BENGALURU: Gubbi Labs, a research collective based in Tumakur has started a tree census in Bengaluru with the aim to make a map of all the trees in the city. This in turn for their better preservation.
Dr H Sudhira, founder of Gubbi Labs says that a pilot project is going on in four localities namely Cooks Town, Basavanagudi, Electronic City and Indiranagar.
“The main aim of the pilot census will be to make a realistic estimate of the resources and duration needed to carry out tree census throughout the city,” he says. Knowing extent of the mapping, nature of the output of the exercise are some of the aims. This in turn would help the group develop a “realistic plan” on how they can go about their goal. “We want to make a map of all the trees in Bengaluru by the end of the year and also want to repeat the exercise even in 2018,” he says.
The other aims of the census are to try and inculcate a sense of ownership among people for trees and prepare for urban planning and integrating ecology into city planning. “With data, conservation can be done better, instead of resorting to knee jerk reactions. We have recently seen the case of steel flyover. There could have been a better alternative for alignment if the data was there,” he adds.
Since the initiative was announced a few days back, a number of enthusiastic citizens have shown their interest to join in the effort. Gubbi Labs has already organised a tree Identification and mapping workshop on January 26 at the Indian Institute of Science where the participants were introduced to the basics of identifying trees and mapping using various tools and methods. A session involing field work was also conducted where a number of trees at the campus were checked for its different features and then mapped.
The announcement of the tree mapping project of Gubbi Labs also coincides with the annual Nerula Festival that will begin on February 18 and 19. The Nerula festival is a crowfunded event that invites the public to immerse in the history of Bengaluru’s fauna. The event will have activities like tree walks, theater, lectures to name a few.
Members from Gubbi Labs will also be volunteering for the Nerula fest, says Sudhira.Citizens interested to join the initiative can visit the Gubbi Labs website: http://www.gubbilabs.in or visit their Facebook page.