A forest in a city, a city in a forest

Advertisement

Kunal Sharma & Swayam Chowdhary

‘Sits here a forest on an ancient soil, where battles were fought and now birds chirp in joy. In the shadow of the mountains bountiful, I would rather not be from anywhere but my city beautiful.’

Every aspect of this man-made creation, originally spread over 47 blocks of 246 acres each, vindicates the visionary thinking of the planners. Surely, Le Corbusier, Dr MS Randhawa and others must be smiling at the evolution of Chandigarh into a standard for sustainable living amid the chaos Indian cities are.

Chandigarh is an intricately inter-connected green world made up of parks, forests and tree-lined avenues. While spaces such as the Sukhna landscape are known to be biologically diverse, it is the smaller green zones that act as ecological bridges for more than 270 species of avifauna and small mammals.

Credit goes to the Forest Department and horticulture wing of the Municipal Corporation for preserving natural spaces and planting diverse indigenous species. An assessment suggests that annually more than a lakh trees are being planted. Eucalyptus plantations have been discontinued and medicinal and indigenous species are being nurtured (27 herbal gardens have been set up in schools and colleges).

Shivam of SayTrees, an environmental group working on afforestation, acknowledges the efforts and stresses how green belts play an important role in controlling the micro-climate, reducing dust and leading to a much higher number of birds, squirrels and butterflies.

Chandigarh has the highest number of trees per hectare of culturable non-forest area in the country. And not just that, it is a rare example of a city-state improving its green cover. The total forest cover increased from 42 sq km in 2003 to 48.03 sq km in 2019. During the same period, the tree cover increased from 8 sq km to 25 sq km. Overall, the green cover has increased from 26 per cent in 2001 to 46 per cent in 2019.

Siddaq Singh, Instructor of Sustainability in Practice at Thapar School of Management, says what’s unique is that the green cover is publicly accessible. The green belts act as carbon sinks, especially relevant as the vehicular and industrial emissions increase, reducing the ‘heat island’ effect associated with concrete and built environments.

This sketch board of a green maze is propped up by more than 1,800 parks and gardens. The 8-km-long linear chain spread over 2.4 sq km and developed along a seasonal rivulet is one such refuge for numerous species of fauna. The parks along the spine of Chandigarh include Rajendra Park, Bougainvillea Garden, Leisure Valley Garden, Zakir Rose Garden, Shanti Kunj, Bamboo Valley Garden, Bulbous Garden, Hibiscus Garden, Fragrance Garden and Dahlia Garden.

One reason Chandigarh has managed to increase its green cover is the creation of new green spaces such as the lush Nagar Van spread over 247 acres. The city forest adds valuable space to the Sukhna ecological complex. The 176-acre Botanical Garden at the administrative tri-junction of Sarangpur, Lahora and Dhanas villages is a cushion against urban development beyond Chandigarh’s boundaries. These green spaces supplement the existing larger forest patches that require constant protection such as the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary (26.11 sq km), City Bird Sanctuary in Sector 21 (0.03 sq km), lake reserved forest (1.06 sq km), Sukhna choe reserved forest (3.87 sq km), Patiala-ki-Rao forest (1.36 sq km) and brick-kiln at Manimajra (0.06 sq km).

The proof of ample diversity lies in the high number of bird species with respect to the city’s area, with bird species per sq km estimated at 1.94. This figure is behind Dehradun (2.91) and Mysuru (2.65), but much ahead of cities considered green, such as Bhopal (0.99), Srinagar (0.97) and Bengaluru (0.52). These green spaces provide year-round refuge, food and nesting spots to around 150 species of birds that are resident or local migrants and have ample resources for another 110 migrant species. Smaller locations have reported increased sightings. Mammals too have found space.

Yet, the grid of greenery is under growing threat. A city designed for five lakh people houses more than 12 lakh and suffers from the unfortunate tag of having the largest numbers of vehicles per capita in India. Recent development along its periphery is threatening to turn Chandigarh into a green island with poorly imagined construction all around.

Though awareness around conservation has grown, practices such as concreting of pavements continue to choke many unfortunate trees. Developmental threats such as the construction of flyovers, touted as a panacea to the burgeoning traffic, will continue to compromise the vulnerable green spaces in the city.

Citizens like Anupama Sharma and Gautam feel that societal efforts to improve the green cover are missing. Sharma wants dedicated cycling lanes in every sector, with monthly cycling days and a few streets restricted to cyclists.

The city that has grown to accommodate many more sectors calls for a radical change for future sustainability. The true legacy of Chandigarh should be to protect every single tree. The Kusums, Philkans, Kachnars and Jacarandas that dot the avenues should be treated as living persons and protection be accorded to them.

Siddaq suggests that strategies need to move beyond just increasing the green cover to creativity in reducing traffic without building more roads, transitioning to efficient transportation systems and encouraging citizens to use cycles or public transport.

Innovative approaches are being adopted such as declaring 31 trees over a 100 years each as ‘Heritage Trees of Chandigarh’. The administration could also take the cue from Karnataka Agricultural University in Bengaluru to declare ecologically critical landscapes as Biodiversity Heritage sites. At the same time, there should be a conscious movement away from maintaining aesthetically beautiful parks towards a natural landscape dominated by trees.

Unless the larger tri-city is managed in symphony with each other, the efforts by the Chandigarh administration will go to waste as populations explode along its periphery. Protection of all green spaces should be prioritised, and efforts made to connect these.