<p>The recent discussion around the proposal to cut down 368 trees near the Cantonment Railway Colony in Vasanth Nagar for a project by the Ministry of Railways has sparked debate about how the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) decides to award such permissions.</p>.<p>The first step to make an informed decision in such situations is to have data on the green cover in the city, and Bengaluru lacks the basics, experts said. </p><p>The BBMP is dragging its feet on completion of the tree census, though the deadline given by the High Court was 2023. Tree census is crucial in analysing the tree cover in the city, tracking tree loss, and ascertaining permission for such tree-felling requests.</p>.<p>“Tree census is the foremost step. Any assessment or planning can be done only based on this data. It is crucial for a city like Bengaluru where a large number of infrastructure projects are planned,” said Vijay Nishanth, tree doctor and founder, Project Vruksha Foundation.</p>.<p>Tree census is an exhaustive process where surveyors record the girth of every tree, assign an ID to the tree, and collect specific details such as the exact location, species of tree, and the tree’s condition (if it is dry or old).</p>.<p>Such data should play a vital role in decision making about any project affecting the green cover in the city, noted Harini Nagendra, Professor of Ecology, Azim Premji University.</p>.<p>“In any tree felling proposal, it is important to analyse the situation in that particular area. We will have to see what kind of species are there in the particular area, how old they are, and most importantly, the impact of cutting down trees on the people residing there. All such details can be accessed and analysed only if we have tree census data on hand,” she said.</p>.<p>Tree census will also help prevent illegal tree felling in the city, opined DT Devare, trustee of Bangalore Environment Trust.</p>.<p>“Now, we do not have a count of trees. If there is illegal felling, it is tough to identify the missing trees. Once the census is done, we can verify the trees and identify any illegal felling,” Devare said.</p>.<p>Harini Nagendra also noted that any additional trees cut during implementation of infrastructure projects can be tracked down if we have data on the trees across the city.</p>.<p>The data is also important to decide on compensatory afforestation, <br>experts noted. “The rule says that every ward should have at least 33% green cover. Cutting down trees at one place and planting them elsewhere does not help. We need to maintain trees to human ratio as well and to analyse all of this, data plays a key role,” Nishanth said.</p>.<p>On a higher level, tree census helps determine the gap between the number of trees at present and the number of trees required for a healthy environment, and this is important to ensure the city doesn’t become unlivable, the experts said.</p>.<p>Quote - </p>.<p>Cut-off box - BBMP to soon make data public Even as the tree census in the city is ongoing BBMP has decided to launch a mobile application and a web portal to make the data on enumerated trees public. The application which had a trial run in February is now being improved to be launched soon. “The portal will be updated as the census progresses. The portal will have details of every tree such as the species girth age and other basic information” a senior official from the BBMP’s forest department said. The portal will provide an option to filter trees by locality and species as well.</p>.<p>Cut-off box - Tree census to be completed by July The tree census which started in January 2024 has so far enumerated close to 6.5 lakh trees in the city—only about 30% of the estimated 20 lakh trees. Though the census was supposed to be completed by October 2024 a second deadline after it failed to meet the initial deadline of August 2024 the BBMP has yet again missed the deadline. Now officials hope to finish the census by July 2025. While the civic body initially blamed the delay on technical glitches officials now say that the contractor has defaulted on his work and the BBMP has retendered the project. “We have retendered the work now and are confident of completing the census by July” a senior BBMP official said. The Karnataka High Court in 2020 had tasked the BBMP to take up the tree census and had given a three-year deadline. However citing various reasons BBMP delayed the process and began the survey only in January 2024.</p>
<p>The recent discussion around the proposal to cut down 368 trees near the Cantonment Railway Colony in Vasanth Nagar for a project by the Ministry of Railways has sparked debate about how the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) decides to award such permissions.</p>.<p>The first step to make an informed decision in such situations is to have data on the green cover in the city, and Bengaluru lacks the basics, experts said. </p><p>The BBMP is dragging its feet on completion of the tree census, though the deadline given by the High Court was 2023. Tree census is crucial in analysing the tree cover in the city, tracking tree loss, and ascertaining permission for such tree-felling requests.</p>.<p>“Tree census is the foremost step. Any assessment or planning can be done only based on this data. It is crucial for a city like Bengaluru where a large number of infrastructure projects are planned,” said Vijay Nishanth, tree doctor and founder, Project Vruksha Foundation.</p>.<p>Tree census is an exhaustive process where surveyors record the girth of every tree, assign an ID to the tree, and collect specific details such as the exact location, species of tree, and the tree’s condition (if it is dry or old).</p>.<p>Such data should play a vital role in decision making about any project affecting the green cover in the city, noted Harini Nagendra, Professor of Ecology, Azim Premji University.</p>.<p>“In any tree felling proposal, it is important to analyse the situation in that particular area. We will have to see what kind of species are there in the particular area, how old they are, and most importantly, the impact of cutting down trees on the people residing there. All such details can be accessed and analysed only if we have tree census data on hand,” she said.</p>.<p>Tree census will also help prevent illegal tree felling in the city, opined DT Devare, trustee of Bangalore Environment Trust.</p>.<p>“Now, we do not have a count of trees. If there is illegal felling, it is tough to identify the missing trees. Once the census is done, we can verify the trees and identify any illegal felling,” Devare said.</p>.<p>Harini Nagendra also noted that any additional trees cut during implementation of infrastructure projects can be tracked down if we have data on the trees across the city.</p>.<p>The data is also important to decide on compensatory afforestation, <br>experts noted. “The rule says that every ward should have at least 33% green cover. Cutting down trees at one place and planting them elsewhere does not help. We need to maintain trees to human ratio as well and to analyse all of this, data plays a key role,” Nishanth said.</p>.<p>On a higher level, tree census helps determine the gap between the number of trees at present and the number of trees required for a healthy environment, and this is important to ensure the city doesn’t become unlivable, the experts said.</p>.<p>Quote - </p>.<p>Cut-off box - BBMP to soon make data public Even as the tree census in the city is ongoing BBMP has decided to launch a mobile application and a web portal to make the data on enumerated trees public. The application which had a trial run in February is now being improved to be launched soon. “The portal will be updated as the census progresses. The portal will have details of every tree such as the species girth age and other basic information” a senior official from the BBMP’s forest department said. The portal will provide an option to filter trees by locality and species as well.</p>.<p>Cut-off box - Tree census to be completed by July The tree census which started in January 2024 has so far enumerated close to 6.5 lakh trees in the city—only about 30% of the estimated 20 lakh trees. Though the census was supposed to be completed by October 2024 a second deadline after it failed to meet the initial deadline of August 2024 the BBMP has yet again missed the deadline. Now officials hope to finish the census by July 2025. While the civic body initially blamed the delay on technical glitches officials now say that the contractor has defaulted on his work and the BBMP has retendered the project. “We have retendered the work now and are confident of completing the census by July” a senior BBMP official said. The Karnataka High Court in 2020 had tasked the BBMP to take up the tree census and had given a three-year deadline. However citing various reasons BBMP delayed the process and began the survey only in January 2024.</p>