Leiden officials are to give expectant parents an unexpected gift this year. Those who register their newborns in the city will receive a voucher for a geboorteboom or birth tree.

Unlike the PAW Patrol onesies and teddy bears many of the parents will receive at baby showers, Leiden officials expect the trees will contribute to the well-being of the city’s newest residents well past the point they begin potty training.

The pilot programme, dubbed Geboorteboom voor je oogappel [Birth tree for the apple of your eye], is set to kick off with the first tree giveaway on Saturday, 1 June at The Field, an event venue near Leiden Centraal. A second one will follow this autumn in October.

Going green

Like many Dutch cities, the crowded interior of Leiden doesn’t have much room for greenery, but many residents are doing what they can with the space that’s available.

The ongoing Samen aan de Slag programme, for example, encourages them to plant small gardens in front of their homes and elsewhere. Geboorteboom could also help brighten up Leiden and play a bigger role in helping out the environment.

“We looked at the numbers for last year and about a thousand babies were born in the city,” Leiden spokesperson Inge Roest told Dutch News.

Every tree counts and a thousand additional ones could make a significant impact.

Along with providing shade and cooling, they boost biodiversity and take a bite out of CO2 emissions. Trees can also suck up rainwater and reduce the chances of flooding. However, roughly half of Leiden is privately owned. Officials hope new parents will be willing to adopt a geboorteboom and place them on their property.

“They can plant them in their backyard or put them on a balcony in a pot,” Roest said.

A brighter future

The programme was backed by members of GroenLinks, CDA, ChristenUnie, and D66 who teamed up with Cool Down City, a Rotterdam-based organisation that provides trees to help curb global climate change. To date, they’ve distributed 7,344 trees in Rotterdam and 797 in Leiden.

But will the parents of Leiden be willing to take care of both a new baby and a new tree? The Geboorteboom page on Cool Down City’s website has helpful tips and further details about the ones they’ll be giving away later this year. Each baby tree will be small enough to be taken home on foot or by bike.

“If we see that the programme is a success, we’ll maybe continue it next year,” Roest said.