enhances people's living environment and contributes to the territory's brand, while their role for biodiversity, for carbon capture and for temperature mitigation are signposts of sustainable tourism. How better stick to the EYCH roadmap?

By unveiling the history of WWI memorial avenues, the symposium will shed light on the cultural dimension of avenues, which is the result of five centuries where ideas, texts, landscapers (and their sponsors), trees themselves circulated throughout Europe. It will give a strong signal against the temptation of isolation of our societies.

The conference will also initiate a network of avenues and of actors with the prospect of creating touristic and cultural routes. Tree avenues create physical and symbolic links. They serve the idea of cohesion and peace. This is particularly true of cross-border avenues, such as the Polish-German avenue planted in 2014, in a program called "Make Avenues, not Borders".

NGOs will largely participate in the symposium, as they are important drivers of action. The follow-up of the symposium in 2019 will be directed towards the general public.

In short: we largely meet the objectives set by the European Commission. Being awarded the label entitles us to use the logos of the Ministry of Culture and of the Commission, and to be included in the official agenda.