Assignment: MCT Phase IV: June-Aug 2013

Urban Forestry: Urbanisation and Greening of Indian

Cities- Efforts for Green Delhi

Rama Shankar Sinha, Director, Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,

Government of India

Abstract:

Urbanisation is a logical and well anticipated consequence along the development of the cities.

The role of urban forest in ameliorating urban habitats and improving quality of life is

significant. Trees in urban system provide a variety of ecosystem services including biodiversity

conservation, removal of atmospheric pollutants, oxygen generation, noise reduction, mitigation

of urban heat island effect, microclimate regulation, stabilization of soil, groundwater recharge,

prevention of soil erosion and carbon sequestration. With the participation of many different

organization, local council, municipal and national planning bodies, department etc. for greening

of cities is preferred. Government departments, educational institutions, municipal bodies, local

residents are the key players in the greening of the urban cities. Systematic management entails

regulated tree management, operations such as planting, pruning and felling needs to be

conducted in an organized manner at the appropriate time. The need for urban forestry is to be

planned, integrated and systematic. Approach to urban tree management should be stressed upon.

Planning is important because trees are very often considered as an afterthought once

development has taken place rather than being incorporated as original design phase .For

effective, planned and systematic management of the tree in cities a measure of legal control is

necessary. Law may be necessary for both to protect the tree from removal and to protect

residents from hazardous trees. NCT of Delhi has been making continuous effort in this direction

and taken many initiatives on this front which has shown positive results and it has been

considered worth discussing here to have a framework for greening to be utilised while planning

for the other cities. Census data for 2011 & data on Forest Cover of SFR 2011 has been used in

the discussion.

Key Words:

City Forests, Ridge, Free Distribution, DPGS, Biodiversity Parks, Greening Agencies

Introduction:

Urban forestry is the management of trees for their contribution to the physiological, sociological

and economic well being of the urban society. Urban forestry deals with woodlands, group of

trees and individual trees where people live.[1].

The need for urban forestry is to be planned & integrated and systematic approach to urban tree

management should be stressed. Planning is important because trees are very often considered as

an afterthought once development has taken place rather than being incorporated as original

design phase. An integrated approach implies the participation of many different organization,

local council, municipal and national planning bodies, department etc. Systematic management

entails regulated tree management, operations such as planting, pruning and felling must be

conducted in an organized manner at the appropriate time.[1]. Parks and green spaces are the

backbone of the sustainable and high quality urban environment.[2].

Urban forestry is concerned primarily with environmental enhancement, control of air and noise

pollution and microclimatic modification.[1]. High quality green spaces bring considerable

benefits to the people’s physical and mental health and to the environment.[2]. Urban greens

with their vide collection of trees and other plants have huge educational potential. Urban parks

are an important recreational facility in developing as well as developed countries. People derive

quantifiable benefits from the positive experience of viewing trees. The positive effect being

both psychological as well as physiological.[1]. People appreciate the urban green space

sustainably. People appreciate that urban green space serve important social, psychological

health, aesthetic, ecological and economic functions. However these functions are frequently

taken for granted. Studies in cities in India suggest willingness of visitors to pay the entry fee

provided these green spaces, gardens are managed sustainably [6]. In India urban parks and

garden are also valued as a wildlife habitat. For example importance of cultivating Ficus spp to

provide food for birds. Trees can have a significant and quantifiable effect on the local climate.

Many Chinese urban foresters who claim to have altered the climate of some cities through

widespread tree planting. Perhaps the most important contribution of tree to human comfort in

hot countries is in shade, both directly and indirectly. They also provide protection from heavy

rain and for the urban poor are a commonly used shelter both at night for sleep and during the

day. Air in urban areas of many developing countries suffer from serious level of air pollution

and may cause health problem. Tree planting alone is unlikely to have significant effect in

cleaning the atmospheric pollutants however tree and other vegetation may contribute to this

goal if used along with other measures. Trees do have the potential to make a marked

improvement on air quality by absorbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Noise in the urban

environment is often excessive and discomforting, particularly when it occurs at high

frequencies. As with air pollution, the trees cannot solve the problem of noise but may help to

reduce it to possibly more acceptable level if used along with other measures. Noise pollution is

reduced by tree through absorption, deflection, reflection etc.[1]. Foremost challenge is

maintaining human wellbeing by provision for clean air and healthy living through conservation

and restoration of urban green space and urban forest.[3].

Trees in urban system provide a variety of ecosystem services including biodiversity

conservation, removal of atmospheric pollutants, oxygen generation, noise reduction, mitigation

of urban heat island effect, microclimate regulation, stabilization of soil, groundwater recharge,

prevention of soil erosion and carbon sequestration[7]. Without urban green spaces a sustainable

city cannot be designed [8].

The term urban green space is used as comprehensive term comprising trees in all urban parks,

forests and along the roads, canal etc which contribute greenery in the city. Three main

component of the urban forest and green spaces are : Patch ( Urban domestic gardens, public and

private parks, gardens, urban forest patches etc), corridor ( roadside avenues, walkaway and

urban green ways etc) and Network structure ( layout of all the patches and corridors connecting

the patches)[3].

The threat to human safety is one of the major potential problems and can serve as a hazard to

urban inhabitants either directly through the falling tree/ branch or indirectly when cause damage

to the structure[1]. Therefore to minimize or to avoid it, proper planning at initial stage before

planting is required. Instant result is wanted so large saplings are planted which require intensive

after care. [1].

Government departments, educational institutions, municipal bodies, local residents are the key

players in the greening of the urban cities. For effective planned and systematic management of

the tree in cities a measure of legal control is necessary. Law may be necessary for both to

protect the tree from removal and to protect residents from hazardous trees.[1].

Figures compiled by UN (1991) indicate that in mid 1990, 45% ( 2.5 billion ) of the people of the

world were living in town cities and this will have increased to 51% in the year 2000 and 65% in

the year 2025. [1]. Cities occupy less than 3% of the global terrestrial surface but accounts for

78% of the carbon emissions. [1]. In 1900 just 10% of the global population was living in Urban

areas which now exceeds 50% and is expected to rise to 67% in next 50 years [3].

International minimum standard suggested by WHO and adopted by the publications of Food

and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a minimum availability of 9 sqm green open space per

city dweller[9]. As per the census data for the year 2011, the total population of India has

shown percent decadal growth of 17. 64 % and the rural population 12.18% whereas the urban

population percent decadal growth has been 31.80%.. The trend is similar in respect of many of

the states and other cities. [4]. Before it is too late, planners for the other such Indian cities needs

to take into consideration the action and the initiatives required in advance to ensure proper

greening. NCT of Delhi has been making continuous effort in this direction and taken many

initiatives on this front which has shown positive results and it is worth discussing here to have a

framework for greening to be utilised while planning for the other cities.

Material and Discussion:

In India, NCT of Delhi is witnessing very high population growth. Density of population of

NCT of Delhi ( in terms of persons per sqkm) is 11297 in 2011 which was earlier 9340 in 2001.

To have a feel of the pace of urbanization of other Indian states and cities we may refer the

census data 2011 relating decadal growth of the population in respect of India, some of its states

and megacities which are shown below in the table 1:

Table:1- Census Data 2011 ( Rural & Urban Population and its decadal growth from 2001

to 2011) in respect of India, Some of its States & Cities

Population ( No. of persons) in 2011 Decadal growth from 2001 to 2011

in percent

Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban

India 1210193422 833087662 377105760 17.64 12.18 31.80

NCT of Delhi 16753235 419319 16333916 20.96 -55.61 26.56

Chandigarh 1054686 29004 1025682 17.10 -68.51 26.86

Karnatka 61130704 37552529 23578175 15.67 7.63 31.27

Banglore 9588910 868971 8719939 46.68 11.82 51.39

Rajsthan 68621012 51540236 17080776 21.44 19.05 29.26

Jaipur 6663971 3164767 3499204 26.91 19.02 35.00

Andhra Pradesh 84665533 56311788 28353745 11.10 1.64 36.26

Hydrabad 4010238 0 4010238 4.71 0 4.71

Vishakhapatnam 4288113 2250655 2037458 11.89 - 2.21 33.09

West Bengal 91347736 62213676 29134060 13.93 7.73 29.90

Kolkata 4486679 0 4486679 -1.88 0 -1.88

Tamil Nadu 72138958 37189229 34949729 15.60 6.49 27.16

Chennai 4681087 0 4681087 7.77 0 7.77

Maharashtra 112372972 61545441 50821531 15.99 10.34 23.67

Mumbai 3145966 0 3145966 -5.75 0 -5.75

Mumbai

Suburban

9332481 0 9332481 8.01 0 8.01

Rapid urbanization of most of the cities are evident from the above table. With this pace of

urbanization soon many of the small and medium towns in India are likely to be taking the shape

of large towns, large town to metropolitan towns/cities, metropolitan cities to mega cities. These

cities require a greening plan/strategy in advance to maintain and bring up their environmental

and greening standards.

The forest cover in respect of the cities in terms of district taken from the SFR 2011 of Forest

Survey of India [10] and Frest Area in terms of sqm per city dwellers calculated using the census

data are shown in the table-2 below:

Table:2- Forest Cover and Forest Area per city dweller for some districts of india

State District Geogra

phical

Area (

in

Sqkm)

Total

Forest

Cover

(2011

Assessmet)

(in sqkm)

Percent of

Geographica

l Area

Population Forest Area(in

sqm) per city

Dweller

NCT of

Delhi

Central Delhi 25 5.05 20.20 578671 34.91

NCT of

Delhi

East Delhi 64 2.99 4.67 1707725 2.73

NCT of

Delhi

North-East

Delhi

60 4.0 6.83 2240749 3.05

NCT of

Delhi

North-West

Delhi

440 16.49 3.75 3651261 4.52

NCT of

Delhi

New Delhi 35 16.31 46.60 133713 121.98

NCT of

Delhi

North Delhi 59 4.81 8.15 883418 5.44

NCT of

Delhi

South Delhi 250 78.32 31.33 2292363+

2733752*

15.58

NCT of

Delhi

West Delhi 129 6.33 4.91 2531583 2.50

Gujrat Ahmedabad 87.07 1.44 1.65 7208200 0.20

Gujrat Gandhinagar 649 42 6.47 1387478 30.27

Karnatka Banglore

Rural

5815 812 13.96 Combined

with urban

2.17

Karnatka Banglore

Urban

2190 150 6.85 9588910

Maharashtra Mumbai City 157 2 1.27 3145966 0.635

Maharashtra Mumbai

Suburban

446 120 26.91 9332481 12.86

Rajsthan Jaipur 14069 631 4.49 6663971 94.688

Tamil Nadu Chennai 144 9 6.25 4681087 1.92

West Bengal Kolkata 185 0 0 4486679 32.540

West Bengal Howrah 1467 146 9.95 Combined

with

Kolkata

Andhra

Pradesh

Hyderabad &

Ranareddy

7710 391 5.07 4010238 97.50

Andhra

Pradesh

Vishakhapat

nam

11161 3439 30.81 4288113 801.98

Chandigarh Chandigarh 114 16.78 14.72 1054686 15.90

From the above it is clear that in course of urbanization, greening is likely to be most affected

unless well planned approach towards it is taken in advance. Many of the cities either require

immediate action for its greening and legal provision in place to protect the green cover and

prevent its diversion.

Delhi has the Geographical area of 1483 Sqm. The Recorded Forest is 85 sqm(5.73%). Total

Forest & Tree Cover in Delhi is 19.97% of the Geographical area. Forest Cover constitutes

11.88% and the Tree Cover constitutes 8.09 % of its geographical area. [10]. Decadal growth of

the urban population in NCT of Delhi is 31.80% between 2001 & 2011. Total population of

Delhi is 16753235. Hence the area of Forest & Tree cover per dweller is 17.680 sqm. Forest

cover in Dehli despite very high rate of increase of population and associated developmental

activitie has increased from 1.48% in 1993 to 19.97% in 2011.To ensure sustainable level of

green space to provide desirable high quality environmental conditions to the urban citizens , a

multipronged strategy has been adopted for greening in Delhi.

To have proper legal control, Delhi there is a special act in the form of Delhi Preservation of

Tree Act,1994 ( DPTA,1994) which is applicable in the NCT of Delhi in respect of all the tree

irrespective of its ownership and the ownership of the land on which it is standing. Delhi

Preservation of Tree Act,1994 defines tree in its section 2(i) as “ “tree” means any woody plant

whose branches spring from and are supported upon a trunk or body and whose trunk or body is

not less than five centimeters in diameter at a height of 30 cm from the ground level and is not

less than 1 m in height from the ground level.” Further the act has provision for designating tree

officer in its section 2(j) as “ “ Tree Officer “ means a forest officer appointed as such by the

Government for the purpose of the act. “ As per section 2(h) of the act “ to fell a tree” with

cognate expression, means severing the trunk from the roots, uprooting the tree and includes

bulldozing, cutting, girdling, lopping, pollarding, applying arboricides, burning or damaging a

tree in any other manner. Chapter II of the Act has a provision for constitution of a Tree

Authority. Chapter V of the act deals with restriction on felling and removal of trees and

liabilities for preservation of Tree. Section -9 of the Act specifies procedure for obtaining

permission to fell, cut, remove or dispose of a tree. Section -10 of the DPTA,1994 deals with the

obligation to plant tree by every person who is granted permission under this act to fell or

dispose any tree.[11]. In this regard it is to add that presently in lieu of the permission for

removal of a tree, compensatory plantation of 10 plants of tree species are to be done and

maintained for five years. To ensures this, the applicants are required to deposit an amount of Rs

28000/- per tree permitted for removal by the tree officer. Out of Rs 28000/- , 50% of the same

i.e. Rs 14000/- is refundable to the applicant after 5 years once the plantation of 5 saplings of tree

species and its maintenance by him is confirmed and failing which the same is carried out by the

Forest Department of Govt. of NCT of Delhi using the said refundable sum of Rs 14000/- per

tree. Balance plantation of 5 saplings and its maintenance is compulsorily done by the Forest

Department on the identified land using the balance 50% deposited amount by applicant. It is

worth mentioning that there is a special provision in the Section-8 of the act to take care of the

dangerous trees. It states that if the tree is not immediately felled there would be danger to life or

property or traffic the owner of the land may take immediate action to fell such tree and report

the fact to the Tree Officer within twenty four hours of such felling. To discourage the illicit /

illegal felling of trees department has established Tree Help Line where any informer informs

about such cases and follow up action is being taken. This has proved to be very useful in

information gathering on illicit felling. Moreover, where ever the tree are to be removed from the

forest land for non forestry purposes the provision of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 is applied

while processing the case for the clearances and compensatory plantation using the CAMPA

Fund is also being carried out.

Unique aspect of the notified forest in Delhi is that Ridge Land of total 7784 Ha of land has been

notified as Reserved Forests under section 4 of Indian Forest Act 1927. Northern Ridge consists

of 87 Ha. Central Ridge consists of 864 Ha. South Central Ridge consists of 626 Ha. 7 Ha of the

notified ridge forest land is in Nanakpura South Central Ridge. Southern Ridge Notified Forest

consists of 6200 Ha. Protection & Enrichment plantation in the ridge land has been the main

agenda.

Forest Department has been distributing more than 5 lakhs saplings of various species annually

free of cost. Apart from providing saplings free of cost from its nurseries located in various part

of Delhi, the free distribution in the monsoon /plantation season has also been done through pre

fixed petrol pumps, mother dairy booths & Kendriya Bhandar. Advertisement is also made for

generating awareness for free distribution of saplings. Great enthusiasm has been shown by the

citizen of Delhi especially the school children.

Forest Department has 14 major nurseries maintained in various parts of Delhi to meet the

demand of saplings for the free distribution and also to meet the demand of the department of

around 3 lakh saplings annually for carrying out plantation departmentally. Saplings mainly of

Neem, Jamun, Bel, Peepal, Gular, Amaltas, Gulmohar, Papri, Jungle Jilebi, Sheesham, Burgad ,

Tamrind ,Semal, Lagerstremia, Arjun etc species are raised in the departmental nurseries. For

the plantation on the ridge land ridge spp. such as Ronge, Dhak, Ber, Pasendu etc are judiciously

mixed with other species such as Neem, Sheesham, Bargad, Peepal etc has been taken up.

To boost the greening efforts further 18 Greenig Agencies have been identified which mainly

consists of Government Agencies and Municipal bodies. Some of these greening agencies are

Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Department, Public Works Department,

Central Public Works Department, Delhi Parks & Garden Society, NDMC, Education

Department, Transport Department, Flood Control Department, Development Department, Delhi

Metro Rail Corporation etc. These agencies have been allotted certain target annually for

plantation which has been done by them using their own resources. Many of them have their own

nurseries and infrastructure for carrying out plantation on their land. Forest Department has been

coordinating the greening activities. For generating proper awareness among the citizens

Ceromonial Plantations are carried out at regular interval.

ECO Task Force ( 132 Bn) has been engaged by the department for Eco restoration of Bhatti

mines w.e.f. 2000-2001. ETF has been initially asked to rehabilitate 2100 acre of abandoned and

degraded Bhatti mines area. This has not only resulted in greening of the large area of the

abandoned degraded mined area despite tough plantation conditions but also the area has been

protected from the encroachment despite huge anthropogenic pressure. They have also taken up

Soil and Moisture Conservation work has also been taken up there.

Department has created around 40 City Forest on the land provided for plantation/compensatory

plantation upto 2011-12. Total area in these city forests is more than 1000 Ha. Most of the City

Forests are either in North-West district or South- West district of NCT of Delhi. The availability

of land in other districts for creation of City Forests have been scarce. In North-East district of

NCT of Delhi plantation on large scale on around 300 Ha land along the bank of River Yamuna

has been taken up the by the forest department and a city forest has been created there. The

district of East Delhi and North East Delhi is dense and finding land for plantation has been very

difficult. However recently the space available in the round about on the road crossings have

been spared and provided to the department for the plantation of trees. One of such plantation

has been created at ITO Chungi round about in East Delhi on more than 20 ha land. Also in

order to make available land for plantation, sides of the roads and central verges have also been

identified for the plantation. One of such plantation has been carieed out along the road on both

sides and on the central verge between Wazirabad and Mukarba Chowk on NH-1 using the

security amount received from DMRC in lieu of the permission granted to them for the removal

of trees. Success of plantation in New Delhi has been always been very difficult due to extreme

conditions especially due to scarcity of water but with a combination of strategies adopted such

as use of tall saplings and round the clock protection the survival rate has been increased

tremendously. To meet the demand for watering of the young saplings, utilisation of semi

processed raw water on large scale is also being explored in consultation with the concerned

department.

Delhi has 18000 parks and garden under various civic agencies measuring more than 18000 Ha.

Many of them are managed with the help of NGOs/RWAs/Private Sector [5].To have proper

monitoring over the Parks and Gardens of Delhi and to facilitate the role of RWAs recently Delhi

Parks & Gardens Society (DPGS) has been constituted. These parks and garden are playing

important role in greening of the city and are used by the urban population for the recreational &

educational purposes. Further, Delhi Development Authority, DDA with the assistance of

technical experts has established two Biodiversity Parks in Delhi namely Yamuna Biodiversity

Park & Arawali Biodiversity Parks and which is important component of Green Delhi[12].

Conclusion:

Urbanisation at a rapid pace is a reality at present. Urban Forestry is an important contributory

factor in the cities for environmental enhancement, control of air and noise pollution,

microclimatic modification and recreational purposes of the urban population. Before the city

expands further a proper plan for greening in the city especially with respect to land availability

in the form of parks and gardens, forest patches and road side plantation should be in place. In

addition to avoid illegal diversion of green cover of the city for taking up developmental works

or otherwise a legal framework should be in place. And therefore plan for urban forestry should

be integrated into overall planning of the urban areas in advance otherwise greening of the

urbanised area becomes more difficult once the settlement takes place especially in identifying

the land for the same and in greening the same.

References :

[1] FAO CORPORATE DOCUMENT REPOSITORY, THE POTENTIAL OF URBAN

FORESTRY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A CONCEPT PAPER, Produced by:- Forest

Department, http://www.fao.org/docrop/005/t1680e/t1680e01.h

[2] Urban Green Nation : Building the Urban Base. www.cabe.org.uk/files/urbangreen-

nation.pdf

[3] Vijay Shankar Singh, Deep Narayan Pandey, Pradeep Chaudhary, URBAN FORESTS

AND OPEN GREEN SPACES: LESSONS FOR JAIPUR, RAJSTHAN, INDIA

[4] Census Data, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, MHA,

Government of India, http:// censusindia.gov.in/2011

[5] S. D. Singh, CEO, Delhi Parks & Gardens Societ, Department of Environment,

Government of Delhi, Management of Urban Landscape in Delhi, International Conference on

Urban Forests and Biodiversity, 25-26 February,2010, Summary of Proceeding.

http://aravalifoundation.in/pdf/urbanforest.pdf

[6] Chaudhary, P. and V. P. Tewari,2010, Managing urban parks and garden in developing

countries, a case from an Indian cities. International Journal of Environment and Sustainable

Development (i): 30-36

[7] Bolund, P. and Hunhammar, S. 1999. Ecosystem Services in urban areas. Ecological

Economics 29: 293-301.

[8] Cheisura, A. 2004, The role of urban parks for the sustainable city. Landscape and Urban

Planning 68(1):129-138.

[9] Kuchelmeister, G. 1998. Urban Forestry Present Situation and Prospects in the Asia and

Pacific Region, FAO Asia- Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study, FAO Working Paper No.

APFSOS/WP/44, Food and Agriculture Organisations of the United Nations, Rome.

[10] State of Forest Report,2011 published by Forest Survey of India, http://www.fsi.org.in/

[11] http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DOIT_Forest/forest/home, Web site of the Forest

Department, Govt. of Delhi

[12] http://dda.org.in/home , web site of the DDA.

*********