Urban development plans and master plans have traditionally seen trees as impediments to ‘development’, rarely acknowledging them as natural wealth of cities and hardly making provisions to protect and preserve them. This will no longer work in the time of climate change as trees and green cover are seen as parts of making cities climate resilient. Shrinking tree covers in India’s cities with explicit permission to axe trees, including rare and old ones, has put the spotlight on the laws and policies for trees, and their implementation. We put together a list of what cities need with
Nikeita Saraf’s brilliant illustrations.