When the tree survey of the city of Panaji is put on display at the Konkan Food Festival scheduled for April 22, Ponjekars and those who use the city will be in for a surprise. Sample this: Dayanand Bandodkar Road has 25 species with a total of 242 trees along its length. 18th June Road, which is a shopping hub had 100 trees of which 23 are coconut palms and nine are mango. Atmaram Borkar Road has 73 trees of which
17 are mango and 16 are Australian Pine. Overall the city has a rich collection of 125 species of trees. The survey was conducted by the Botanical Society of India in the month of May and June last year at the request of the Corporation of the city of Panaji which wanted a detailed map of the city’s green cover. The State Biodiversity Board had conducted a preliminary survey, but the BSG was hired to fill in the gaps. The BSG is also working on another project for the
CCP to plant 5,000 trees in the city, of which 500 will be fruit
bearing trees. This is an ambitious
project considering that a large portion
of the city is already covered
by buildings, roads and footpaths.
The project is more important and
would probably make a larger impact
on the city that the smart city
plan being presently debated.
It has been predicted that by 2050
around 70 per cent of the population
will be living in cities and
if trees are not made part of necessary
infrastructure like roads, sewage, electricity and water,
cities would turn into dry enclaves. Trees absorb vehicle
emission, provide shade reduce dust and noise pollution and
during summer provide evaporation which cools the environment.
Planners all around the globe have realized this and today
Chicago, US has an urban forest with 3.5 million trees. In
Lyon, France trees in combination with large rainwater harvesting
tanks are used to create an air conditioner for the city
through the natural process of evaporation. Believe it or not,
in some cities trees increase the value of property by almost 15
per cent. The presence of trees provide a connect with nature
and more space needs to be made for them instead of cars and
two-wheelers.
It is significant that the single most important plan for the
city “ planting 5,000 trees, has been envisaged outside the
‘smart city plan’. More importantly, the CCP has already roped
in a corporate house to finance the project. Perhaps, what
Panaji needs is small but significant improvements like these
instead of large grandiose plans which look impressive on paper
but are extremely difficult to implement because no one is
clear as to who will be the ultimate beneficiary.
The biggest challenge that the BSG and the CCP face in
planting the 5,000 trees is finding space for them. The problem
with most urban tree projects is that the trees do not last
more than 15 years on account of poor soil condition and not
enough space underground for roots to spread. The ironic is
that the trees that make the most impact are the large ones
which are allowed to grow to their full height and age.
If one wants to truly understand and feel how trees make
a difference, compare the Dayanand Bandodkar Road stretch
from Campal to Miramar with the road leading from the O Coqueiro
Circle in Porvorim to the new mall. If trees were included
as necessary infrastructure the highway in Porvorim would
have been 10 times more beautiful than it is today.
