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City in the woods
Thousands of trees felled by Cyclone Vardah will adversely impact the city’s pollution levels, lead to a warmer summer and could well lead to acute water shortage in the hot months, say environmentalists
Chennai
The loss of 2,810 trees damaged during Cyclone Vardah, will impact the city’s green cover adversely during the coming months, said environmentalists and experts. Coupled with insufficient rainfall, the repercussions include increased vulnerability to air and dust pollution, a spike in urban heat during summer and water shortage.
Chennai has a green cover of 6.25 per cent, considered to be the second highest among metros across India, as per a survey conducted by Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR). However, the destruction of 2,810 trees by Cyclone Vardah will lead to an increasingly hot summer.
(A banyan tree on 9th Cross Street, Dhandeeswaram Nagar, that is believed to be more than 40 years old, was uprooted in the early hours of Tuesday)
The effects of air pollution will be more pronounced due to the decline in green cover. “Trees are not just pretty things to look at. They purify the air around us. The loss of these trees mean that you will feel the summer heat and the dust pollution more than before. Trees can be planted again, but this time, we should plant the right kind of trees and protect them against expansion of roads. We need to plant more indigenous species than the exotic ones,” said environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman.
Some activists, like K Abdul Ghani, fear that Chennai will face a similar situation like New Delhi’s air pollution crisis. “ Chennai doesn’t have enough green cover to battle the vehicular and other air pollutants. Now, with so many trees lost, we may face a situation like New Delhi, if we don’t act fast. In Anna Nagar, 50-year-old trees have been partially damaged. We are now working on shifting these trees to Madhavaram, to save them from being fully cut down,” he added.
(Residents in Besant Nagar scramble to pluck tamarind from the fallen tree on Tuesday morning)
With a significant portion of the green cover wiped out, the city will face an augmentation of heat and humidity. Dr GP Ganapathy, Director, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT University, said, “The urban heat will increase, due to growing vehicular pollution which will contribute to a rise in temperature, especially during summer. In addition, the loss of trees will affect ecologically sensitive areas in the city as well as the fauna, as birds won’t have nesting places.”Chandramohan, Secretary of Arappor Iyakkam, said the main concern will be the water shortage. “Trees help increase the groundwater resources, while absorbing odours and toxic fumes. Trees act as a coolant for the city and help save water from evaporating faster. This means that apart from heat, we may also face a water shortage during summer,” he concluded.
(Police personnel help clear a tree that had fallen in Nandanam)
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