Live with Trees to Beat Heat

As cities across India grapple with an unprecedented heatwave, the urgent need for effective climate resilience becomes clear. This article explores the perils of deforestation and the critical importance of preserving mature urban trees, emphasising that merely planting saplings is not enough to combat the escalating threat of climate change.

As we were busy celebrating various events all across the nation on World Environment Day on June 5, an unprecedented heatwave was killing hundreds of people throughout the country. This is no good news for a nation that plans to become the fastest-growing G20 nation. Our economy is largely dependent on the weather.

The water crisis in informal cities as well as gated communities, shrinking green spaces and waterbodies, rampant felling of age-old trees, and many more such concerning facts are weakening our resilience efforts to beat the heat. I have also been concerned about the fact that we are mostly moving towards an environmentalism of ‘planting trees.’ It’s not a bad idea. But planting saplings alone is not going to save us from the heatwave conditions we are facing.

The tree judgement

On May 18, when the heat was on everywhere, an interesting judgement came out of the Odisha High Court. It’s concerning bail conditions for a person who is facing a suicide abetment case under POCSO. The judge granted him bail, asking him to plant 200 saplings during the ensuing monsoon season and also protect them. This is a good step forward and an important message for all the new generation of environmentalists. But sadly, this unique judgement did not catch the attention of the national media the way it should have. The point here is that trees are not in the mainstream discourse, even though planting trees dominates the sphere of environmental action, mostly among the young generations. That’s the reason the number of people opposing the cutting of trees is so low—almost near zero—compared to the number of people who find solutions in planting saplings.

India has lost a substantial 2.33 million hectares of tree cover in just two decades. Even as the NGT has taken cognizance of the matter and has asked the union government for an explanation, we miss the public outrage and debate around this issue. I call it a perception battle. Standing forests and other natural resources are losing a perception battle, while ‘saplings’ are winning.

On May 31, two shocking news stories came from Uttar Pradesh (UP). One talked about the deaths of at least 166 people due to extreme heat in a single day, and another talked about the UP Government’s disclosure to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) about the need for chopping off more than 33,000 thousand full-grown trees for the 111-kilometre Kanwar route project meant for making the passage of religious devotees smooth. Actually, the NGT had taken suo moto cognizance of this matter. News reports mentioned that the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change has given permission to cut 110,000 trees and plants for the project in three districts—Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar. Here, religion wins and nature loses.

Plans are set to compensate for this loss by planting saplings in another district, as quoted by a PWD official in news reports. An amount of 1.5 crore rupees has been deposited with the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), said this official. This solution to compensate for the deforestation of fully-grown trees may stand the legal test, but the question remains: “Could this deforestation have been avoided?”

The way forward

Cities are increasingly discussing nature-based solutions (NbS), yet planners often overlook real natural solutions like fully grown trees and urban forests. Chopping these down and then initiating so-called NbS projects contradicts their purpose. Our obsession with concrete buildings and ever-expanding roads should not destroy the remaining green areas. Losing mature trees hinders climate resilience efforts, causing significant suffering, as seen during current heatwaves, which are only going to get harsher by the year.

Asia remains the most disaster-prone region due to climate and water-related hazards, with extreme heat posing significant risks, as reported by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The IPCC confirms that heat extremes have increased and will persist. If emissions remain unchanged, temperatures in several Asian and Pacific cities could rise by up to 4°C. Studies have found that urbanisation alone is responsible for 60 per cent of this warming trend. Cities have to find a solution to this problem created by them. Trees definitely offer one of the best solutions, but the message should go beyond ‘plant more trees’ and incorporate ‘save the existing trees.’ Trees are needed for the streets as much as they are needed for the parks and other spaces of the cities. And it is always wiser to plan to live with the existing trees than to chop them off and plant saplings. We must learn this traditional art of living from the indigenous communities and other forest dwellers. That’s the real, nature-based solution.

When the fully-grown trees are gone, our efforts to build resilience against climate change will take much longer than we can bear.