The final week of the event will see the tally of votes withheld from public view, said Jacek Bożek, the head of environmental and animal rights NGO Klub Gaja, the local coordinator of the event.
Representing Poland is a 200-year-old beech that in 2023 was chosen as the national Tree of the Year.
“The preliminary data released on Thursday paint a promising picture for the Polish entry,” Bożek was quoted as saying.
“Currently, it tops the leaderboard with over 21,000 votes, followed closely by a beech from France and a millennia-old olive tree from Italy,” he added.
Europeans have until 4 p.m. on February 22 to cast their votes on the contest’s website, at treeoftheyear.org/vote.
The winner will be selected from among 15 trees in different corners of Europe that have won national competitions. It will be unveiled on March 20 during the Tree of the Year 2024 awards ceremony held in the European Parliament in Brussels, Bożek said.
He added that the contest aims to uncover trees with captivating narratives and to galvanise public awareness around these arboreal wonders, which are an important element of natural and cultural heritage worthy of preservation.
Nicknamed Serce Ogrodu (Heart of the Garden), the Polish beech grows in the village of Wojsławice some 50 km south of Wrocław in the country's southwest.
Wojsławice’s arboretum, a collection of trees of a variety of species, is a part of the University of Wrocław’s botanical garden.
Poland’s winner last year, a 180-year-old oak nicknamed Fabrykant (Factory Owner), which grows in the central Polish city of Łódź, went on to win the European Tree of the Year 2023 contest.
(mo/gs)
Source: PAP