Old trees and new saplings: Letting them live

Kathmandu is grey. Concrete houses and building cover the once-green lands, and what little trees the housing projects had spared were being planned on bringing down. It was probably then when it hit people that trees couldn't be constructed like grey structures that started our own green revolution. It was perhaps then that people started planting trees. Soon, others caught on. Now planting trees has become somewhat of a trend these days, and during any event, occasion or celebration, tree plantation is the highlight.

Whether that is in Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), different community forests in and around Kathmandu Valley, or individual properties, private sectors, NGOs and INGOs, they have taken the initiative to do the blessed work of planting trees. Planning such plantation programs have always sent positive messages to the general public, and have even instigated in their direct participation in many happy cases. Further, the heavy investment of the government in procuring green belts in the valley for the recent SAARC Summit has put more focus on the decorative uses of the greenery. Things seem to be going on a good path.

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Except for one thing: Most people forget the plants after they have been planted. Anuj Kumar Mahat, co-founder of Birthday Forest, a non-profit company established with the intention of allowing people to be close to nature by letting them plant trees on their birthdays, says that it is difficult to sustain the plants once they are planted.

"Once a tree is planted with people's names on it, we provide updates about them to the people for three years. But after planting a 100 plants, we came to realize that the initial cost of Rs 980 was the lowest price ever to take care of the plants," he says.

As they were to find out more, trees don't grow on their own, and the cost of having someone care for them would not be met by the price paid of the plant. "The costs of having someone take care of it, along with the accessibility of water, fertilizer and many other factors affect the development of the plants," he says.

Because of this, the people looking after the community forests they had planted the trees on declined to do so. "They needed incentives. Even though our own team members went there time and again to look after the saplings, it needs more than that. Some of our customers go to the plantation area but that doesn't cover it," he says.

Chairman for Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) Dr Gobinda Tandon agrees to that. "Many people and organizations propose on planting trees on our land. But to turn the small plants to a beautiful forest needs time and a lot of dedication of the people. Every young plant needs to be cared after like people would care after their favorite pets, like puppies or even babies, but many people don't think about this. And there are additional factors which will affect the task," he says.

As the Pashupati area houses creatures like monkeys, their curiosity leads to the freshly planted grounds, and unfortunately, uproot them. Lack of responsible people appointed or volunteering to look after the plants is not only the case here, however. The plants are there for a purpose, which is to compensate the missing element that the modern urbanization has taken away from the environment.

Trees aid in air and water purification. Some species of plants directly help in controlling the pollution that is rampant in the Valley. But what we shouldn't forget is that there are certain species of plants that are more suitable to our environment and structure than others.

Environmentalist Ram Prasad Chaudhary with Research Center for Applied Science and Technology says that while planting trees are beneficial to the environment, greenery is not everything. "For the amount of time, money and dedication you spend on growing a tree, you may as well choose a plant type that will go well with the place of plantation. You shouldn't plant sacred fig (peepal) where there's a lot of motion, as it may destroy the nearby structures when there's a storm. If you're planting a tree, you shouldn't forget about the structure, composition and function of the tree. Sustainability of this green project depends on these factors, too," he says.

Clearly, they are not being taken care of. Many of the trees that are being planted are done randomly, the main reason being they are simply economically viable. Though people have put thought in saving the environment by planting trees, they have not thought on how to do it properly.

This also raises a very important question: Is plantation of new trees more important, or the conservation of the old plants? As rapid urbanization swaps land for housing complexes, if what little trees there are aren't growing properly, then there will be a great problem.

Ramkrishna Chaulagai, the program coordinator for the tree hug campaign that succeeded in June last year and also the president of Force Nepal, an NGO, says that exposing students to nature from a young age will raise a generation that will be environmentally responsible.

"Conserving the trees that we have is what we should focus on right now, and the role of young people is vital. You should let them grow with the trees that they plant so that they realize the beauty of nature and know how difficult it is for any life form to exist," he says.

And indeed it is. Conserving the trees right now is of immense importance. Stopping deforestation and taking care of the trees that have been planted should be given more focus. There is no doubt that it is a difficult task, and there are many challenges that need to be dealt with. However, the initial steps have been taken and now we just need to give continuity to this journey.

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