Can’t see the forest for the trees?

In 2011, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) launched the Tree Park Scheme with the aim of providing urban citizens in densely populated areas greater access to nature. The KFD defines tree parks as areas that are predominantly characterised by tree growth along with shrubs, herbs, and other climbers.

The intention is to develop amenities within these tree parks, such as walking paths, nature trails, drinking water facilities, play areas for children, washrooms, etc. However, this development comes at the expense of forested areas, resulting in their destruction rather than protection.

So far, approximately 3,000 acres of forest area have been diverted to set up tree parks in Karnataka. While the scheme intends to create lung spaces through the protection and consolidation of forests in urban areas by developing them as tree parks, converting forests to create these spaces is not the solution. In the backdrop of increased and unplanned urbanisation, forests assume even greater importance as they remain among the last biodiverse green spaces.

Tree parks cannot be made out of converting forest lands. Converting natural habitats with their flora, fauna, and ecosystems into an artificially maintained, human-centric tree park has far-reaching consequences, as it drastically alters the ecosystem and leads to a loss of biodiversity. All tree parks are mandated to have a detailed project report (DPR), a report that contains a list of ongoing works as well as proposed activities. This report is a means of getting approval for the intended tree park projects, and all the activities are to be conducted in accordance with the approved DPR. Currently, they only act as a means of intimation, thereby defeating the purpose of a DPR.

The existing mechanism indicates that for the maintenance of tree parks, a committee is constituted with the concerned territorial deputy conservator of forests as the chairman and representatives of other departments, people representatives of the area, local experts, etc. However, there is no clarity on the specific roles, responsibilities, qualifications, and functions of these members. Although the website of the forest department claims that guidelines regarding tree parks have been issued from time to time, the fact that it has no statutory backing and provides no guidance on management and maintenance is problematic.

Two Acts relevant in this context are the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (FCA’) and the Karnataka Parks, Playfields, and Open Spaces (Preservation and Regulation) Act, 1985 (‘Parks Act). Section 2(ii) of the FCA prohibits the use of forest lands for non-forest purposes without the prior approval of the Union Environment Ministry. However, despite the lack of permission from the Environment Ministry, the Karnataka government developed a tree park in the forest of Jarakabande Kaval in Yelahanka. The government neither conducted public consultations nor put out a DPR of the park in the public domain. Similarly, Turahalli, one of the last remaining forest patches within the city, saw the development of a tree park without public consultation and without placing the details of the project in the public domain. In fact, the Department of Horticulture opted out of the Bengaluru Mission 2022, which aimed at creating tree parks, owing to the crisis surrounding the Turahalli forests. In 2021, the state government dropped its plans to create a tree park in the Turahalli forests after continuous protests.

Further, the question of the legislation that governs these tree parks remains unanswered. Currently, the Parks Act is the governing legislation for neighbourhood parks in Karnataka. Are tree parks different from neighbourhood parks? Can they be governed under the Parks Act? Urban forestry is a municipal function according to the Twelfth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Then, isn’t the construction of urban forests within the mandate of the urban local body as opposed to the forest department? These questions will continue to persist unless there is clarity on the governing legislation and the pertinent authority responsible for the development of these tree parks.

Karnataka is endowed with some of the most magnificent forests in the country, with typical flora and fauna, some of them endemic to the region. As the trend of creating and setting up tree parks continues, it is very important to protect the last of the remaining forest patches in the city. While it is important to acknowledge that there is a lack of green spaces in the city, this cannot come at
the expense of converting forests into manicured and ticketed spaces. 

(The writer is a senior resident fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.)