Hopes of conserving Dhaka city鈥檚 old trees kindle among environmentalists amid a government move to recognise those as 鈥榟istoric鈥� trees.
The Forest Department has recently declared a banyan tree, aged more than 150 years, at the National Botanical Garden in Dhaka鈥檚 Mirpur area as a 鈥榟istoric鈥� tree.
Before the declaration, with aerial and prop roots, the banyan tree on a fragmented land at the garden was considered merely 鈥榓 centre of observing natural beauty鈥�.
This year, the department has begun a survey on the old, 鈥榮acred鈥� and 鈥榮ocially important鈥� trees and 鈥榗lustered鈥� forests on public or private land.
Sanaullah Patwary, the conservator of forest and responsible for organising the survey, told 抖阴精品, 鈥榃e are collecting information from the local sources about details of such trees for their sustainable conservation.鈥�
The survey and conservation of the old trees follow the Wildlife Conservation Act 2012, Sanaullah added.
Given the initiatives, naturalists are hoping for the conservation of the aged-old trees that have survived still in the centuries-old and rapidly urbanising Dhaka city.聽
Naturalist Mokaram Hossain gave an idea of some such trees.聽
鈥楾hese old trees are parts of Dhaka city history. Like the government protects heritage buildings, century-old trees or the ecological heritage should be protected,鈥� Mokaram said.
According to his count, the Ramna Park has a century-old kusum (Schleichera oleosa) and a deshi gab (Diospyros peregrina Gurke).
Meanwhile, rows of padauk (Pterocarpus indicus) along Hare Road, a blackbean (Castanospermum austral) on Bayley Road, a chhatim (Alstonia scholaris) on Chamely House premises, a bahera (Terminalia belerica) at Bangla Academy,聽 a rendi koroi (Samanea saman) at Bangladesh Shishu Academy, a buddha narikel (Pterygota alata) in the middle of Ruqayyah Hall and Shamsunnahar Hall of Dhaka University, the banyan trees on the Bangla Academy and the Supreme Court premises, and a tetul (Tamarindus indica) in front of Udayan School on Fuller Road, are among the few remains of the 1909 tree plantation in Dhaka.聽
The tree plantation was guided by Robert Louis Proudlock, who was a keeper of London鈥檚 Kew Garden and the designer of Ramna Green (presently Ramna Park), said Mokaram.
Inspired by the Ramna Green, Baldah Estate landlord Narendra Narayan Roy Chaudhury established the Baldah Garden on Nawab Street in Old Dhaka in the same year. Despite rapid encroachment of the garden area and death of several century-old trees, the garden still has a burjapatra (Betula utilis), a ramdhan champa (Ochna obtusata) and a bichitra bokul (Mimusop elengi L. veriegata).
Amid rapid urbanisation, Dhaka lost many of the century-old trees. During the construction of metro-rail piers in front of Shishu Academy, a gagan shirish (Albizia richardiana) was uprooted while the construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway at Farmgate cut down a jungli badam (Sterculia foetida), near to the boundary wall of Government Science College.
Sarder Nasir Uddin, the principal scientific officer of Bangladesh National Herbarium, explained the importance of conserving aged trees, saying that a quick replacement of an old tree is impossible.
According to him, a century-old tree individually serves as a nano-ecosystem.
鈥楽uch a tree shelters parasites like ferns, moss, different arthropods, small mammals like squirrels and bats and birds,鈥� Sarder Nasir said.
He cited that conservation measures like fencing around the tree and entry only thoughtful visitors are taken in many countries to preserve their century-old trees.
Conservation of ancient trees is quite popular in developed countries. The world鈥檚 oldest trees bristlecone pine ((Pinus longaeva) in California of the United States, gran abuelo (Fitzroya cupressoides) in Chile and sarv-e abarkuh (Cupressus sempervirens) in Iran are among the notable examples.
The conserved trees are kept out of common people鈥檚 reach.
Rakha Hari Sarker, a supernumerary professor at Dhaka University鈥檚 botany department, said that protecting old and fragile trees in an overpopulated city was quite challenging.
He said that the roadside old and fragile trees were risky, particularly in Dhaka, as several casualties had been caused in recent years because of the falling of trees during storms.
Forest conservator Sanaullah said that most of the surviving century-old trees in Dhaka were already protected in walled boundaries.
鈥楽till, we will record those trees as 鈥渉istoric鈥� ones if the owners of the land apply for recognition. Once the trees are recognised, the cutting of the trees will be prohibited,鈥� Sanaullah added.
