8
quality or 140 m² suburb forest area per capita
for reaching a balance between carbon dioxide
and oxygen, to meet the ecological balance
of human well-being
1
. Currently, developed
countries have tended to adopt a general
standard of green space of minimum 20 m² park
area or tree cover per capita. But it is difficult
to achieve this norm in the big cities in Asia
and India. Estimates on urban green spaces/
woodland cover in the cities of different regions
in the world have been mentioned in some
reports.
Tree cover and city forest are more important
than parks and garden to address certain
environmental problems. Several cities in Asia
have planned to improve tree and green space.
Thesuccess inseveral cities inChina is impressive.
Beijing aimed to increase its green space to 40%
by the year 2010 and its achievement was near
the target. Manila aims to achieve a tree-to-
person ratio of one to four
22
. In India, success
in Delhi is appreciable, as tree cover and garden
have improved during the last decade. The
developed countries have more green space
whereas availability of tree cover is poor in the
Asian countries, including China. During the last
few decades, serious works were done in the
cities of China to improve tree cover, which is
apparent from the results. The urbanization is
fast in India, but except a few cities, adequate
care has not been taken to improve tree cover.
Development of parks and forest patches in
Delhi during the last two decades is interesting,
as green cover and green space improved in the
area. Cities of Delhi, Chandigadh, Bangalore,
Bhopal have a good number of parks, gardens,
lakes and forest patches but several other cities
have unplanned development.
As discusses, the following benefits of urban
trees should be considered in the urban
development planning.
(i) Amelioration of urban climate extremes
Mitigation of urban heat islands and
moderation of temperature in summer
(ii) Store and sequester carbon
(iii) Provide shelter to poor peole during
summer
(iv) Intercepting airborne particles and
reducing the amount of harmful particulate
matter
(v) Reduce noise pollution
(vi) Improve air quality and reduce impact of
dusty winds or cyclones
(vii) Reduce consumption of electricity for
heating and cooling
(viii) Aesthetic contribution, scenic beauty,
visual amenity
(ix) Improve property value, and general
livability and quality of urban life
(xi) Contribute to human health and relaxation,
reduce stress and anxiety levels
(xii) Improves urban bio-diversity, especially
bird’s life
