A total of fifty thousand to a million saplings are planted every year in the two tree plantation campaigns, one in February and one in August. I believe these campaigns were launched some three or four decades ago. So by now Karachi ought to have acquired a good tree cover, but the city still looks more desert-like than forest-like.
That is because of the tree destruction campaign, which goes on through the twelve months of the year, on one pretext or another. One of the most unforgivable was chopping down magnificent trees that grew near the Marriot Hotel and the US Consulate on Abdullah Haroon Road. This was done to provide security to the consulate. It was absolutely necessary: a terrorist could easily hide in the thick foliage of those trees. They had to go.
Ever since Drigh Road became Shara-e-Faisal it has been revamped so many times that the trees along the side of the road have been planted, uprooted, replanted, chopped down, planted, died. So much so Shara-e-Faisal is more a graveyard of trees than a tree-lined avenue.
Some ancient trees were chopped down to straighten the old road which had some sharp curves. This was in the 1970s when state-of-the-art machinery was imported to build the high speed, smooth, Shara-e-Faisal. As Bhutto wanted trees presto, the horticulture department introduced the eucalyptus, which grows ten-foot high in a year. The eucalyptus became very popular and was planted all over the city. It was some time before we discovered that where this tree grows, nothing else grows. The eucalyptus began to be chopped down everywhere including on Shara-e-Faisal.
The most recent destruction of trees on this road was of 1,000 date trees planted by Naimatullah Khan our first city Nazim. Full grown date palms were planted by him on Shara-e-Faisal, as well as Old Exhibition (Numaish), Aisha Manzil, Water Pump and Sir Shah Mohammad Suleiman Road. Clifton and DHA also planted these date palms on Khayaban-e-Jami and Clifton Road. None of them has survived. Thousands of date palms were lost primarily because the uprooting of the full grown trees and their replanting was not undertaken with proper horticultural know-how. A few trees did survive a few months but eventually died down or were removed to make way for road expansion or car park or because they could topple down and kill some passer-by.
The year 2009 has been declared "National Year of Environment", hence the February tree plantation campaign was launched with a lot of hoopla about the climatic change that trees bring. Some 70 million sapling were to be planted all over the country, out of which, Karachi's share is one million saplings. That is not much, considering the massive sprawl of the city. However, the kind of trees that are being planted are decorative, like the type we call "Ashoke". Vast areas of land, such as the green belts and empty spaces left after construction of flyovers and bypasses are thus not being utilised for maximum benefit. The good tree, the Neem, which has so many uses is slow growing and has been avoided. The same is true about the decorative gulmohar, another tree that has fallen out of favour. Date and coconut palms have also not been chosen, probably because of the bad experience mentioned above.
There was also a scheme some four years ago to develop forest-like parks in Karachi. Although huge new parks have been made, including Askari Park on the site of old Sabzi Mandi which is over 38 acres, hardly ten percent of the area of these parks is devoted to tree plantation. The main development is in the shape of lawns, walkways, children's play areas and food courts. Another important public benefit project is the Karachi University botanical park over 30 acres, which was launched in July 2005. The KU plans to nurture endangered wild species available in Sindh and Balochistan. (Balochistan is treeless except for the indigenous Juniper which grows in places like Ziarat. It is doubtful if the Juniper will take root in Karachi).
Scientists have already identified 15 species for conservation. Thirty acres is not a very large space for a botanical garden, but the KU garden is the only one Karachi is likely to have. Public space will never be developed into a botanical garden. Take the case of the space earmarked for a botanical garden near Rashid Minhas Road in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The land was cut up, some became residential and was used to build multi-storied buildings and some of it became an entertainment park with dodgem cars and water sports and narry a tree growing anywhere.
The tree plantation campaigns are supposed to create awareness of the importance of trees for improving the environment. But in fact there is virtually no campaigning. A few photos of VIPs planting a sapling is the most by way of publicity that ever takes place.
Trees are not very popular with private gardeners. Go to any nursery and you will hardly find saplings of trees. Nurserymen say the demand for lemon and other citrus trees, which had become popular for a short while, even these are not in demand. Trees that were part of old gardens throughout the subcontinent are not sold at the nurseries.
These include the Jamun, the sekta-phalli, tamrind, neem mango and guava. The modern gardener does not like these trees because they shed leaves, falling fruit stains the ground and generally spoils the look of the garden. This is true, of course. Gardens with these traditional trees do not win prizes at the horticultural show. Even when a tree is included in the garden plan, the homeowners make sure it stands in a corner where it will not cast a shadow on their precious lawn and flowerbeds.
With the exception of North Nazimabad, the inner lanes of all other places in Karachi are narrow. One may want to plant a tree outside but this is not allowed in many societies. A man in my muhallah in DHA had planted a rubberplant near his building. The DHA people chopped it down. They said it was interfering with underground cables and could burst the water or gutter pipes.
Municipal and cantonment do not allow chopping of trees, but they themselves are forever hacking at those growing on roads. The usual excuse is that the branches are interfering with the overhead wires. One wonders how they manage in Lahore where there are so many trees on the roadside. Illegal chopping of trees goes on unabated. The need for cheap fuel has denuded Karachi city as well as the coastal belt from where a lot of large mangrove trees have been purloined.
Reclamation for residential purposes by such organisations as the Navy and KPT has also destroyed the mangrove forests. This is not the end of the story, but I am short of space. All I can say is that most Karachiites do not love trees.
Even those who love them are afraid to plant them because of the heartache it will cause when a tree is chopped down.