After a long time, I come back to this corner to my life. I come to this space which I find myself one with - writing. Trying to bring light to the reflections of life brings a sense of calm, doesn't it? I share my rumblings on the world around me and this time it is on 'Urban Forestry'.
Not many people know or are researching on it but neither is urban forestry a new page to the world. If one happens to read history books or scriptures or any piece of antiquity on how kingdoms were looked after, one will know of how the administrators planned cities with streets laden with fruit trees, of sacred groves and forest areas demarcated for specific purposes. Kautilya's Arthashastra too has notes on how the king must maintain groves for saints to meditate and that the streets must have trees that provide shade to the passersby.
If we have had the privilege to have balconies and accessible terraces in our city homes, we would remember our childhood days watching squirrels and sparrows talking and nibbling to us. The many hues of green and grey patches from our window and walks in the parks and promenades have always helped in bringing a sense of recreation to our monotony.
Urban forestry is basically a means to maintain and increase green cover in the city. It could be in terms of standalone trees or shrubs on road dividers, on streets, round-abouts, parks, gardens, water fronts or forests within city boundaries. Different countries define 'urban forestry' differently. However, the underlying purpose is to have cities livable, sustainable, healthy and well, happy!
While we are all aware of the multitude of benefits that green cover provides in terms of carbon sequestration, prevention of soil erosion, reduction of heat island effect, provisionary benefits in terms of food and fuel and maintenance of ground water levels; we haven't emphasised it enough in our city development plans and urban planning.
Recent discourses on 'Smart Cities' have brought them back thankfully. Obviously, this is not to say that urban and peri urban forestry disappeared in the contemporary times. However, our city planners and urban denizens to a large extent have emphasised grey infrastructure to a neglect of the balance between the green, the grey and the blue.
If one looks at the data of the presence of green cover in Indian cities in an article by Pradeep Chaudhary et al 'Urban Greenery Status of Some Indian Cities: A short communication' in April 2011's issue of 'International Journal of Environmental Science and Development', one finds them way below the WHO standard of 12 square meters (sq. m) of green space per inhabitant except for cities like Delhi (22 sq. m), Gandhinagar (160 sq. m), Chandigarh (55 sq. m) and Bangalore (17 sq. m).
Sure, our urban local bodies are working towards park and garden maintenance and tree pruning on streets before monsoons. Sure, we Mumbaikars are supporting to safeguard the Aarey Colony forest as lungs of the city. Sure, we have 'Nagar Van Udyan Scheme', 'Smart Cities Mission', AMRUT Scheme (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Green Highways Mission, greening of the catchment areas of river Ganga and 'School Nurseries' program. Sure, we also have Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to take this cause at the grassroots level.
However, this is still not enough to measure up to the way in which our country will get urbanized in the coming years and the pressure it will create on the existing natural resources in its periphery. We need more awareness and an evolved citizen conscience to bring sustainability and beauty to our cities.
Not many people know or are researching on it but neither is urban forestry a new page to the world. If one happens to read history books or scriptures or any piece of antiquity on how kingdoms were looked after, one will know of how the administrators planned cities with streets laden with fruit trees, of sacred groves and forest areas demarcated for specific purposes. Kautilya's Arthashastra too has notes on how the king must maintain groves for saints to meditate and that the streets must have trees that provide shade to the passersby.
If we have had the privilege to have balconies and accessible terraces in our city homes, we would remember our childhood days watching squirrels and sparrows talking and nibbling to us. The many hues of green and grey patches from our window and walks in the parks and promenades have always helped in bringing a sense of recreation to our monotony.
Urban forestry is basically a means to maintain and increase green cover in the city. It could be in terms of standalone trees or shrubs on road dividers, on streets, round-abouts, parks, gardens, water fronts or forests within city boundaries. Different countries define 'urban forestry' differently. However, the underlying purpose is to have cities livable, sustainable, healthy and well, happy!
While we are all aware of the multitude of benefits that green cover provides in terms of carbon sequestration, prevention of soil erosion, reduction of heat island effect, provisionary benefits in terms of food and fuel and maintenance of ground water levels; we haven't emphasised it enough in our city development plans and urban planning.
Recent discourses on 'Smart Cities' have brought them back thankfully. Obviously, this is not to say that urban and peri urban forestry disappeared in the contemporary times. However, our city planners and urban denizens to a large extent have emphasised grey infrastructure to a neglect of the balance between the green, the grey and the blue.
If one looks at the data of the presence of green cover in Indian cities in an article by Pradeep Chaudhary et al 'Urban Greenery Status of Some Indian Cities: A short communication' in April 2011's issue of 'International Journal of Environmental Science and Development', one finds them way below the WHO standard of 12 square meters (sq. m) of green space per inhabitant except for cities like Delhi (22 sq. m), Gandhinagar (160 sq. m), Chandigarh (55 sq. m) and Bangalore (17 sq. m).
Sure, our urban local bodies are working towards park and garden maintenance and tree pruning on streets before monsoons. Sure, we Mumbaikars are supporting to safeguard the Aarey Colony forest as lungs of the city. Sure, we have 'Nagar Van Udyan Scheme', 'Smart Cities Mission', AMRUT Scheme (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Green Highways Mission, greening of the catchment areas of river Ganga and 'School Nurseries' program. Sure, we also have Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to take this cause at the grassroots level.
However, this is still not enough to measure up to the way in which our country will get urbanized in the coming years and the pressure it will create on the existing natural resources in its periphery. We need more awareness and an evolved citizen conscience to bring sustainability and beauty to our cities.
