Urban Forestry

Urban Forestry

Introduction

Forest has been an integral part of human being, since the beginning of human civilization. People are utilizing the forest resources as their need from ancient period. Going through the different phases of human civilization, people started to live permanently. This later brought out the concept of urbanization, related to the process of the formation and growth of cities.

Due to unmanaged and excessive urbanization, several difficulties arise along with environmental degradation. Resources like land, water, forest, etc. are excessively used while growing an unplanned city. The environment gets polluted. Due to air, land and water pollution, decline in the qualitative aspect of the environment can be seen. It results to the loss of open areas and greenery in the urban settlements.

Urban forestry is the care and management of urban forests, i.e. tree populations in urban settings for the purpose of improving the urban environment. Generally, urban forests are 'Trees Outside Forests' with collective masses of trees found within the boundaries of cities, towns or neighbourhoods which are not considered as forest type itself. It refers to the trees, shrubs, herbs, gardens and other open areas that are planted naturally or by artificial means in the urban areas. Such areas are directly linked with the social environmental and cultural activity of human.

Thus the concept of urban forestry has evolved out for maintaining greenery in urban areas, cities and densely populated localities by reducing the negative impacts of pollution.

Although there is no commonly accepted definition for urban forestry, a definition may be "An integrated approach to the planting, care and management of trees and forests in and around the city to secure multiple environmental and social benefits for urban dwellers." (Miller, 1988). Urban forestry is a specialized branch of forestry that deals with cultivation and management of trees for their present and potential contribution to the physiological, sociological and economical the wellbeing of urban society.

 Urban forestry embraces a multi managerial system that includes municipal watershed, wildlife habitats, outdoor recreation opportunity, and landscape design. Urban forestry not only deals with city trees or with single tree management but also with tree management in the entire area influenced by and utilized by the urban population. There are five components of urban forestry (Costello, 1993).

 1. Arboriculture: It focuses on planting, cultivation, and health management of the urban trees.

2. Arborecology: It focuses on creating enhancing, protecting habitat for human and other biological organisms.

3. Arboreconomics: The monetary aspect of urban forestry lies within the realm of arbor economics such as identifying cost, developing budgets, estimating installation or maintenance of jobs, developing inventories. 

4. Arborplanning: It identifies the species-appropriate of a particular location, set specifications for planting sites, assesses canopy distribution, species diversity, determine what future needs of the urban forest will be.               

5. Arborsociology: It looks at trees as a means of improving the quality of urban life.

Importance of Urban Forestry

 The list of goods and services that urban forestry can provide could be impressive. Trees and other vegetation intercept particles and gaseous pollutants. Moreover, they act as carbon sinks that help mitigate global warming. They help keep cities cool, act as natural filters and noise absorbers; improve microclimates, regulate water runoff and provide habitats to a number of animals in general and birds in particular. Trees contribute significantly to the aesthetic appeal of cities, thereby helping to maintain the psychological health of their inhabitants. Urban forestry protects soils and moderates harsh urban climates by cooling the air, reducing wind speeds, and by shading. In arid regions, forest shelterbelts around cities help to combat desertification and dust storms. The level of biodiversity of urban green areas is often surprisingly high, representing nature close to where people live.

Likewise, more benefits of urban forestry is tabulated below:

Tangible benefits	Environmental benefits	Social benefits
Food	Microclimate	Health
Firewood	Biodiversity protection	Employment
Timber	Soil and water conservation	Education
Medicine	Air quality improvement	Poverty value improvement

Possibilities of Urban Forestry

There is the great possibility of urban forestry in the present condition. The world's population is increasing day by day, resulting to the rapid increment of urbanization.

Thus to maintain greenery in such urban areas, urban forestry is important. Due to the lack of open spaces in urban settlements, parks and gardens are considered as best options to maintain greenery, which are the branch of urban forestry. The areas such as parks, garden, playgrounds etc increase avenue plantation, introduce afforestation and nursery activities in newly developing areas in between built up and peri-urban areas that promote homestead gardening and social or community forestry in peri-urban areas.

Challenges and constraints of Urban Forestry

 The overall challenge of urban forestry is to increase awareness and understanding about the value and benefits of urban forests, the proper care of urban forests, and the need for urban forests to be considered as essential infrastructure when planning and managing communities.

Management challenges include maintaining public support, maintaining planting sites, quantifying and maximizing the benefits of trees, cost minimization, and establishing laws and policies for trees on public and on private land.

People are ignoring the concept of urban forestry, as it does not give direct benefit to people. Each small patch of land in the urban area has encroached for dwelling purpose. The high land price in urban areas is also one of the constraints, as people do not want to provide a piece of land for urban forestry. Such programs often receive scant funds from municipal budgets or limited attention from the decision-makers.

Recommendations

Since, the program needs someone to handle it, the government should take immediate steps to establish a responsible institution of urban forestry. Also, there is a need for institutional coordination among existing organizations working in the field of urban forestry. Besides plantation and park development, other aspects of urban forestry should be emphasized as well.

Awareness programs should be conducted about the benefits of urban forestry. Urban forestry-related research, training and publications from different organizations and media can vitalize the awareness level among the local community as well.  Such forestry should be integrated into a wide variety of urban development projects. Further, land use planning should be done for the sustainability of urban forestry.

As land unavailability is seen as a major constraint for urban forestry development, there is still an opportunity for its development in the river banks and land along the roadsides.

Urban Forestry in Nepal

In Nepal, urban forestry has been practised since very early period. There was a the tradition of planting trees, especially Ficus species along roadsides as shade to pedestrians, rivers and water sources.

Urban forestry is practiced in some areas in little extent in the form of park and roadside plantation. Ganeshpur Park (Dang), SahidSmarak Park (Hetauda), Ratna Park, Tribhuwan Park, Sankha Park, Mitra Park, Godavari Park (Kathmandu), Fulbari Park (Butwal) etc are the popular parks representing urban forestry.

 In the case of roadside plantation different places like Tulsipur (Dang), Chitwan, Hetauda, Itahari, Lahan, Butwal, Nepalgunj, Pokhara have been best practised.

The Act and laws related to forestry has not yet considered urban forestry as a potential sector for development. So there is no separate act for urban forestry. But there are some rules and regulations relating to it. In Muluki Ain, 1910 there was a provision of punishment to those who cut trees around roadsides, rivers, streams etc. The laws related to forestry such as the Forest Act 2049, Forest Regulation 2051, Environment Conservation Act 2053, Environment Conservation Regulation 2054, and other act related to Plant Conservation, and Private Forest are directly related to naturally present or planted forest as well as the living creatures residing in an urban area. There is still a contradiction about the responsive agency for the management of urban forestry.

Species used in Nepal:

Different species are planted according to the location, altitude and purpose of the plantation. Cinnamomum camphora, Melia azadarechta, Cassia siamea are better options as they are perennial species to maintain greenery.

In parks and gardens Azadirachta indica, Pinus species could be planted.

Tall and long physical rotation species could be planted in highways and wide roads. For branched roads, parks, perennial and deciduous, climber flowering plants could be better options.

Similarly in dusty areas, dust tolerant species need to be selected. The plant with high leaf surface area are better in such areas.

For parks: Albezzia lebek, Albezzia procera, Azadirechta indica, Ficus religiousa, Ficus bengalensis, Gravellia robusta.

For roadside plantation: Poliathi longifolia, Delonix regia, Syzium cumini, Salix species, Cassia siamea etc.

Urban forestry is a new management technique in urban areas. The importance of urban forestry is still unrealized, as it does not provide direct benefit to the people. People are still unaware of the importance of urban forestry. Awareness programs are necessary to make people realize the importance of urban forestry. For successful urban management, public involvement is a basic and important factor. Thus, through people participation, urban forestry takes a better shape, reducing the negative impacts of pollution and urbanization which ultimately helps to increase the total forest area of the country.

References

1.      Bista, Rajesh 2009. “Institutional involvement and peoples’ perception towards urban forestry”-A case study of Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan city, Tribhuwan University, Institute of Forestry, Pokhara.

2.      Kuchelmeister, G. Trees for the urban millennium: urban forestry update.

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4.     www.dof.gov.np/