Midweek Musings 19, 15.04.2026
Avenues trees and urban aviaries.
By
Malini Shankar
Urban tree growth is of such critical
significance today! Green belts need to be a factor in Climate Change
Adaptation / mitigation by civic administration. Urban avenue trees or green
lung spaces sequester Carbon emissions from the automobile and industrial
landscapes. Each adult tree not just sequesters Carbon emissions, but also
provides all our needs to breathe oxygen! That apart trees provide habitat for
urban wildlife like birds, squirrels, reptiles and insects. Water features and
geological formations like rocks or Sulphur springs and to the botanical wealth
of an area.
Urban lung spaces like botanical gardens are
difficult to factor in for the Administration given the enormous demand on land
as a resource for human development – schools, universities, research
institutes, trade centres and markets, health care infrastructure, roads,
financial institutions and so on…
Urban green belt administration has its job cut out. Urban green belt administrators need to plan avenue trees (if space for lung spaces are not available). There is a demand for seasonal flower bearing trees so that each tree will flower in a different season … offering a splash of colour everywhere. Politicians also demand fruit trees so that the urban poor can get free source of nourishment and yes there is merit in that.
If fruit trees have to be in a public space to
address the needs of nutrition, spaces have to be earmarked by civic
administrators for cultivation of fruit trees only. Makes a great experiment in
malnutrition mitigation, Climate Change adaptation, restoration of ground water
table and livelihood creation / livelihood security for the illiterate and
impoverished.
Planting fruit trees on avenues or side-walks
of roads can be dangerous as children or other criminal elements can pelt
stones to let the fruit fall… enabling them access to a vital source of
vitamins. This act of stone pelting can damage street lights or private /
public property in the immediate vicinity of the tree. It can also hurt and
injure human beings or ther animals like dogs, cats and squirrels or birds /
reptiles in the trees. So a best practice evolved by Green Belt administrators is
to avoid planting fruit trees on side-walks of roads in India. Flower bearing
trees are not as detrimental to public safety in comparison. Additionally the
sheer carpet of fallen flowers add to the glamour of urban areas! Cross
pollination of seeds by insect disruptors like butterflies and small birds add
infinite ecological value to the urban ecosystem.
As regards the ecological value of urban
forestry or avenue trees, the tree growth makes a perfect green splash for our
avian friends. Everything from Red whiskered Bulbul to Kites, kingfishers to
herons to Mynas and Parakeets, barn owls, to Herons, Bee eaters to wood
peckers, they all make for a fine example of harmonious living in a single
tree. Other Birds like sun birds, Pitta etc binge on the fruity flavours of the
flower / pods, seeds and peel of the trees. Tree holes made by wood peckers make
for a vertical flat ecosystem as seen in the picture below. Wood peckers make
these tree hollows without charging any cost from other avian dwellers in this ecosystem!
Isn’t there a moral lesson for us mere mortals who want to colonise Planet
Earth at the cost of future generations? Think about it!
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