Residents of Gandhi Nagar in Chennai’s Adyar have begun a street-by-street survey of the neighbourhood’s trees, documenting species, dimensions, damage and possible sites for new planting in an effort to support future greening plans by the Greater Chennai Corporation.
The weekend exercise is being led by environmental non-profit Nizhal, whose volunteers have trained residents to identify trees and assess their condition. Participants record details including the tree’s name, dimensions, family, leaf and bark characteristics and visible damage. They are also marking locations where saplings could potentially be planted.
During a recent survey near the Adyar bus terminus, residents identified species including gulmohar and neem. They also found trees affected by cables and nails fixed around their trunks, as well as concrete and pavements covering their root zones, according to C Namachivayam, an Adyar resident-activist who took part in the exercise.
“When there were doubts, the photos of the branches and leaves were sent to Nizhal for assessment,” Namachivayam said. The process allows volunteers to verify uncertain identifications while creating a record of the condition of individual trees across the neighbourhood.
This is the second such survey in Gandhi Nagar. A previous exercise in 2019 recorded about 65 tree species, including sausage tree, fig, peepal, neem, picklenut and palm. The new survey is expected to continue for a few more weeks, after which the data will be collated and compared with the earlier findings.
Nizhal trustee T D Babu said the community should be involved in understanding the trees in its neighbourhood and assessing what has been lost or gained. The organisation plans to prepare a report and submit it to the corporation, with the data intended to support strategies for increasing Chennai’s green cover.
The survey’s street-level records could provide civic authorities with information beyond broad counts of trees in parks and avenues. Details on species, physical damage, root-zone conditions and vacant planting locations can help distinguish between the presence of trees and their actual health and protection in an urban neighbourhood.
GCC Commissioner G S Sameeran said the corporation had previously conducted studies of tree cover in avenues and parks. He added that a report on the city’s tree cover would help the civic body strategise future planting.
The next official step is the completion of the Gandhi Nagar survey, followed by preparation and submission of the residents’ report to the Greater Chennai Corporation.
