Pune's Official Tree Count Looks Like A Hack Job

Time of India

3 days ago

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Pune: As per Pune Municipal Corporation's latest Environment Status Report (ESR) 2023–24, the city houses as many as 55,81,578 trees, with the figures showing a steady annual increase.
But for a city that claims to host over 55 lakh trees, deteriorating air quality makes the essential act of breathing rather difficult for residents.
Even as the civic body boasts of planting lakhs of trees and expanding the city's green footprint, the on-ground reality is riddled with data inconsistencies, opaque processes and a visibly shrinking urban canopy.
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Citizens, environmentalists and independent researchers alike are raising an alarm about the glaring mismatch between the official data in the report and the ground reality.
Activists pointed out that the ESR has simply copied ward-wise data from reports of previous years, which when added up comes to a total of 51,03,602 trees citywide. However, the citywide tree cover mentioned in the latest ESR is 4.7 lakh trees more than this total.
The ESR uses data from the tree census, which ostensibly began in 2016 and was to be conducted every five years.
However, environmental activist and researcher Ameet Singh asserted, "The data trajectory of Pune's tree census cannot be trusted.
PMC claims to have completed a comprehensive tree census this year, but not a single dataset was made public."
"Tree-felling allocations are cleared without accountability, and many trees counted in compensatory afforestation do not even exist," he added.
Singh further said, "We are told the tree census is finished, but none of the data is in the public domain. There is no transparency. There are no geotagged coordinates, photographs, record of transplantation, or means to verify whether these trees are real."
Singh, who independently mapped trees in Yerawada in 2023 with students from Wadia College, said a 100x100m survey block revealed 2,590 trees near the Mula-Mutha riverbank in the area. Official data, on the other hand, has contrary tree counts to offer along the entire river stretches — incidentally now at the epicentre of multiple project proposals being opposed by residents and activists.
However, Ashok Ghorpade, member-secretary of the tree authority department refuted this and told TOI, "We finished the tree census this year in March.
Despite all claims, we have taken every tree into consideration and the data gathered is accurate."
Fluctuation in numbers
According to the 2023-24 ESR, 2010 data shows a steep drop from 2003, despite rapid expansion of urban limits. Next, the 2016–17 tree census only covered 30% of the city's area and reported around 7.2 lakh trees, far below the expected count. And yet, by 2018–19, the number jumped back to over 41 lakh.
Such fluctuations have never been explained in the ESR or any public platform.
"There's a pattern here," said Singh. "They keep inflating numbers every year to create the illusion of progress. But on the ground, citizens are witnessing tree cover disappearing in front of their eyes."
Activists argued that data is deliberately kept ambiguous to remain convenient for infrastructure projects. They claimed that PMC also counts tree cover on tekdis (which has mainly increased due to citizen-led plantation) and forest areas in the tree census — this inflates numbers, although green cover in urbanised patches stays terribly low.
Singh said, "There's a huge disparity between Pune's urban tree cover and the green count from forests or hillside areas. Most of the latter land is just sedimentary hillside, it's not supporting proper soil-based tree growth on level ground. What we really need is a green canopy where people live, not just on paper. Yet, the tree census conveniently counts trees from slopes while ignoring ground realities. And when trees are felled for infrastructure, they are often not even part of official data.
Officials just say, 'It wasn't counted,' so it doesn't exist on record. That's not a census."
What are the ramifications?
Pune currently has 1.128 trees per person, says the ESR. But to offset its 2.6 crore tonne of annual carbon emissions, experts say each person needs eight fully grown trees aged 40 years or more — a target too far from the current reality.
"For a population of around 35 lakh as per the 2011 census, 55 lakh trees are nowhere near enough.
We would need at least 40 years with record plantation drives to meet the target of achieving eight fully grown trees per person. That is the only way we can reduce our carbon emissions," said Sathya Natarajan, an expert who summarized the Maharashtra Tree Act, 1975, into a single-page document.
Natarajan added that as per Schedule-1 of the Act, a tree must be planted every 10m. "We must at least protect the trees that are here right now.
Even if we plant many saplings going forward — for which we do not have the space left anymore with rapid urbanization — they will not match the potential of a fully grown tree," he reasoned.
He added, "While solar and wind energy can help mitigate emissions in certain sectors, trees offer a unique dual benefit — they not only contribute to mitigation but also support biodiversity, a role that other energy sources cannot fulfill."
Singh agreed, adding that with discrepant data, the only beneficiaries are people lobbying for development without an understanding of the environmental cost. "Satellite data now shows that land surface temperatures in Pune range at 49°C, the second highest in India after Delhi. Similarly, satellite photos show that the tree cover increase that authorities claim is not true. They have violated court orders by not making the census public, too," he said.
On-ground disparities swell
As per the ESR, the city now has 430 species of trees, in which Gliricidia trees are the major constituents. The only prominent indigenous trees left are present in the Peth regions of the city and on some of the hills, which are also now facing a threat.
Professor Ankur Patwardhan's study on carbon sequestration in 2024 had established that the city's green cover only sequesters 3,000 tonne of carbon yearly.
Patwardhan, now research head at NGO Ranwa (Research & Action in Natural Wealth Administration), said, "A 50m belt of trees around a person helps lower the temperature by 3° at least. The only way to reduce tree cover disparity in different wards is continuous plantation of indigenous species in every area."
Other experts echoed that the imbalance in green cover within wards is concerning.
The Kasba-Vishrambaugwada ward only hosts 35,426 trees; Bhavani Peth shows even lower numbers at 12,546 trees.
Peth areas and parts with previously large canopies — such as Sinhagad Road and Bibvewadi — are now left with only 1.64 lakh trees and 1.2 lakh, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sahakarnagar has 11.9 lakh trees, and areas like Hadapsar-Mundhwa, Nagar Road-Wadgaonsheri, Shivajinagar, Kothrud-Bavdhan and Aundh-Baner host an average of 4.74 lakh trees per ward.
This disparity is concerning, say experts, as the microclimate of an area is affected by its green belt.
"People living in parts with better green cover have high oxygen availability, better carbon sequestration available and a cooler microclimate. Meanwhile, for those in the centre of the city, these are all negligible. Human health and hence human productivity suffer as a consequence. For an individual who probably has less oxygen and more pollution in their atmosphere, productivity is low and the microclimate affects their work output.
This in turn affects the city's economic growth, too," said Priti Mastakar, environmental economist at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE).
Experts stated that any tree-felling or trimming permission given henceforth by PMC must be analysed and compared with existing total tree cover of that region, even if the records may not be completely accurate. Without this, we are at risk of losing whatever is left of the trees of Pune.
Residents Speak
At least four heritage trees have been axed in the last few months in Sadashiv Peth. Everyone shoves a 'permission document' into our hands. But how is this permission granted if PMC knows the area is lacking in trees? They must conduct a field survey each time they grant permission, else we will lose all our trees to paperwork. The pollution is extreme here, vehicular emissions are high and there are no trees left lining our roads — Mahesh Joshi | Sadashiv Peth resident
In Peth, many old wadas with community-based structures have been redeveloped since 2012.
This occurred in isolation, so we did not realize that at least three or four trees within each compound were axed. By the time residents understood, it was too late. In Sahakarnagar, on the other hand, bungalows have buffer space, so trees can be saved even if redeveloped. The pollution is much less since I moved out of the Peths.
Cluster redevelopment should be a new theme to save trees and water, and install solar energy and pre-STPs collectively. Pinnacle 9 Sadashiv is one example in Sadashiv Peth, and Pate Sankruti in Sahakarnagar — Vikrant Latkar | Sahakarnagar resident, (previously Navi Peth resident)
The number of trees across Pune has gone down in the last few years. Farmlands and the biodiversity that come with them have vanished to make way for concrete buildings. We must slow down development that is heavily reliant on concrete and start implementing eco-friendly ideas. We must start balancing the damage already done. Tree cutting is rampant and needs to stop
— Akanksha Pandey | IT professional
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Official Says
We completed the tree census this year in March, despite all claims, we have taken every tree into consideration and the data is accurate. Our biggest challenge has been counting the trees within Army or defence lands as entry was restricted. For properties that we did not have access to, which is probably just 0.5% of the total area covered, we have done our best to count them from neighbouring homes. So, for these areas, we don't have the exact count of trees — Ashok Ghorpade | Member-Secretary, Tree Authority Department
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Minimum Tree Requirement
Along the road (as per width of the road)
• 24m and more: 1 tree per 10m
• 12m to 24m: 1 tree per 10m
• 6m to 12m: 5 trees per 20m
• For plots above 121sqm: 2 trees per 20sqm
• For plots up to 111sqm: 1 tree per 20sqm
- Gardens, beaches, hillsides, green areas, river banks and wetlands: 1 tree per 20sqm
- Gardens: 1 tree per 20sqm
- Open spaces: 1 tree per 50sqm
- Sports stadiums, small sports stadiums, playgrounds, children's play areas, open spaces in development plans: 1 tree per 100sqm
- Government offices and corporate offices: 1 tree per 100sqm
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Inconsistent Data Over Years
2013-14: 1.23 trees per person, 62.34 per acre
2014-15: 1.23 trees per person, 62.34 per acre
2015-2016: NIL
2016-2017: 426 tree species, 131 rare trees, 72 varieties of trees found
2017-2018: 448 tree species, 89 rare trees
2018-2019: 1.23 trees per person, 418 species of trees, 111 rare trees
2019-2020: 1.23 trees per person, 418 species of trees, 111 rare trees
2020-2021: 1.39 trees per person, 429 species of trees, 124 rare trees
2021-2022: 430 species of trees 124 rare trees
2022-2023: 430 species of trees 124 rare trees
2023-2024: 430 species of trees 124 rare trees
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Types Of Trees
- 430 species
- 124 rare
- 2,838 heritage