BENGALURU: With the launch of ‘Bangalore Tree Census’ app on Saturday, the long-pending comprehensive tree census in the city is all set to be fast-tracked. Citizens can upload details of all trees on their private properties with photographs, GPS coordinates, species and measurements on the app.
The app, which is available on Android and iOS platforms, was demonstrated before high court chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and other judges by uploading information pertaining to a tree on the court premises. The app has been developed by Kimzuka Solutions Pvt Ltd for the state forest department and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. BBMP deputy conservator of forests HC Ranganathaswamy said the app has been developed in such a way that citizens can upload information easily, which include GPS readings, tree measurement, species and other details.
“As of now, we’ve already counted 70,000 trees in the city. According to the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, a tree is defined as one which has a girth of 27.5cm at least. We’re hoping the census will be done at a fast pace as the public will be involved in the process,” he said.
Three years to compile data
According to a BBMP official, it would take at least three years to complete the census and compile data.
The high court had warned the BBMP for failing to begin tree census in the city in 2019, but the pandemic delayed the process. The census has been a constant demand of environmentalists for almost a decade to ascertain the biodiversity of Bengaluru as that has been the first and major causality whenever development works are taken up.
Vijay Nishanth, tree expert, said: “Despite fighting for a decade to hold a tree census, it was never taken up because the authorities wanted to conceal the number of trees that had been axed. The move will give a direction for Bengaluru’s future.”
The last-known official figure of the city’s tree population of over 15 lakh was recorded in 1987 when the Green Belt Forest Division, under the state forest department, was in place. The then chief minister R Gundu Rao executed an ambitious project of planting tree saplings across Bengaluru.
A report of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2016 showed the city witnessed a whopping growth of 525 per cent built-up area in the last 40 years, leading to decline of vegetation by 78 percent and 79 percent of lakes.
