Urban forestry: Revenge of the fallen (tree)

Informed opposition by citizens can help protect city’s greenery

KARACHI: Trees in Karachi continue to fall prey to development and commercialization and as the vital green cover shrinks day by day, it is important that concerned citizens question authorities for every tree removed. We speak to government officials and environmental activists to find what citizens can do to stop unauthorised tree cutting in their neighbourhoods.



Amber Alibhai, General Secretary of NGO Shehri-CBE, says KMC’s Parks and Horticulture Department is responsible to look after trees on all public spaces and citizens should report tree cutting violations to local police station and parks department of their zone. “The complaint must have photographs as evidence and should be copied to Commissioner Karachi, Administrator KMC, and Director General Parks and Horticulture Department,” Alibhai advises.

She also calls on the citizens to be vigilant that invasive species like Conocarpus are not planted in the city.

Abdullah Mushtaq, Director General for KMC’s Parks and Horticulture department, says the civic body doesn’t have the authority to take action on its own but with the help of police, they try to curb illegal tree cutting. “We don’t have any law, force of our own or magisterial powers. We file FIRs with the police and work with them to catch fellers. We recently caught people cutting trees red-handed late at night,” he shares.

Law

Environmental specialist Saquib Ejaz Hussain says there are no regulations or guidelines in place to govern trees in Karachi. “There’s no specific law for the city; there is one for forests in Sindh province but even that is not adequate,” he says

Hussain says because there are no local rules, international best practices are looked into to manage trees in the city. “For instance, these guidelines dictate that if a tree is being cut, it should be compensated with at least five trees,” he explains.

In the absence of city-centric laws, Mushtaq says when KMC files FIRs against illegal tree cutting, it argues the action damaged government property and caused monetary loss - money invested in planting and taking care of that tree - and demands adequate punishment for these crimes.

Compensation

Environmental specialist Hussain says the issue is not as simple as planting five trees to compensate for one chopped tree. “Pakistan is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity which calls for maintaining the diverse variety of living things that exist in our environment. When we cut trees and talk about replanting them, we never discuss the overall ecological loss and how to compensate it sufficiently,” he says.



The specialist says multiple species such as Neem, Lignum and Badaam are chopped in Karachi for development purposes but are replaced with only one species - Conocarpus. “Planting it is illegal and against the principle of sustainability because in technical terms, Conocarpus is not even a tree, it is a shrub,” Hussain remarks.

As an expert who compiles Environmental Impact Assessment reports for developmental work, Hussain says he suggests keeping in mind the tree’s age, canopy size and species to properly compensate for the loss. “I say don’t stop at five trees for one; plant ten if you have to,” he states.

Apart from the loss of biodiversity, Hussain says cutting trees also have an impact on carbon balance. “In Karachi, we see vegetation is removed for construction of housing schemes and apartments; this means we are reducing carbon absorbers (trees) and increasing carbon emissions (human activity). The exact scale of carbon misbalance should be understood and acknowledged to ensure sustainable planning,”



Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2016.