Hyderabad is the Tree City of the World – 2020

Hyderabad is the only city in the country to get the recognition

• Hyderabad has been recognized as a ’2020 Tree City of the World’ by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
• The recognition is for the commitment of the city to growing and maintaining urban forest
• Hyderabad has earned recognition in the foundation’s second year of the program along with 51 other cities in the world

Salient highlights of the recognition

• Hyderabad joins an elite network of 120 cities from 63 countries selected over two years for their commitment to growing and maintaining urban forests
• The city has earned recognition in the foundation’s second year of the program along with 51 other cities in the world
• Most of the other cities were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, to name a few
• Hyderabad has proved that it is a part of an important global network leading the way in urban and community forestry
• A testament to the city’s sustained and institutional efforts to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, development of urban and peri-urban forestry actions, projects and strategic planning and commitment to building a healthy city
• The city, to be eligible under the category of Tree City needs to confirm to five standards, which include

 Establish Responsibility (a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for care of trees)

 Set the Rules (a law or an official policy that governs the management of forests and trees)

 Know What You Have (an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource)

 Allocate the Resources (a dedicated annual budget for routine implementation of tree management plan); and

 Celebrate Achievements (an annual celebration of trees to raise awareness)

What is “Haritha Haram program”?

• Haritha Haram is a large-scale tree-planting program implemented by the Government of Telangana to increase the amount of tree cover in the state from 24% to 33%
• The program was launched by Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao on 3 July 2015
• It is one of the Telangana Flagship programs to rejuvenate degraded forests, protecting these forests from threats such as smuggling, encroachment, fire and grazing
• It adopted intensive soil and moisture conservation measures based on a watershed approach
• In the areas outside the existing forest, massive planting activities were to be taken up in areas such as; road-side avenues, river and canal banks, barren hills and foreshore areas, institutional premises, religious places, housing colonies, community lands, municipalities and industrial parks
• The National Forest Policy of India envisages a minimum of 33% of the total geographical area under forest cover to maintain environmental stability and ecological balance, which is vital for the sustenance of all life-forms, be it human or animal

India and World