12 years of green cover decline in Ahmedabad’s 12 wards, Vatva loses 41% of trees
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Ahmedabad's green cover |
Despite tree plantation drives like ‘Ek ped maa ke naam’, a survey conducted by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) has revealed a decline in tree cover in 12 wards of Ahmedabad between 2012 and 2024. The most significant reduction — over 41% — has been observed in the Vatva ward.
Why has tree cover declined?
One of the primary reasons for the decline in tree cover is the felling of trees for various development projects. On the other hand, wards such as Indrapuri, Kubernagar, and Saijpur have reported a 100% to 200% increase in green cover.
In 2012, the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) conducted a survey to count the trees in the city. The assessment was based on tree canopy, spread, and the area (in hectares) covered by trees in each ward. At that time, the city had 6.18 lakh trees, which accounted for 4.66% of the city’s total land area.
Trees chopped over the years by AMC
Year | Number of trees cut |
---|---|
2017–18 | 1,068 |
2018–19 | 2,243 |
2019–20 | 3,943 |
2020–21 | 1,003 |
2021–22 | 571 |
2022–23 | 1,200 |
2023–24 | 1,416 |
Tree plantation target by August 31
AMC has announced a target to plant 40 lakh saplings/trees across various wards by August 31. According to Jayesh Trivedi, chairman of the Recreation Committee, 20.42 lakh saplings had been planted as of July 29. To meet the target, 64,000 saplings need to be planted daily until the end of August.
ICLEI’s green cover survey highlighted that Vatva ward has witnessed massive tree cutting due to the Bullet Train project. A similar trend is visible in Maninagar ward. In Khadia ward, there are reportedly no open plots available for plantation.
AMC has tasked the SAR agency with conducting a fresh tree census in all 48 wards of the city. So far, 590,000 trees have been counted.
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