Hyderabad has scooped up three awards in close succession for becoming one of the green cities in the world. Earlier this month, it beat cities like Paris and Montreal to be named the Green City of the World. For two years in a row, Arbor Foundation and Food and Agriculture Organisation recognised Hyderabad as ‘Tree City of the World’. Green activists in the city are delighted as well as puzzled. Has Hyderabad really become green?
“In early 2000s, the city had started becoming greener because of avenue tree plantations done during the 80s and 90s. We began to see the yellows of trees of gold and the pinks of trumpet trees. Haritha Haaram added to this effort but the numbers game is what bothers us. It should be about quality and not quantity,” says Sadhana Ramchander who is part of the citizens’ collective trying to save the Chevella banyans.
“We do not audit the results, but rather require the Mayor’s signature to verify the truth of the information provided,” informed Alana Tucker, Program Manager of Tree Cities Program of Arbor Foundation when asked about the process to choose the winner.
The State showcased its flagship programme Telangana Ku Haritha Haram, that is a large-scale tree-planting programme implemented since 2015-16 for winning the World Green City Award against improbable odds.
Data collated from the Ministry of Environment and Forests shows that the forest cover has indeed gone up. In 2015, the combined Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts had no dense forests, 53 square km of moderate forests, and 355 sq km of open forest. By 2021, the twin districts had .02 sq km of dense forest, 150.01 sq km of moderate forest and 672 sq km of open forest.
The greening of Hyderabad can be even seen from space. The Global Forest Watch records that the ‘humid primary forest in India has decreased by 3.6% between 2001 and 2021. In contrast, Hyderabad logged .47% of tree cover gained in Telangana and Rangareddy recorded 9% gain in tree cover in the state.
Roadside Multi Layered Avenue plantations – length 881.5 Km, numbering 37,27,805.
Greenery on Road Central Median – length 406.50 Km, numbering 47,03,241.
Tank bund plantation No. of. Lakes – 24, No. of. Plants 32,00,000.
Urban Parks 1087 numbers.
Urban Forest area Block Plantations 5928.38 Ha, No. of. Plants 30,00,000.
Colony/Street Plantations – 56,25,857.
Institutional Plantations – No. of. Plants 155,00,000.
Vertical Garden – 12.
Block Plantations – 250Ha along ORR
Landscape Gardens – 12.5 Ha.
Rain Garden – 7 No’s & No. of plants 7,00,000.
