Dear readers,

Jammu and Kashmir began geotagging the iconic and majestic Chinar trees, this week, as their numbers dwindle. Each tree is slated to get a unique Aadhar-like code, providing detailed information about the tree’s location, health, age, and so on. The innovative and participatory move is a step towards taking stock of and preserving the trees — something that’s often overlooked in cities in single-minded pursuit of development. Trees and green cover are not impediments in urban development; planning must understand and appreciate that. With this as the theme, Question of Cities returns to how trees can — and should — be part of planning in cities, what it means to walk amidst trees in concretised Mumbai, how Guwahati suffers as it sacrifices trees for construction, and more tree warriors in cities. 

Urban development plans and master plans rarely acknowledge trees as natural wealth of cities or make 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 cover in India’s cities with explicit permissions to axe trees, including rare and old ones, has put the spotlight on the laws and policies for trees, and their implementation. In the lead essay, Associate Editor Shobha Surin and multimedia journalist Jashvitha Dhagey go over what cities can — and must — do for trees, accompanied by Nikeita Saraf’s brilliant illustrations of the state of trees in our cities. Read it here.

Call them tree warriors or green crusaders. They are fighting the tough battle in cities across India – Dehradun, Delhi, Bengaluru – to preserve and protect trees both for their intrinsic value and to combat the effects of climate change. From negotiating with local authorities to filing cases in courts and organising tree plantation drives and more, they are at it. Team QoC features environmentalist Florence Pandhi in Dehradun, lawyer Aditya N Prasad advocating for trees since his school days in Delhi, Vijay Nishanth dropping out of engineering to preserve trees in Bengaluru, and the Save Aarey movement in Mumbai. Read it here.

Multimedia journalist Jashvitha Dhagey finds out more about trees and their valuable benefits while on a walk in Mumbai’s Mahim Nature Park, a veritable bounty of green amid the concrete city. The Mahua tree helped Indians survive two famines, the imported – yes, imported – Gulmohar has buttress roots that grow at right angles, the Rain Tree grows in silos, then there are Arjun, Putranjiva, Pongam, Fishtail, Kumkum Phal and more species than you would have heard of. Every tree holds a hidden trivia, an interesting story, a unique fragrance and reminds us that we cannot survive without trees, and nature. Join her on this walk. Read it here.

Among Assam’s largest cities, Guwahati has turned into a huge construction site with a dwindling tree cover. The city lost 12 square kilometres of trees between 2001 and 2023 which is the size of London Heathrow airport while Assam’s forest loss in the past two decades is equal to losing two Delhis. The construction of roads, flyovers, and other projects has taken a heavy toll on trees. While people have come out to save them, the authorities are yet to realise that existing trees must be protected and new ones planted, writes Team QoC. Read it here.

Leafy canopies play a crucial role in regulating the global climate – and mitigating global warming. But, as a recent study shows, rising temperatures will severely affect the ability of tropical forests to photosynthesise. This, in turn, will hinder their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and could reduce their role in mitigating global warming and climate change. Plants can dynamically acclimate to their environment but tropical trees are already near the upper limit of temperatures they can tolerate without suffering, reports this republished story from The Conversation. Read it here.

In our regular section, News Digest, read about the California wildfires, US pulling out from the Paris Agreement, and other curated news about cities and climate change in the world.

Hope you find this edition interesting and informative. We would love to hear from you at  [email protected]. If you haven’t yet subscribed to Question of Cities, do so here and share our work on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Thank you,
Smruti
January 24, 2025