Mumbai’s green cover is worth 33 lakh trees

After the procedure of about four years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally completed its tree census. The total count of trees in Mumbai has come to approximately 33.7 lakh.

Out of the total number of trees in Mumbai, Aarey has little over 4 lakh, a senior tree department officer told DNA. This means, in last ten years, 10.77 lakh trees have increased in the city. The last tree census was conducted in 2008 when the count was mere 19 lakh. BMC attributes this rise in number of trees to a new practice where developers have to plant trees in the premises and to the various tree plantation activities organised in the city.

The BMC, for the first time, has started a GPS and Geographic Information system (GIS) based tree census which has a unique identification number for each tree. The trees count began in 2014 by a private IT company appointed by the BMC. The census costed more than Rs 2.5 crore.

As per the data provided by the BMC's tree department, the total number of trees in Mumbai are 29,75,283 and around 4.20 lakh are in Aarey, an official from the department said. This is the first time the BMC conducted the tree census of Aarey after the uproar over saving trees in the colony. The census, however, excludes trees in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

As per the list, Ghatkopar has the highest number of trees at 2.92 lakh, followed by Malad with 2.84 lakh, Bhandup with 2.54 lakh, Chembur with 2.13 lakh, Goregaon with 1.86 lakh, and Govandi-Mankhurd with 1.62 lakh trees. The areas which have the least number of trees are Marine lines-Zaveri Bazaar area with 5,756, and Masjid-Dongri area with 7,816 trees.

Mumbai has a mixture of exotic trees and native trees. However, the number of native trees are more now as in any new plantation drives or for the developers only native trees are allowed to plant. Some of the exotic trees in the city are rainforest, gulmoher, and peltophorum etc. "The native trees are Taman, Tamarind, Ashoka, Neem, Aegle, Peepal, Cashew, Mesua ferra, balsamiq, and Currant etc," the official added. In the census of 2008, out of 19 lakh, 7 to 8 lakh were indigenous trees and in the 2018 census out of the 29.75 lakh trees, about 19 lakh are ndegenious.

According to the officials, the exotic trees were planted in Mumbai 40 to 50 years ago with an objective of beautification and quick growth. However, the exotic trees do not survive for a longer period of time in Mumbai's soil and thus have a less life and have the highest chances of falling. In Mumbai's tree felling incidences, maximum are gulmoher and rainforest trees.