Midweek Musings 10, 11.02.26 Green Cover in Urban areas and their legal / administrative protection (Green Belt)

 Green Cover in Urban areas and their legal / administrative protection (Green Belt)

Aiming to include a live water body like a river in its most pristine form inside a throbbing urban sace is the ideal for civic administrators to aim for. © Malini Shankar 

By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

Environmental concerns has become the central focus of urban governance over the decades as Climate Change manifests itself in more frequent extreme weather events to the detriment of the average citizen.

Extreme weather events means more days of heat n cold waves per year in a given area. Other ‘hydrometeorological events’ include Avalanches, blizzards, cyclone, coastal incursion, Climate Change, desertification, droughts, epidemics and El Nino, fires, fog, floods, flash floods, hurricanes,  infernos, lightning strikes, landslides, mudslides, mud flows, twisters and tornadoes, thunderstorms, and urban floods… Volcanoes and earthquakes, sea level rise and related Tsunamis are geological calamities with unforeseen and unquantifiable potential to annihilate civilization.  

Early warning infrastructure even if affordable and installed can only serve the purpose of early warning. Ofcourse Standard Operating Procedure will ensure evacuation, food security, medical preparedness, and prevention of collapse of utilities like power supply etc but no early warning installation can prevent an extreme weather event or an imminent geological calamity per se.

To prevent the debilitating impact (or disasters obtaining from) extreme weather events, Go Green is the only but universal mantra. Anything devoid of Go Green Mantra is Unsustainable development.

That implies every human being should be entitled to X amount of Greenery in proportion to other development indices: This will include space allotted for one human being’s need for dwelling (Floor Space Ratio in an urban context), food security, livelihood security, water security, health care infrastructure, education, public transport, and Green Belt entitlement. Yes if there is any politically right usage of the term entitlement, it is in the context of a human being entitled to green cover for the sake of sustainable inclusive development. One whole band of Green Belt to intersperse land governance between bands of other development indices – like land for education infrastructure / heath care infrastructure / district / band / CBD Band, Financial district / Band should be planned and executed administratively. This Green Belt should include Agro-diversity Farms, Biodiversity Parks, Green labs, all with CSR funding if necessary.

If the Administrators do want a zoological space, its best to relocate under trials and convicts to a zoological space instead of caging wild animals, please.

Further Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_belt

https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/ecology-news/green-belt-policy-definition-benefits-and-examples

https://greenenergyhub.com/what-are-green-belts/

https://fiveable.me/key-terms/ap-hug/greenbelt

 

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