{"id":862,"date":"2026-03-02T17:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krishiparva.in\/?p=862"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:20:23","slug":"862","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krishiparva.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/862\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OPINION  |  URBAN ENVIRONMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing Cities Need Greener Canopies: Why Arboriculture Must Lead India’s Urban Future<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Vaibhav Raje  |  ISA Certified Arborist (ML-0406A)  |  Director, Amenity Tree Care Association  |  Founder, Treecotech LLP<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the 2nd International Arboriculture Conference 2026  \u2014  Pre-Conference Workshops: 6 March 2026  |  Main Conference: 7\u20138 March 2026, Sahara Star Hotel, Vile Parle (East), Mumbai<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every monsoon in Mumbai, we mourn the same tragedies. A tree collapses on a car. A century-old canopy is felled overnight to make way for a metro pillar. A footpath that once offered shade becomes a strip of bare concrete. We grieve for a moment, and then we move on \u2014 back to the business of building faster, higher, wider. And in doing so, we keep making the same mistake: treating trees as decoration, as obstacles, as afterthoughts \u2014 rather than as the essential urban infrastructure they truly are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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India is urbanising at a pace that has no historical precedent. By 2047, over half our population will live in cities. Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi \u2014 these are not just growing, they are transforming at breakneck speed. Roads are being widened, flyovers erected, underground metro lines bored through the earth. Each of these interventions, however necessary, carries a cost that rarely appears in project budgets: the cost to our urban tree cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a conservation argument. It is an infrastructure argument. And it is long past time that India’s planners, engineers, municipal authorities, and policymakers heard it clearly: trees are not in competition with development. Managed well, they are development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Arboriculture Actually Is \u2014 And What It Is Not<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I tell people I am an arborist, I am often met with a polite nod and the assumption that I work with a nursery or perhaps prune hedges on weekends. The reality is considerably more technical and considerably more consequential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arboriculture is the science and practice of managing individual trees in the urban environment. It encompasses structural risk assessment, tree impact assessment for infrastructure projects, root zone management, canopy preservation during construction, tree health diagnostics, and the complex legal and ecological frameworks that govern tree removal and retention. It is, in every meaningful sense, a discipline of urban infrastructure management \u2014 one that happens to be almost entirely absent from India’s mainstream planning vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider what a single mature tree does for a city. It sequesters carbon. It reduces ambient temperature by two to four degrees through transpiration. It manages stormwater runoff. It improves air quality, reduces noise pollution, provides habitat, and has documented effects on mental health, property values, and community cohesion. Now multiply that across an urban forest of thousands. The economic value is staggering \u2014 and so is the cost when it is lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trees are not in competition with development. Managed well, they are development.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mumbai Crisis \u2014 A Mirror for Every Indian City<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mumbai presents the arboricultural challenge in its most acute form. It is a city of extraordinary natural heritage \u2014 ancient banyans that canopy entire intersections, mangrove belts that protect the coastline, trees that have quietly absorbed the city’s pollution and grief for generations \u2014 and it is simultaneously a city under relentless infrastructural pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past decade alone, thousands of trees have been removed or fatally damaged by construction activities across Mumbai’s metro, coastal road, and highway projects. Some of these removals were unavoidable. Many were not. The difference between the two \u2014 between a tree saved and a tree felled \u2014 often comes down to whether a qualified arborist was in the room during the planning stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond sheer numbers, there is the safety dimension. In Mumbai’s congested streetscapes, trees subjected to root compaction, improper pruning, and construction damage become ticking hazards. A structurally compromised tree may appear green and healthy to the untrained eye for years before suddenly failing. Risk assessment by certified arborists is not optional luxury \u2014 it is public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What the Science Looks Like in Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, my firm Treecotech LLP, in collaboration with Jeremy Barrell and Barrell Tree Consultancy UK, was engaged to preserve a 100-year-old banyan tree on a school construction site in Chennai. The tree stood directly within the construction envelope. The developer’s initial instinct was removal. Instead, we conducted a detailed arboriculture impact assessment \u2014 mapping root architecture, evaluating structural condition, modelling construction impacts \u2014 and worked with the project team to redesign infrastructure positioning, specify protective exclusion zones, and implement a monitoring protocol throughout the build. The tree stands today, alive, in the courtyard of a functioning school. The children who study beneath it have no idea how close it came to being gone. That, to me, is what successful arboriculture looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the scale, Treecotech recently completed an arboriculture impact assessment for a large multinational company planning to establish a data centre near Mumbai. The assessment covered over 900 individual trees across the site, providing detailed condition surveys, legal compliance support for government applications, and clear recommendations on retention and removal \u2014 based on science rather than convenience. This is the kind of due diligence that large infrastructure projects now demand, and that responsible developers are increasingly willing to commission once they understand the legal, reputational, and ecological risks of proceeding without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Risk assessment by certified arborists is not optional luxury \u2014 it is public safety.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Long Game: Why Investment in Arboriculture Pays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is a persistent misconception that professional arboriculture is expensive. It is not \u2014 not when measured against the alternatives. A single serious tree-failure incident can result in fatalities, property damage, civil litigation, and reputational loss running to crores. Periodic risk assessments, proper canopy management, and construction-phase tree protection agreements cost a fraction of that exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond risk mitigation, the economic case for urban trees is well-documented internationally. Mature street trees increase commercial property values by five to fifteen per cent. Green corridors reduce urban heat island effects that otherwise drive up cooling energy costs. Trees in hospital grounds have been shown to reduce patient recovery times. None of this is soft sentiment \u2014 it is measurable return on investment, and Indian cities are leaving it on the table every time they build without an arboricultural framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Global Conversation, Rooted in Mumbai<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

India does not need to invent this discipline from scratch. Mature arboricultural practice exists in the UK, Australia, Singapore, the United States, and across Europe. We can learn from their frameworks, adapt their methodologies, and apply them to our own extraordinary ecological diversity \u2014 our climate zones, our heritage species, our particular urban pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is precisely why the Amenity Tree Care Association, in collaboration with Nanaji Deshmukh Pratishthan, is hosting the 2nd International Arboriculture Conference 2026 in Mumbai. The event unfolds across three purposeful days, at distinct venues chosen to reflect the very values the conference represents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 MARCH 2026  \u2014  PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workshop 1: Retaining Trees in Construction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venue: IES College of Architecture, Bandra West, Mumbai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Led by Jeremy Barrell, Managing Director, Barrell Tree Consultancy, UK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workshop 2: The Trees Around Us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venue: Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharavi, Mumbai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Led by Dr. Prachi Gupta, Faculty, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7\u20138 MARCH 2026  \u2014  MAIN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venue: Sahara Star Hotel, Vile Parle (East), Mumbai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chief Guest: Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra (7 March 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theme: “Growing Cities. Greener Canopies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of venues for the pre-conference workshops is itself a statement. Workshop 1, on retaining trees during construction, will be held at IES College of Architecture, Bandra West \u2014 bringing this critical conversation directly into the heart of an institution that trains the architects and urban designers who will shape Mumbai’s built environment for the next generation. Workshop 2, a more accessible introduction to urban trees for students and beginners, will be held at Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharavi \u2014 one of Mumbai’s most remarkable urban green spaces, located within one of its most densely inhabited communities. It is impossible to think about trees and cities in a more grounded setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Main International Conference on 7 and 8 March 2026 will be held at Sahara Star Hotel, Vile Parle (East), Mumbai. Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, will grace the opening of the Main Conference on 7 March 2026 as Chief Guest. His presence is a signal \u2014 not merely ceremonial \u2014 that tree management has begun to register at the level of governance where it has always needed to be heard. Urban greening cannot succeed without political will, and political will at this level sends a clear message to every municipal corporation, planning authority, and infrastructure agency in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the two days of the Main Conference, keynote addresses will be delivered by Architect Alan Abraham, co-founder of Bombay Greenway, and Dia Mirza, actress and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador. Expert sessions will be presented by Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation USA; Carl Dalla Riva of Arboriculture Australia; Dr. Sharon Jean-Philippe of the University of Tennessee; Gabor Goertz, CEO of Greehill, on technology and AI in arboriculture; and a strong cohort of Indian experts including Dr. Sangram Chavan, Dr. Smitha Hegde, Dr. Vijay Moras, and Ar. Shilpa Gavane of Trees of Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student poster competition will spotlight innovative research in urban forestry, because the professionals who will manage India’s trees in 2050 are studying today, and we must begin shaping their thinking now. A networking dinner on the evening of 7 March at Sahara Star Hotel will allow practitioners, developers, municipal officers, and international guests to build the relationships through which knowledge actually travels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The professionals who will manage India’s trees in 2050 are studying today. We must begin shaping their thinking now.”<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Policy Imperative: What Governments Must Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Awareness and education are necessary \u2014 but they are not sufficient. Lasting change in how Indian cities relate to their trees requires policy intervention, and it requires it urgently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban local bodies must mandate arboriculture impact assessments as a standard component of environmental clearance for all major infrastructure, real estate, and industrial projects. Tree transplantation protocols must be subject to the same professional scrutiny as structural engineering \u2014 not left to contractors who transplant in ways that guarantee tree death within three years. Municipal tree management departments must be staffed by or advised by ISA-certified arborists, not by general horticulture labour operating without professional oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State governments must recognise the economic and ecological value of urban tree cover in their development plans and mandate canopy cover targets \u2014 not just planting targets. Planting a sapling is not the same as conserving a mature tree. A hundred saplings do not replace one 80-year-old banyan. This distinction must be embedded in policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate India has a role here too. ESG commitments that are genuinely meaningful include arboricultural due diligence on project sites. Companies that are serious about sustainability should be commissioning professional tree impact assessments before they break ground \u2014 not replanting saplings on rooftops as greenwashing after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cities That Breathe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I began my career in arboriculture, the word itself was unfamiliar to most Indians I spoke to. In a decade, I have watched awareness grow from nothing to a point where an international conference on the subject can draw speakers from five continents, attract the presence of a Chief Minister, and bring together delegates from across India’s professional community. That is progress, and I am proud of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I am also acutely aware of how much remains undone, and how little time we have. Every year that passes without arboriculture embedded in mainstream urban planning is a year of compounding loss \u2014 of trees removed unnecessarily, of canopy degraded by poor pruning, of heritage specimens killed by ignorant construction practices, of cities that grow hotter, louder, and harder to breathe in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference theme \u2014 ‘Growing Cities. Greener Canopies’ \u2014 is not a slogan. It is a design brief. It asks us to imagine cities that are not in conflict with their trees, but in conversation with them. Cities where a 100-year-old banyan is not an obstacle to a school, but its greatest asset. Cities where an infrastructure project begins with the question ‘which trees can we save?’ rather than ‘which trees must we remove?’ Cities where the canopy is planned, protected, and celebrated as the climate infrastructure it genuinely is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That city is possible. It requires science, it requires policy, it requires collaboration across borders and disciplines \u2014 and it requires all of us, professionals and citizens alike, to demand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mumbai can lead the way. India is watching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd International Arboriculture Conference 2026 \u2014 organised by Amenity Tree Care Association in collaboration with Nanaji Deshmukh Pratishthan.  Pre-Conference Workshops: 6 March 2026 \u2014 Workshop 1 at IES College of Architecture, Bandra West; Workshop 2 at Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharavi.  Main Conference: 7\u20138 March 2026, Sahara Star Hotel, Vile Parle (East), Mumbai.  Chief Guest (7 March): Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra.  Registrations: www.arbindia.com  |  info@arbindia.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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