Hyderabad recognised as a '2020 Tree City of the World'

Hyderabad has been recognised as a '2020 Tree City of the World' by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The recognition is for the commitment of the city to growing and maintaining urban forest. Hyderabad is the only city in the country to get the recognition, an official press release said on Thursday.

Through this, the Telangana capital joins a network of like-minded cities which recognise the importance of trees in building healthy, resilient and happy cities, the release said. Hyderabad has earned recognition in the foundation's second year of the programme along with 51 other cities in the world (during 2020 and cumulatively 120 cities from 63 countries) while being the only city in India to get the recognition so far, it said.

Most of the cities were from countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and others, it said.

The city, to be eligible under the category of Tree City needs to confirm to five standards -- 'Establish Responsibility' (the city having a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees), 'Set the Rules' (the city has in place a law or an official policy that governs the management of forests and trees) and 'Know what you have' (the city has an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource).

The other two standards are 'Allocate the Resources' (the city has a dedicated annual budget for the routine implementation of the tree management plan) and 'Celebrate Achievements' (the city holds an annual celebration of trees to raise awareness among residents).

The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department (MA&UD) has applied for the recognition based on an online submission done on January 31, 2021, the release added.