While just about everyone who’s anyone waxes eloquently about green movements and their love for trees, there’s little being done at grass-root level. Remember the tree which fell opposite Inox at Mumbai’s Nariman Point leaving a gaping hole in the pavement. After that happened, all was forgotten. A Right To Information application to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) garden department and tree authority had revealed that of the 26,039 trees felled from the period between April 2008 and March 2011, 14,877 were cut for ‘development’ while the rest 11,162 trees felled as they “obstructed traffic.”

Now, according to the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Preservation of Trees Act, two trees must be planted for every tree cut or the uprooted tree must be transplanted. So, the 14,877 trees cut for ‘development’ should have been followed with replanting of 29,754 trees. According to data furbished by the BMC, only 5,604 trees have been planted from 2008 to 2010 and, experts maintain, not more than 5,000 were planted in the 2010-2011 period.

 For the trees felled for ‘obstructing traffic’, the BMC has – on its part - planted 22,037 trees. By the ‘must replant two as rule’ logic, if 26,039 trees were felled in the said period, 52,078 trees should have been planted in strict accordance with the Act.

There are a few loopholes and snags which need to be resolved in order to ensure the purpose of the Act is fulfilled in principle and practice. Like, at the time of handing over the occupation certificate, a thorough inspection of the developed site does not occur. This should be preceded by a strict survey by the Tree Authority and the garden department authorities which must ensure the requisite numbers of trees are replanted by the developer.

Also, that the developers don’t quite maintain the trees planted in place of those felled is evident in the fact that the deposit of Rs 2,000 - as laid down by the Act, for each tree cut to be refunded only if the tree planted in place grows satisfactorily – is not claimed at all. This indicates developers aren’t planting the trees being felled in the name of ‘development.’

New York, incidentally, despite having more high-rises than Mumbai, has an average of five trees per person. Back home, in 2009, over 2,000 trees were ‘required’ to be felled for the Middle Vaitarna Dam project and there was a proposal to cut 111 trees for the Mahatma Gandhi swimming pool in Mahim also, 1,000-odd trees had to be felled for the Bhandup Water Complex.

In the name of development, roads are widened to accommodate parking and sidewalks / pavements reduced as “very few pedestrians anyway use them,” leading to existing trees barely being able to hold on and…eventually die! There is a proposal to cut down two rain trees outside the Catering College at Dadar because they were a ‘nuisance,’ and ‘caused accidents’. This, despite the fact that the trees have been standing there for nearly a century and there was no report of anyone crashing into those trees.

A sea of residents opposed the proposal and High Court intervened ensuring the trees were not felled. Sadly, in the name of making the city green, a lot of cooperative housing societies and landlords ‘create’ green spaces where there exist none in development plans only to boost their realty prospects. The presence of a slum near a residential structure has direct relevance to the selling price affecting it adversely. Concurrently, the presence of a ‘garden’ or a green patch provides the prerequisite boost to sellers who can pitch for a bit more.

However, in green spaces created for vested interests, there’s little by way of initiative in ensuring they are maintained well.

CITY REGISTERS TREE FALLS EVERY YEAR It’s during monsoons that hit Mumbai when most of the trees buckle under the onslaught of rains, some breaking, others getting completely uprooted.

Following the first showers, traffic moves at snail’space dodging branches and trunks that swoop precariously weighed by the rainfall, onto the city’s roads. “It’s sad that the authorities never foresee this well in advance,” says Mumbai-based Charni Road resident and environmentalist KabirKartik. “When they go about pruning trees branches throughout the year around anticipating rains and subsequent tree-falls, they presume that they’ve solved the issue and trees won’t fall but they do...as always,” he says.

But, as history has it, the first week of rainfall in Mumbai fetches umpteen tree-falls, subsequent commuting issues for vehicle owners and traffic-jams. What makes matters worse it the inbuilt risk of a tree falling on a moving vehicle or an unassuming pedestrian. Not that it deters the civic authorities in any manner. Year after year, dozens of trees buckle under the onslaught of heavy rains and gusty winds that accompany showers. Like B.Com student Devyani Mehta who studies in a Churchgate-based college, there’re scores of unwary pedestrians and two-wheeler riders who’re caught completely off-guard when a tree, among the rows interlining lanes, cracks and falls bang in the middle of the road.

ChandrakantHalkar’s six-month-old Toyota was smashed by a tree that collapsed on it while it was parked near Electric House during last year’s downpour. “After having driven it so carefully on road during the first rains, considering it gets so slippery and dangerous, it was the last straw for me when a tree fell on it while it was parked!” says an astounded Halkar. “The hood of the car is smashed even its windshield shattered with the impact,” rues Halkar.

 “Our college street, interlined with tall trees looks beautiful but once it rains, the entire scenario changes,” says a South Mumbai Jai Hind College student. “Trees that fall in the middle of the road following the first rains usually create a huge traffic issue for vehicle-owners who’re either pushing their two-wheelers through the branches or driving through them in their cars while avoiding pedestrians too,” she says. While NGOs and resident societies go gung-ho over turning Mumbai into a cleaner, greener place, it’s imperative to ensure that the trees planted don’t get out of shape and are maintained well. The surging number of trees that fall during the monsoons only indicates the fact that there is absolutely no upkeep for the trees once they are planted.

The onus of their upkeep rests on the civic authorities as well as societies / residents planting the trees. Nobody is held responsible for the fall of a tree during monsons or otherwise. Till then, the onus lies on the Tree Authority.

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In olden days, the area or land used for agriculture was high and the population it feed was less. Our forefathers used only the 'muck' as fertilizers and have enjoyed a healthy life by consuming a healthy food of quality and quantity. Muck is nothing but the moist farmyard dung or soil containing decaying plants, vegetables etc. or manure. Those days there were no fertilizers, pesticides, growth inducers or promoters to avoid pests or to increase the crop yield. Though, we have to accept the truth that our previous generations were healthy than what we are now, after modern science and technologies with introduction of new chemicals to kill insect pests and promoters for fast crop growths. The present system of agriculture has achieved an increased yield compared to older farming practices. But, the chemicals that we use for the crops not only affect the health of consumers (we) but also destroys the nature of the soil forever. Sometimes, over use of pesticides poison the land and nothing else will grow thereafter. So, what we can do to avoid this chemical accumulation in soil ? 1. Analyse your soil nutrients that is of less cost, so you will come to know which nutrient is deficient in your soil. 2. Do not go for repeated cultivation of same crops. For example., If you cultivate paddy in your field, once you harvest, sow some cereals and other pulses that are nitrogen-fixing crops. Crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure and will improve your soil structure and fertility of the soil. 3. Go for organic methods of soil enrichment such as muck-spreading. They are actually cheap than any other growth promoters available in the form of chemicals in market. It even have the power to rejuvenate the soils destroyed by chemical intensive agricultural practices. 4. A recent and widely used method in organic farming is the soil re-mineralisation using finely crushed rocks (rock dust) that contain minerals and trace elements. The rock dusts are rich in silicon, potassium, sulfur, manganese, phosphorus, zinc, calcium, copper, cobalt and other necessary elements for soil enrichment and crop growth. Appropriate use of these methods will certainly give fruitful results in quality crop production as well save our earth from chemical pollutants. 

Contributed by: Dr. J. Benjamin Franklin, Scientist, NIOT, Port Blair.

Lichens, what are Lichens? These are the small round patches, slightly off colored green in the bark of trees in your backyard. They seem profuse in wet months and become dry patches during the summer.

Lichens are actually a combination of a fungal partner (mycobiont) and an algal partner (phycobiont). The fungal filaments surround and grow into the algal cells, and provide the majority of the lichen's physical bulk and shape.

Lichens can grow in soil, rock, or even the barks of trees.  It absorbs certain mineral nutrients from any of these substrates on which it grows, but is generally self-reliant in feeding itself through photosynthesis in the algal cells. Thus, lichens growing on trees do not feed on them like parasites on the trees.

Lichens are indicators of the health of an ecosystem in tropical regimes like our islands, the more the lichen load (in trees etc.,) the more robust is the nutrient cycle of that ecosystem. Several studies have shown serious impacts on the growth and health of lichens resulting from factory and urban air pollution. Because some lichens are so sensitive, they are now being used to quickly and cheaply assess levels of air toxins in Europe and North America.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands have a healthy ecosystem, when compared to other parts of our country. Lichens were seen even in the barks of road side trees of Port Blair city until recently. Though it still exists, of late it seems that Lichens are disappearing from the city limits. This is a matter of concern as they indicate the health of our eco system.

- Amlan Dutta, Ecologist

Pest control is one of the major problem in agriculture. Pesticides are widely used chemicals in the world for more than half a century to control the pests or insects that prevent the crops and on the other hand destroy, repel or mitigate any pests. Insects not only kill the crops but also sometimes humans by acting as a disease carrying agent. However, during the past decade, the use of chemicals increased steadily in the developing countries to enhance food production and to control vector-borne diseases. Although the use of most of the pesticides such as technical DDT and HCH were banned worldwide, illicit use of these chemicals still exist among few farmers and also regionally. In addition, the accumulation of these chemicals in the earth remain for a long-term, polluting the top soil. DDT is a well known, persistent and highly lipid soluble organochlorine pesticide. It was widely used to fight insect-borne diseases like malaria until legislative restrictions were imposed following the manifestation of ecological impairment. The low chemical and biological degradation, lipophilic nature and hydrophobicity have led DDT to accumulate into the biological tissues. In 1996, the World Health Organisation (WHO) assessed the acceptable daily intake for DDT from number of countries and found India as a largest consumers of DDT in terms of daily intake. In India, DDT has been used to control malaria since 1946. Due to awareness towards environment, measures were taken to control the use of this pesticide. The DDT applied for agriculture, not only accumulates into the sediment, but also contaminates water resources and through bio-chain it gets more concentrated (bio-magnification) and finally reaches humans. Especially, the coastal marine environment receives considerable input of DDT from various anthropogenic sources such as direct discharges or indirectly from river flows, runoff, as well as from long-distance transport through the atmosphere. The pesticides that reaches ponds, rivers, coastal oceans due to rain and runoffs affects the egg and sperm development, accumulates, initiates mutations in animals living in the aquatic environment. The concentration of DDT has significantly reduced after the ban on use of it in the year 1970, although it still remains as various of the environment such as air, sediments, fish and mammals and becomes a threat to human health. In humans, it is stored in the body fat and is excreted in the milk and reaches the infants from the time of birth. As, DDT persists for a long time in the community, the fear on adverse effects in future generations, metabolism and growth also exists. In India, we expect the day of real ban on the use of such chemicals like DDT. The use of such chemicals not only diminish the quality of the product but also the health of ours and future generations.

Contributed by: Dr. Arockiya Vasanthi, Scientist, NIOT.