Tree-killers having a free run in B'lore

Those who have lived in the city for longer would know many such once-wooded avenues, now converted into burning barren asphalted lengths of road.

Tree felling in Bangalore is not a recent phenomenon. Yet, the scale and intensity of tree felling has increased so significantly over the past 3 to 5 years, as to leave many of us aghast. Tens of thousands of trees have been sacrificed in the name of road widening, flyovers, underpasses and the metro.

In this article, I discuss results of two field surveys conducted on Nanda road, where trees were cut in 2009 for the metro, and near Mekhri circle, where tree felling for road widening has been planned in the coming weeks.

Nostalgia

The Nanda road and the adjacent Laxman Rao park once provided one of the most spectacular urban sights of greenery in our crowded city. We found 897 trees marked for metro-related cutting, from a diverse set of 25 species, including shade giving copper pods and rain trees, vibrantly flowering Tabebuias, and biodiversity-friendly neem, tamarind and honge trees.

Over a fourth of them were large trees with a diameter greater than two metres. Ecologists and naturalists say that many bird species depended on this green corridor for their movement between Lalbagh and the Bannerghatta National Park. With all the disturbance and construction activity on the road, and the absence of many of these trees now, the impacts on urban biodiversity, birdlife and urban wildlife has been severe.

Yet, we still have a chance to save the 1,223 trees adjacent to Mekhri circle that are marked out for felling. There are 41 species, including large sacred trees like the peepal, economically important species like sandal, teak and honge, and massive rain trees, African tulips and copper pods which have been around in Bangalore for over 150 years.

Some of them are extremely large trees, with girths greater than three metres, providing a sheltered habitat within the Palace area for urban wildlife and birds. As our research shows, trees play an important role in the city, reducing air pollution levels by as much as 75 per cent, and decreasing mid-day air temperatures by 5-7° C, mitigating the impacts of global warming and urban climate change.

We must recognise that the environmental benefits lost by the cutting down of large trees cannot be replaced by the planting of small saplings in a short time span. At least, the 183 trees in the sidewalk should be protected on a median, as has been done in Sarjapur road. At least 20 surviving saplings should replace every mature tree that is cut. Only tall, healthy saplings that are at least a year old must be planted.

Unlike many of the newly planted unsuitable species we see along the median of the city’s large roads today, which are selected in an ad hoc manner by the contractors who are hired to plant trees, there should be a careful and scientific selection of species that are biodiversity attracting and shade giving, with stable root structures that are resistant to pollution.

The residents from the surrounding neighbourhoods should be engaged by partners in the effort to green the city, so that they can have a say in ensuring the ideal locations and best possible survival rates of these saplings. If this is not done, and we continue with ‘business as usual,’ we do not have any chance of ensuring the city’s survival as a green and liveable location in the years to come.

(The writer is an urban ecology coordinator)