Environment

With Metro rail coming up along many stretches, Bengaluru is set to lose a large number of trees. But many trees have also been marked for transplantation. BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd) has been giving work orders to contractors to transplant these trees. Currently, BMRCL is the only agency undertaking tree transplantation in Bengaluru, says BBMP Tree Officer H S Ranganatha Swamy. In Bengaluru, as in other Indian cities, government agencies had rejected the idea of transplantation for years, citing high costs and low survival rates. In fact, when 10 trees were transplanted from the first Metro stretch in…

Retteri lake has been one of the biggest blessings for many households in the areas around Madhavaram and Kolathur and provides a cooling effect to these surroundings during Chennai’s scorching summers. But the neglect of the lake during recent times has residents of these areas seriously worried about the future. While many other lakes have got a facelift and revived focus on maintenance, this, despite being one of Chennai’s largest lakes, has not got the attention that it deserves. The residents of these areas have been fighting against the encroachment of the lake and for better maintenance over the past few…

What are the many types of birds, animals and insects that you can see in Bengaluru? What are those beautiful trees, shrubs or weeds that grow here? And oh, those flowers that bloom in our neighbourhood parks and avenue trees!  From the beautiful bee-eater to the humble purslane, there are many captivating life forms to spot and admire just outside our own homes! White Cheeked Barbet. Pic: Deepa Mohan Citizen Matters is organising a contest on “Biodiversity in my Backyard”, in partnership with Mongabay India, an environment and conservation magazine, and apartment management software platform ADDA. We invite students of grades 9-12 residing…

Chennai’s checkered history of water management has come under the spotlight every time the city has found itself face to face with a crisis, such as the catastrophic floods of 2015 or the unprecedented drought faced by the city in 2019. Experts have repeatedly called for better management of water resources, alluding to the fact that the city’s many water bodies could be the answer to its water woes, if they are managed better. There have, in fact, been some concerted efforts in recent years to restore and manage the tanks and lakes in Chennai. However, there are multiple organisations…

Mumbai lost about 812 roots including 308 trees in public spaces within two days of the Tauktae cyclone that ravaged the city between May 16-17, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.  Since then, over a thousand trees fell in subsequent rains, according to Ramakant Biradar, deputy municipal commissioner (gardens). Activists warned that more trees will fall due to faulty policies such as allowing concretisation near tree bases, allowing construction of concrete structures to come up close to trees, following unscientific and improper pruning that endangers life of trees. Mumbai’s per capita tree cover is 0.28 or less than one tree for…

In 2018, the NGO Bangalore Environment Trust (BET) filed a PIL (WP 17841 of 2018) in the High Court of Karnataka, considering the city’s deteriorating green cover. The PIL sought to implement the provisions of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act 1976 (‘Trees Act’). This article is a brief summary of the current status of the PIL. The petitioners’ prayers to the court were as follows: The Tree authority and the Tree Officer should do their duties diligently as per Tree Act.A comprehensive Tree Census should be carried out.A public notice should be issued when the Tree Officer gets an…

Translated by Sandhya Raju கோடை காலம் தொடங்கும் முன்னரே, ஏப்ரல் மாதத்தில் சேலையூரில் உள்ள எஸ். வேலு வீட்டிலுள்ள இரண்டு ஆழ்துளை கிணறு வற்றிப்போனது. மூன்றாவதாக, 600 அடி ஆழத்தில் மற்றொரு கிணறு தோண்டியதில், அதிலும் தண்ணீர் ஊற்றெடுக்கவில்லை. தற்போது தண்ணீர் லாரி மற்றும் நகராட்சி நீர் வழங்கலை நம்பி உள்ளார் வேலு. 2019-ம் ஆண்டு போல் சென்னையில் தண்ணீர் தட்டுப்பாடு இல்லையென்றாலும், நகரத்தின் பல்வேறு இடங்களில் நிலத்தடி நீர் வற்றிப்போக தொடங்கியுள்ளது. இதனால், குடிநீர் வாரியம் வழங்கும் தண்ணீரையே பெரும்பாலான வீடுகளும், தொழிற்சாலைகளும் நம்பியுள்ளன. வீடுகள் மற்றும் தொழிற்சாலைகளின் கூடுதல் நீர் தேவையை பூர்த்தி செய்வதில் நிலத்தடி நீருக்கு முக்கிய பங்கு உண்டு. ஆனால், இதன் தொடர் உபயோகத்தால், சென்னயின் நீர் அட்டவணை கடும் வீழ்ச்சியடைந்துள்ளது. 1970-ம் ஆண்டு வரை, சென்னையில் பெரும்பாலான பகுதிகளில் நிலத்தடி நீர் திறந்தவெளி கிணறுகளிலிருந்து கைகளால் இறைக்கப்பட்டதாக ஒரு அறிக்கை தெரிவிக்கிறது. 70ம்…

For restaurateur Abhilash VK’s seven-year-old and four-year-old children, the idea of waking up every morning, running up to their balcony, and picking fresh strawberries from their kitchen garden has been an exciting one. Their breakfast was incomplete without them.  Abhilash, a home gardening enthusiast, plans to create an aviary to his terrace garden. Pic courtesy: Abhilash VK Abhilash started his terrace gardening project a little before the pandemic. He enlisted the service of a gardening firm to set up the garden. They took care of the soil and other infrastructure, and provide monthly service for applying fertiliser and managing pests.…

This is a time of immense grief and loss for me. Unable to face the harsh reality of my mother gasping for each breath in the ICU, I was drowning myself in work. Coincidentally or so I think, I was working on a report analysing asphyxiation of Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi, and Cauvery rivers, and suffocation of aquatic lifeforms the rivers supported. As the dissolved oxygen graph took shape, I realised: The million times I had held the dissolved oxygen meter underwater to measure oxygen saturation levels across rivers was no different from the million times we plugged the oximeter to my mother’s…

Uma Mani, in her 50s, is a Chennai-based self-taught artist. She used to paint tulips and roses until 2010, the year in which she learned about coral reefs in Juan De Nova, a French documentary film, screened by Alliance Française Maldives for Earth Day. Fascinated by the world of corals and underwater life, she decided to paint them. “Until then, I was unaware of the fact that the presence of corals in the ocean is extremely important. It made me realise that they are on the brink of extinction,” shares Mani. Some of the most diverse ecosystems, coral reefs are threatened by…