Increased “tree cover” in city? Too soon to pat our backs

-

PC: Swarnali Chakraborty

India State of forest Report 2017 (ISFR) showed an increase of 117 sq. km in the tree cover of Bengaluru urban area.

Bangalore, March 20, 2018: The ISFR 2017 may have given Karnataka a reason to cheer with the state recording the second highest growth in forest cover. However, urban Bangalore’s rising tree cover may not be as green as one might think.
“The rise in the tree cover in Urban Bangalore could be a cumulative effect of more coconut plantation being done in some areas, or it could be any number of reasons. Sometimes trees are uprooted from somewhere and replanted somewhere else. Whether it’s because of a conscious conservation drive is hard to say,” says Sashwati Mishra, Chief Conservator of Forest, Bangalore circle.
The 2017 ISFR shows the total tree cover of the urban Bangalore to be 234 sq km, which is a 50 per cent increase from two years ago.
“The increase in tree cover is yet to be ascertained by a third party / independent agency that can monitor this kind of a project. The government’s stand may be based on the number of tree saplings that they plant every year irrespective of whether they survive in the coming season or not. Hence there may be claims that the tree cover has increased,” says Akshay Heblikar, Director of Eco-Watch, center for environment and sustainable development.
For Karnataka, the total forest cover is 37, 550 sq km for the year 2017 which is an almost three per cent rise from 36,421 sq km in 2015. The state ranks second after Andhra Pradesh in the increase in forest cover in India.  The report states that the reason behind the increase in overall forest growth could be improved satellite data and an increase in plantations and shrub forests.
Heblikar further stated that the on-going construction of development projects is in fact reducing the green cover across the city. Hence, there is definitely greater doubt in the claims that the tree cover has increased. There needs to be an independent body or a committee that can be founded  to look into these claims and audit the entire project on a year basis.
“Our report is not verified by third parties. The concept of district and town of BBMP and FSI   are different. Sometimes, changes are due to interpretation also such as cloud cover obstructing view last time but this time the area is visible etc.,” says Rajesh Kallaje, Deputy Director (Southern Zone, Bangalore), Forest Survey of India.
ISFR is a biennial publication of FSI under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. According to the report, the forest cover assessment is a wall to wall mapping exercise and field data from National Forest Inventory. The tree cover estimation is estimated based on high resolution satellite data and field inventory data on Trees Outside Forest.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Common Emigrant is back, butterfly lovers pleased

-
Image
The Bannerghatta Butterfly Park has reason to celebrate. The butterfly population has gone up, and the migrant butterflies, who had not visited for three years, are slowly returning. The Common Mormon (male) has distinctive white spots at the edges of its black wings Lokanath V, senior entomologist at the Park said, “As far as the endemic butterfly species is concerned we have seen a sudden increase in their population here. We have around  2,500 butterflies of 20 different species at the Butterfly Park. In migratory species, so far, we have spotted Common Emigrant.” The continued efforts of senior entomologist, Loknath V has led to a rise in the variety of butterflies in the BBP Swarms of butterflies migrate from the Western to Eastern Ghats twice a year. This bi-annual event which hasn’t been seen for three years is now making a comeback.   Butterfly enthusiasts in the city have now spotted migratory butterflies making their journey back from the E...
Read more

Six decades of retrospection with Balan Nambiar

-
Image
With a massive collection of his artwork displayed in the NGMA, the city reminiscences with the artist extraordinaire. Bangalore, February 27, 2018: Balan Nambiar, the renowned veteran painter and sculptor, celebrates his artistic journey spanning six decades at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru. “I am going to come out with a book on enamel paintings. It’s too soon to give away all the details but this is something I have wanted to do since a long time,” says Balan Nambiar looking out to the serene setting for his sculptures in the National Gallery of Modern Art. The exhibition themed “Sculpting in Time, Balan Nambiar and his six decades of engagement with Materiality” was inaugurated on February 4, 2018. Curated by his long time friend Sadanand Menon, this retrospective exhibition encompasses the enormous repertoire of Nambiar. His mastery lies in the sheer variety of mediums in which he casts his creative ingenuity. “Starting out with clay and moving ...
Read more

Wind

-
Image
Subramania Bharati. Source: Wikipedia About the poet: A spiritual leader, freedom fighter and social reformer, Subramania Bharati (December 11, 1882-September 12, 1921) was born  to Brahmin parents  in Madras Presidency in British India. An Indian nationalist who let his words speak of his rage against the British rule in India, he  was also a social reformer who firmly believed in and campaigned for women’s rights and social equality for all. His form of writing brought a massive change in Tamil literary world. He is counted as one of the best modern Tamil poets. Wind                                          by Subramania Bharati Wind, come softly. Don’t break the shutters of the windows. Don’t scatter the papers. Don’t throw down the books on the shelf. There, look what you did — you threw them all down. You tore the pa...
Read more