In July 2023, Arshel Akhter, climate action and sustainable transportation advocate, went on a solo cycle ride across Assam covering around 2,000 kilometres in a month. His purpose was to engage with people in towns and villages about climate change, among other issues. While riding, he realised that the huge highways that look great from a car are shorn of trees and are not friendly to people cycling or walking. “As a person cycling on the plains and hills, I could feel the pain of the people, especially villagers, walking along the road. There was hardly any tree cover along the villages through which the highways pass,” said Akhter.
He found most villagers, inside their homes, were appreciating the massive highways and how these helped them to connect to places far away. However, many forgot or overlooked how the highways and roads restricted their local mobility; they have not been able to walk freely or stroll outside their homes to enjoy nature like they used to. Trees, and the complex ecology, are the price paid for the roads infrastructure.
Akhter points out that the Northeast has recorded the highest amount of deforestation across India between 2001 and 2023.[1] According to official sources, around 2,500 trees were felled in 2022 along the 16.5 kilometre stretch of National Highway 37 in Guwahati to turn the four-lane highway into a six-lane one. According to the Global Forest Watch, Assam lost the highest tree cover in the country during 2001-2023. In 2016, the state lost its highest tree cover of 254 square kilometres.[2]
Photo: Arshel Akhter
Urmi Buragohain, an urban planner based in Guwahati, puts the number into perspective: The loss of forest cover in Assam over the past two decades is equivalent to losing twice the area of Delhi while the Global Forest Watch pegged Guwahati’s tree cover loss at more than 12 square kilometres from 2001 to 2023 which is the area of London Heathrow airport. In 2023, more than 7,000 trees were cut across the city for the expansion of National Highway 37 and flyovers.[3]
“That is alarming because it’s the highest level of forest cover loss in India and a significant loss globally also. The reasons are many: developmental works, illegal mining work,” said Buragohain. However, people are not willing to let things be. In October last year, many united to protest against felling of 100-200-year-old trees marked for cutting for a 5 kilometre flyover or elevated corridor project.
This rolled out a movement which saw hundreds of people joining forces to save the trees. “We realised that the whole question of development in Guwahati is very skewed. I look at it as a very destructive way of development. The movement gave me an opportunity to meet people and discuss the issues. Not just about the trees, but also asking important questions such as ‘Do these flyovers really help reduce congestion?’, said Akhter.
That the city recorded above-40 degrees Celsius in September last year, with the Heat Index touching 50 degrees Celsius did not seem to matter to the authorities; more trees were marked to face the axe. Trees are natural coolers and a part of making cities climate-resilient. Yet, the diminishing tree cover in Guwahati is starkly visible to those who know the city as Akhter and Buragohain do. The once-green streets are brown and grey. Ironically, the columns of the new flyover are beautifully painted with images of vanishing wildlife in Assam. “We need real trees and ecology that is thriving, not just paintings or murals,” remarks Buragohain.
Ecology lost, so are stories
The construction of the flyover from Reserve Bank to Noonmati sparked widespread anger among the residents after a change in the design to include Tayabullah Road, potentially threatening the heritage and beauty of Digholi Pukhuri (pukhuri means pond, digholi means elongated). The pond in the heart of the city was built in the 16th-17th century reportedly by digging a canal from River Brahmaputra. The Public Works Department admitted, in a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, that no Environmental Impact Study had been conducted for the project.[4]
When the Digholi Pukhuri movement started and people came out in large numbers to protest last October, ecologists and planners like Akhter and Buragohain highlighted the major role of trees in combating air pollution. They were involved in the movement from their individual perspectives – Buragohain from a public space perspective and Akhter from that of mobility. “A lot of people have been discouraged from riding cycles or even walking at least partly because of the lack of trees which used to line up the footpaths,” Akhter said.
The trees, some hundreds of years old, have always been associated with the pond but its stories are slowly disappearing. “When the movement started, we jumped in to help as much as we could, lending credibility to people’s voices so that it’s evidence-based,” said Buragohain, who was working in Australia before moving to India six years ago. “In Victoria, Australia, I was deeply involved in the local government policy sector that looked at conserving and preserving trees. There were very stringent rules and regulations protecting urban trees.”
Photo: Tridib Sarma/ Wikimedia Commons
The citizen movement roped in the youth too who were fired by the proposed felling of old trees. When the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma finally visited the protest site and announced that the flyover design would be revised to avoid impacting the trees, it seemed like a small achievement to them all. “But it’s still a hollow win. It has come to this point where we are now thinking, where next, because this is happening in all cities and towns in Assam. This is not an isolated incident of Guwahati and Digholi Pukhuri,” lamented Buragohain.
Trees and weather patterns
May 25 last year was the hottest day at 40.1 degrees Celsius since 1960 in Guwahati.[5] The climate impact, from factors that include the loss of trees, was visible in increased heat wave days. “We have seen the urban heat island increasing. We don’t have many studies on this but we have all been talking about it…how the number of hotter or warmer days have increased while the winters have shortened. The rainfall pattern too has changed here,[6]”,” said Akhter.
To keep pace with the construction boom, cement companies have set up factories at Byrnihat – one of the most polluted places in India – near Guwahati which now seems trapped in a vicious cycle.[7] With the lack of cool and shaded roads discouraging people from cycling and walking, they have shifted to cars which call for flyovers and more construction; the vehicle congestion further justifies the flyovers – a vicious circle that other cities have gone through and Guwahati could have learned from.
In almost a dystopian move, the state government announced plantation drives and said that three crore saplings were planted in 2024[8] but the green cover depletion is possibly larger and reflected in weather changes.
“Earlier, we used to have rainfall spread over four or five months but now the duration of rainfall is concentrated and its intensity has increased. This is actually the result of so-called development,” said Akhter. Buragohain added, “The monsoons used to follow a certain pattern but it’s no longer there. Now, we have patchy rainfall, and a sudden cloudburst which submerges the whole city underwater,” she said.
Historically, Guwahati has been a sponge city. It was a crisscross network of rivers, wetlands, and natural and human-made ponds besides the Brahmaputra flowing next door. But these water bodies have been fragmented and encroached upon. “As a result, the ecological values — where there is water, we see plants and trees — are dwindling. I don’t just mean trees with big canopies. We need plants of all sizes from ground cover to shrubs to trees. You cannot just protect big trees and forget about the rest. The native herbs and shrubs protect the soil from eroding,” said Buragohain.
Native and non-native plants
Last year, residents of Khumtai in Assam’s Golaghat district planted native species such as Ficus Yrens, Banyan, Sacred Fig, Maha Nim, Golden Shower tree, Azar, Spanish Cherry, Jackfruit, Mango, and other indigenous trees. Their role in mitigating climate impacts and supporting biodiversity has been well established.[9]
The community-driven initiative also spreads awareness on native trees which adapt well to local conditions, require minimal water and fertiliser inputs, and naturally resist pests. “We must make a distinction between forest cover and tree cover. Most of the designated forests in Assam are more like monocultures, basically plantations started by the British for logs for railway lines,” said Akhter.
Photo: Arshel Akhter
Many of these are not native to Guwahati and their large size disallows the growth of shrubs on the ground reducing the biodiversity of the place. The tea industry, among the biggest contributors to the gross domestic product of Assam, has been responsible for deforestation across Assam.[10] Monocultures, such as rubber plantations in the hilly areas, have impacted rainfall patterns and biodiversity too.
People have been discussing tree cover, green cover, and sustainable urban development for some time but the official vision of urban development does not include these. This development has been destructive and unsustainable and does not align with the ecological values, said experts. “The people, the communities in the northeast, are primarily agrarian. So, the connection with surroundings has always been deep, it’s emotional,” said Buragohain. She has noticed many installing air purifiers and air conditioners to cocoon themselves from the heat and bad air – a disconnect that’s stopping them from seeing the slow destruction, she rued.
“It’s not just the underprivileged or the marginalised who suffer. Even the well-off will feel the pain. This toxic world is the legacy we are leaving behind for future generations. They will spend their lifetime battling the ill-effects of what is happening now. We haven’t even given them a fighting chance for a healthy life which is a disservice to them,” said Buragohain.
What is the way out? Plant more trees, protect the ones that are around, and teach the young the value of the green cover, say experts.
“We already have a lot of policies and regulations in place to safeguard trees and the forest cover. These are being systematically or slowly diluted, making it easy for people to destroy trees and forests. These regulations need to be strengthened and made more stringent with penalties and punishments. Along with forests, it should encompass tree cover in urban areas too,” suggested Akhter.
The idea that the environment – especially trees – cannot be traded for economic growth fuelled by unlimited consumption and demand is something to be taught to children. “Our focus needs to shift towards a balanced development model whereby the environment and economy grows together,” he added. Easier said than done but Guwahati’s authorities must wake up – now.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
