IJRAR Research Journal

SUPATRA SEN Associate Professor Department of Botany Asutosh College, Kolkata, INDIA

Abstract : Amphan, a tropical super cyclone ravaged coastal Bengal, Orissa and parts of Bangladesh on 20th May 2020. Kolkata along with coastal parts of West Bengal were the worst affected with lakhs rendered homeless and shelterless, huge agricultural and crop loss and thousands of trees damaged, destroyed and uprooted. With over 5000 trees lost or damaged out of approximately five lakhs in Kolkata alone, the task of green restoration seems is challenging, but essential. Post Amphan minus the large tree cover, Kolkata and surroundings will inevitably face drastic rise in pollution levels. As Kolkata rebuilds its green cover, it must ensure flawless urban planning, efficient and scientific tree management and accurate species selection.

IndexTerms - Amphan, urban greening, biodiversity restoration, urban biodiversity

I. INTRODUCTION

Amphan, a tropical super cyclone ravaged coastal Bengal, Orissa and parts of Bangladesh on 20th May 2020. North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts of West Bengal were the worst affected with lakhs rendered homeless and shelterless, huge agricultural and crop loss, thousands of trees damaged, destroyed and uprooted and other accompanying damages and losses much beyond immediate comprehension and repair. Ironically the super cyclone hit the states and its inhabitants (flora and fauna included) on 20th May, 2020 just a couple of days before the International Day of Biological Diversity (celebrated on 22nd May, every year). Kolkata with less than 2% green cover has been one of the worst affected in terms of tree loss along with the mangrove dominated Biosphere Reserve Sunderban. Besides Kolkata, the Sundarban mangroves, vital to the unique ecology of the region and which work as a buffer to cyclones and storms covers, too, were extensively and critically damaged.

II. AMPHAN AND LOSS OF GREEN COVER

With over 5000 trees lost or damaged out of approximately five lakhs in Kolkata alone, the task to urban-green restoration is greatly challenging. Most of the trees that fell were very old and fully grown and had a large canopy. In Rabindra Sarobar, known for its long stretch of uninterrupted green cover, over 200 trees have been lost due to the devastating cyclone. It will take about 10 to 15 years to get back some of the green cover that was lost in the cyclone. The Maidan known as the ‘lungs of the city’ has a rich history that extends over two centuries. Through a cyclone as devastating as Amphan, Maidan will surely resurrect itself. There is precedence for this. In 1909, the famous historian and journalist, HEA Cotton wrote: “Many of the fine trees with which it was studded were blown down in the cyclone of 1864. But they have not been allowed to remain without successors, and the handsome avenues across the Maidan still constitute the chief glory of Calcutta.”

The Great Banyan Tree which the Botanical Survey of India uses as its logo, at the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden was spread over 4.67 acres. Even during cyclones Fani and Bulbul, no major harm was done to it. But this time, it has been severely damaged. Serious efforts are on to heal the tree. There are other rare trees which have been uprooted in the garden. The tree had lost its main trunk to two cyclones, in 1864 and 1867 (india.com 23.05.2020).

Apart from the most attractive and most visited tree, the 273-acre botanic garden set up in 1787 with over 13,000 plants and 1100 species has lost other significant inhabitants. Of its thousands of trees, more than 1,000 have been damaged and hundreds have been uprooted. The only fully grown Kalpavriksha (Adansonia digitata) or Baobab tree (more than 100 years old) and the Mad Tree (Pterygota alata var. irregularis) got uprooted. Besides these, the para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), the Malabar chestnut (Pachira aquatica), the Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii), and several century-old mahogany trees (Swietenia mahagoni) in the garden’s famous Mahogany Avenue along with Olea cuspidata known as wild olive, brown olive or Indian olive were also extensively damaged (The Hindu, 24.05.2020).

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The Great Banyan Tree Rabindra Sarobar

The Kalpavriksha was the third most popular and visited tree in the garden after The Great Banyan Tree and The Double Coconut Tree. It is so named because of its gigantic shape. Hindus worship the tree as the “tree of heaven” or the “wish-fulfilling tree.” Mad Tree is a species in which no single leaf looks the same. This cyclone also uprooted besides many other rare trees. The Mahagony Avenue, where a road in the garden is lined with huge mahogany trees, the Bambusetum, an area marked with bamboo trees, the Pinatum, a section for various types of pine trees and the Garden Nursery have all been damaged. Most of these trees were introduced to the garden by British botanists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In fact, commercial cultivation of mahogany and rubber began in India after the species were first introduced in this garden. Besides these invaluable losses, the city lost a huge part of its biodiversity, not only as flora but also as fauna.

Mad Tree (Pterygota alata), IBG Bambusetum, IBG

(All four photographs are taken by the author)

III. POST AMPHAN SCENARIO

Post Amphan minus the large tree cover, Kolkata will inevitably face drastic rise in pollution levels. According to environmentalists more than 10,000 trees have been lost which played significant roles in improving the urban air quality and carbon sequestration. Large trees are excellent filters for urban pollutants and fine particulates. They absorb pollutant gases (such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and sulphur oxides) and filter fine particulates such as dust, dirt or smoke out of the air by trapping them on leaves and bark. Post the Covid-19 lockdown, when the traffic pressure increases there will be drastic increase in PM 2.5 (Hindustan Times, 24.05.2020).

Urban trees can help to mitigate some of the negative impacts and social consequences of urbanization, and thus make cities more resilient to these changes. Plants are positive design elements in any environment and they can enhance the environment, if used with proper understanding (Sen, 2020a). FAO in 2016 suggested that urban trees and forests could contribute to making cities socio-economically and environmentally more sustainable by carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. Urban forests have taken a leading role for their many functions and

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© 2020 IJRAR June 2020, Volume 7, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138) benefits within urban landscapes. Like all forests, urban forests can play a role in storing carbon (Sen 2020 a,b), a function that will be largely jeopardized post Amphan.

Trees also help to reduce carbon emissions by helping to conserve energy. For example, the correct placement of trees around buildings can reduce the need for air conditioning by 30 percent, and reduce winter heating bills by 20-50 percent (Sen 2020a). Trees play an important role in increasing urban biodiversity, providing flora and fauna with a favourable habitat, food and protection.

Poor tree management is perhaps responsible for the crisis. There is no proper pruning mechanism. If the trees had been pruned before the season of cyclones and rains, the damage could have been minimised. Before any major festival every year, the branches of trees are cut unscientifically, mostly along the side facing the road which disturbs the balance of the tree.

IV. STRATEGIES FOR GREEN RESTORATION

The most important criteria of choosing the right tree species is safety. A roadside tree should be sturdy enough to withstand the storms in the area. Post storm it should remain upright and the branches also need to be intact. The second safety requirement is a straight trunk and adequate ground clearance. Shallow root system can be problematic for trees near pavement. For obvious reason, thorny plants are also unsuitable (CPWD, 2013).

Among individuals of a species, trees that are taller, have larger crowns, less dense wood, grow in more exposed sites, or are in poor health (e.g., infected by pathogens, drought stressed, or with high liana load) are more likely to be severely damaged by cyclones (Lin et al. 2020).

The following guidelines may be followed:

a. The policy of “right place, right tree” provides technical support towards intelligent greening of cities. b. The need for urban forestry is to be planned & integrated and systematic approach to urban tree management should be stressed c. Apart from residents, students from educational institutions in the neighbourhood may be truly encouraged to play a active role in the maintenance of the green space (Sen, 2014; 2016). d. Planning is important because trees are very often considered as an afterthought once development has taken place rather than being incorporated as original design phase. e. An integrated approach implies the participation of many different organizations, local council, municipal and national planning bodies, department etc. f. Systematic management entails regulated tree management, operations such as planting, pruning and felling must be conducted in an organized manner at the appropriate time. g. Performance-based incentive programs encourage competition and result in better output (Sen, 2015a, b). h. Incorporation of permeable pavements such as grassed footpaths and greening of parking lots will help to decrease the proportion of paved areas, aid in storm water retention, and reduce surface heating.

Wrong selection of plants and poor urban planning is largely responsible for the loss of trees. There were overhead wires and cables to which the branches got enmeshed and entangled as well as underground water lines, electrical wires, cable lines, gas lines and sewage lines. So the trees planted on pavements did not have had a strong base. Besides, the selection of tree species was not right. Top-heavy trees like banyan, Ashoka, neem, Royal poinciana, copper pod, peepal etc were used to line avenues. Since proper distance was not maintained between trees, the roots never went too deep.

As Kolkata rebuilds its green cover, it must ensure that large canopied trees are not planted in small lanes. We must not have banyan or Ashoka or trees with large canopy planted in small lanes, because if they get uprooted, vehicles, houses, roads and property are severely damaged. Small trees like Bakul are a better option in such places. Big trees are meant for parks and open spaces. Ten trees will have to be planted for every one full grown uprooted tree to combat the oncoming environmental disaster (Indian Express, 24.05.2020).

After the Phani cyclone of 2019, native species such as Pongamia pinnata (Karanj) and Alstonia scholaris (Chhatim) were found to have withstood the ferocious wind speed of the cyclone in Bhubaneswar. These trees with minimal damage were expected get back much of their lost cover after monsoon. Native species such as Karanj, Chhatim, Neem (Azadirachta indica), Baheda (Terminalia bellirica), Mango (Mangifera indica) and Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) trees withstood the high wind speed. These trees lost only 50% of their branches. These species should get priority when plantation would be undertaken in future. Though plants like Ficus bengalensis and Ficus religiosa survived Phani’s fury, most of their branches were lost. Kadamba (Anthocephalus cadamba) trees suffered heavy loss in the cyclone (The Hindu, 20.05.2019).

Haq et al. (2012) observed that most trees damaged by the cyclone Sidr in November 2007 had been planted in a disorderly manner and were allowed to grow without proper pruning. An imbalanced shoot/root ratio was also observed in which the tree canopy was allowed to expand uncontrollably, leading to excess above ground biomass, thus making these trees vulnerable to being toppled by strong wind. Among the woody trees uprooted by Sidr, mahogany accounted for the least percentage, indicating the good capacity of this tree to withstand strong winds by maintaining the taproot system. Royal siris was identified as the most vulnerable woody tree in the study area as it showed highest percentage of uprooting due to a shallow and poorly developed root system. No white siris saplings were planted after Sidr as it is considered to be a low-priority woody tree due to its brittle stem.

Armed with the knowledge of survived and damaged trees from past major cyclones along with the recent experience of the horrendous Amphan, Kolkata must rebuild her green cover to further continue her battle to sustainable urbanization. IJRAR19W1172 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 370

REFERENCES

1. CPWD, New Delhi. 2013. A Handbook of Landscape-A Guide. 2. Haq, Z. et al. 2012. Damage and management of cyclone Sidr-affected homestead tree plantations: A case study from Patuakhali, Bangladesh. Nat Hazards 64:1305–1322 DOI 10.1007/s11069-012-0299-x Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257633006_Damage_and_management_of_cyclone_Sidraffected _homestead_tree_plantations_A_case_study_from_Patuakhali_Bangladesh [accessed May 25 2020]. 3. Lin, TC et al. 2020. Tropical Cyclone Ecology: A Scale-Link Perspective. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2666:1- 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.02.012 4. Sen, Supatra. 2020a. ‘Green’-Ing Kolkata: Creating A Sustainable City – An Overview, IJRAR - International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138, 7(2): 743-752 Available at : http://www.ijrar.org/IJRAR19L1484.pdf http://doi.one/10.1729/Journal.23607 5. Sen, Supatra. 2020b. The City Greens: Ushering Sustainable Urbanization. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT), 8(4): 2689-2696 ISSN:2320-2882 Available at :http://www.ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2004379.pdf http://doi.one/10.1729/Journal.23523 6. Sen, Supatra. 2016. Towards Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation: Community - Based Management Approaches. The Beats of Natural Sciences, 3(2):1-6. 7. Sen, Supatra. 2015a. Sustainable Resource Management: Myth Or Reality in Biodiversity, Conservation And Sustainable Development: Issues And Approaches Volume-1 (Ed. Dr. P. Jha), New Academic Publishers, New Delhi-110002, pp.1-18. 8. Sen, Supatra. 2015b. Drivers of Changing Biodiversity in Biodiversity: Interrelationship between Flora, Fauna & Human pp. 24- ISBN 978-81-929410-0-4 9. Sen, Supatra. 2014 Strive to Sustainability: Education for Sustainable Development, Magis –Xaverian Journal of Education, 3:1- 7. ISSN : 2319-3239 10. https://www.india.com/news/india/west-bengal-news-cyclone-amphan-damages-worlds-largest-banyan- tree-in-howrah-botanical-garden-4037208/ 11. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/howrahs-historic-botanical-garden-turns-into-a- graveyard-of-nearly-1000-trees/article31665141.ece 12. http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/454543/ 13. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/experts-urge-administration-to-plant-trees-which- can-withstand-cyclones/article27180561.ece 14. https://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/kolkata-stares-at-rise-in-pollution-levels-due-to-green-cover- amid-cyclone-amphan/story-ceAIs67GQK5v8nZsfIFhAO.html 15. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/as-amphan-flattens-rare-trees-in-kolkata-experts blame-poor-urban- planning-6424578/

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