abled for being the city of gardens, Lahore used to be mostly ornamented with open spaces and indigenous green plants laden with colourful and fragrant flowers, garlanding its roads and corners. But what does the city represent today? Patches of greenery or vegetative growth of what is left of tree cover.

Regrettably, today’s Lahore lacks vitality due to the ruthless elimination of its green spaces. Mindless plantation of exotic trees like the water-guzzler eucalyptus can be seen instead in pockets devoid of dense branches and green canopy.

Owing to such transgressions, the famous Punjabi saying Lahore Lahore ae has lost its meaning as today’s jungle of concrete is nothing like what used to be a city of gardens. Places like Thandi Sarak, an emblem of the city’s distinct breezy and lush green heritage, have been defaced by mindless chopping of trees under official supervision. To say the least, many believe that this is not unregulated development; rather, it is being done under the patronage of the administration.

Massive changes in land use plans over the years and conversion of green areas into built environments has grossly impacted lives of the citizens. Loss of biodiversity has been another casualty for the ecology of the area. One of the suffocating outcomes of this manmade disaster has been the menace of air pollution.

In an apparent bid to get our perspective on Lahore right and to stop further degeneration, a recent directive issued by the Lahore High Court banning the felling of trees surely gives some hope for the city.

Friday last, Justice Shahid Karim ordered the Punjab government to introduce legislation to criminalise tree-cutting. Hearing multiple public interest petitions pending for long on the issues of environment and water pollution, the court observed that the air quality index (AQI) and the situation of smog in Lahore were alarming. The court restrained the Environment Protection Department (EPD) from issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to cut trees for any development project in the city.

Commenting on the link between air pollution and lack of green cover, Naseem Shah, the EPD director, says that the biggest cause of urban environmental pollution has been the emissions from fossil-fuel vehicles. Tree cover has emerged as one of the best remedies in this context. Close to 50 percent pollutants come from the smoke emitted by the vehicles, followed by toxic air billowing out of thermal power plants.

He says the rampant air pollution from the growing number of vehicles in the city coupled with frequent traffic jams pose one of the biggest health related challenges to the people of Lahore.

While trees are generally effective at reducing air pollution, some trees are markedly more effective at filtering out pollutants than others. To make the most difference in air quality in a street or city, it has to be the right tree for the job.

There’s a close link between deforestation and polluted air. Trees and green cover can greatly help purify air or trap the pollutants. The revival of biodiversity can be achieved on the back of systematic afforestation, Shah notes.

DROP CAP

Apart from stopping the mad cutting of trees in the name of urban development, Lahore also needs to have a plan to reclaim its green cover.

Growth of plants having roots, stems, leaves, and budding flowers will infuse energy in the city’s environment. The flora and fauna indigenous to the city must be restored. The dull and monotonous plantation should be replaced with layers of native plants that boast varied sizes, densities and colours. No doubt, most cities come up at the cost of green cover, but our case has been one of forsaken trees and plants.

Tree plantation should be taken as a tool to reduce the ill-effects of global warming. According to a report, trees are particularly effective at removing particulate matter from polluted air. In urban areas, PM is significantly spread by emission from fossil-fuel vehicles in the form of tiny particles. The largest of these particles measures up to 10 micrometers, and are known as PM10s. Then there is PM2.5 nano-particle pollution. From an urban planning perspective, plants act as a readily available set of PM purifiers.

Some trees are particularly good at trapping air pollution. As trees can help cut air pollution, all future plantation should be systematically planned. Vegetation helps cities become better habitats for all, and make the air more breathable.

Cities around the world are looking to utilise this potential of trees. It is high time we did the same to meet the challenges of climate change. For this purpose, we need to identify the range of trees best suited to our climatic conditions. While trees are generally effective at reducing air pollution, some are markedly more effective at filtering out pollutants than others. To make the most difference in air quality in a street or city, it has to be the right tree for the job.

Secondly, the limits of Lahore City need to be identified clearly. All future development must be restricted to designate areas.

Coming back to the crucial court verdict, Justice Karim has also ordered the traffic police to display emergency numbers on roads facing regular traffic jams so that the commuters can get the latest information by making contacts.

During the proceeding, a law officer informed the court that the caretaker government had issued a working paper seeking assistance from the Beijing government to control smog. The judge directed the law officer to expedite the process and share the working paper with the Chinese counterparts through the federal government.

The writer is a senior reporter at The News