In the 14th century, Nepali King Jayasthithi Malla levied a fine of five rupees (a hefty sum at the time) on those who cut trees along the roadside. Additionally, they would be sent to prison. The king is believed to have instructed his officials to encourage people to plant trees. In the 1900s, Rana prime ministers like Chandra Shamsher and Juddha Shamsher had hundreds of trees planted along Kathmandu valley roadsides. After the 1934 earthquake, Juddha Shamsher included tree plantation in the restoration process. But as the urban population grew, trees were cut down to make space for buildings, road expansion, and for obstructing traffic. It didn’t help that modern urban planning that started around 1960-70 was haphazard and preserving plantation was the last thing on the authorities’ minds.
But trees are important to make a city livable. Not only do trees make any space aesthetically pleasing, they also help regulate urban heat and are great filters for pollutants. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, one tree can absorb as much as 150 kg of carbon dioxide annually. It adds that when it comes to cooling urban areas, strategically planting trees can cool air by between two to eight degrees Celsius. Say the experts ApEx spoke to, one solution to air pollution could be increasing the number of trees and green spaces in urban areas.
Niranjan Shrestha, environmentalist, Environmental Services Nepal Pvt. Ltd., says a city shouldn’t just have concrete buildings and wide roads. It also needs elements of nature like birds and trees. But that isn’t the case in Kathmandu where the focus is only on road expansion and building construction. Big trees in the middle of roads and footpaths are being felled to facilitate movement. There are plantation drives being carried out but, Shrestha says, they are not thought through and thus have little to no impact on environment preservation.
Sanat Adhikari, chairperson of Youth Alliance for Environment, says lack of foresight is turning Kathmandu valley into a concrete jungle. The Nepal government, Adhikari laments, only focuses on concrete buildings and road expansions in its development projects. Worse, other cities are emulating Kathmandu’s plans and policies and slowly becoming as crowded and chaotic. The government has time and again tried to come up with plantation projects to offset the damage. In 2013, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City hatched the two-tree policy whereby every new house in Kathmandu would have to plant two trees if it wanted the blueprints to be passed by the authorities. But that wasn’t possible as many houses were built in tiny plots. Campaigns to plant trees either didn’t see the light of day or the saplings weren’t cared for after plantation.
The situation might be bleak but it’s still salvageable if the local authorities step up, says Adhikari. From creating special plantation zones so that every community has at least a few green patches, to buying small plots of land to build gardens and parks, the work must begin at the local level. It’s also imperative to factor in plantation in areas still undergoing expansion. In places like Pulchowk and Naya Baneshwor, there are various plants on road dividers. While these plants that are grown in small spaces might aid the area’s beautification, they don’t contribute much towards a thriving ecosystem.
“We need studies and planned policies to bring back greenery in Kathmandu valley. If urban development continues as it is, ours will soon be the most unlivable city in the world,” warns Shrestha. Development that comes at the cost of the environment isn’t sustainable and we will, sooner or later, have to pay the price. Apart from reducing carbon emission, trees can absorb water and decrease the risk of urban flooding. In the past few years, many places in Kathmandu valley had knee-high water as rainfall ran into the rivers during monsoon. Few trees and more concrete roads and buildings can potentially lead to drying up of groundwater as well. Its effects can already be seen: Kathmandu valley’s water-table has been steadily dwindling.
Activists have always protested the felling of trees for road expansion but the authorities’ stance is that development necessitates it and that there is no other way out. However, says Narayan Bhandari of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, we must find ways to incorporate greenery in urban planning to balance runaway urbanization. The current plan, of leaving at least five percent open space while building a structure, hasn’t been enough to promote the kind of environment friendliness the valley requires. Bivuti Basnet, president, We for Change, a youth-led organization, says people, driven by economic gains, aren’t very environmentally conscious. The long-term effects of ignoring nature, and not living in harmony with it, can be devastating, she says, so what Nepal needs right now is an eco-sensitive development approach where the focus isn’t on cutting down trees but planting more.
But planting trees requires more than the commitment to do so. Experts say it’s important to study what can be planted where, with the soil quality, temperature and requirements of the space in mind. For instance, poplars and eucalyptus shouldn’t be planted near concrete structures such as pavements and buildings as their roots grow close to the soil-surface, cracking and damaging foundations. Bhandari of KVDA agrees that many trees were cut as they were unsuitable for the place they were planted. Either they were damaging the surrounding structures or their drooping branches were posing various dangers to those moving about.
“We need studies to determine which plants will thrive in which place in Kathmandu. Once that is determined, it falls on the local authorities to do the rest,” says Shrestha. However, that needs a team of experts—gardeners, botanists, environmentalists etc.— and the local authorities are strapped for manpower. That problem could be tackled by collaborating with concerned ministries, like the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Forest and Environment. And lastly, once planted, they need care and maintenance and someone has to be accountable for that.
