Hyderabad: Tree City of the World

• 19 Feb 2021

Why in News

Hyderabad city (Telangana’s Capital) has been recognised as a ‘2020 Tree City of the World’ by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

• Hyderabad has earned recognition in the Foundation's second year of the programme along with 51 other cities in the world (during 2020 & cumulative 120 cities from 63 countries).
  
  • Most of the cities were from countries – USA, UK, Canada, Australia etc.
• It is the only City in India to get this recognition so far.

Key Points

• Tree Cities of the World Programme:
  
  • About:
    
    • It is an international effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated.
    • At the 2018 World Forum on Urban Forests in Mantova, Italy, world leaders issued the Mantova Green Cities Challenge and a call-for-action that included joining the Tree Cities of the World programme.
      
      • The programme intends to connect cities around the world in a new network dedicated to sharing and adopting the most successful approaches to managing community trees and forests.
  • Organisations Involved:
    
    • It is a programme partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation and the FAO.
  • 5 Standards for Evaluation:
    
    • A city is evaluated on five standards - Establish Responsibility, Set the Rules, Know What You Have, Allocate the Resources, and Celebrate the Achievements.
• Hyderabad’s Recognition:
  
  • Hyderabad is the only city in India to have been selected for this recognition in response to its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forestry through Haritha Haram programme and Urban Forest Parks.
  • Haritha Haram programme
    
    • Aim: Haritha Haram is a flagship programme of the Telangana government to increase the green cover of the State from the present 25.16 to 33% of the total geographical area.
    • Approach: The objective is sought to be achieved by a multi-pronged approach of rejuvenating degraded forests, ensuring more effective protection of forests against smuggling, encroachment, fire, grazing and intensive soil and moisture conservation measures following the watershed approach.
    • Urban Forest Parks (UFP): The Forest blocks in and around cities are developed into Urban Forest Parks (UFP) under this programme.
      
      • These Urban Forest Parks will not only provide the whole some healthy living environment but also contribute to the growth of smart, clean, green, sustainable and healthy cities in the state.

Arbor Day Foundation

• The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization founded in 1972 in Nebraska, United States, by John Rosenow.
• It is the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to tree planting.
• Its vision is to help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, a changing climate, deforestation, poverty, and hunger.

Source:TH