Study of urban forestry through road side tree plantation in Dhaka city

Abstract

Urban forestry is an economic asset, when they arC increasingly regardcd as a vital component of the urban infrastructure, essential in mamtaming a livable and sustainahle environment. This re,earch focuses on the overall planning and management of the roadside tree plantation in Dhaka eity thl'Ough its different tree plantation programs and projects including the existing "Dhaka City BeautifkatlOn ProJcct", Thi, .,tndy encompasses Dhaka C1ty Corporation (DCC) area where plantallon programs havc bcen undertaken hy DeC and the Fore,t Dcpaltment (FD) during the years. Primal)' and secondary materials have been u,ed to analyze the ~vailable information and to examine the existing plantation SituatIOnin practice. Tr~~s are very important parr for impwving p~ople's livelihood 3' well a, balancing ecologicul, social and econolllic~l environment in an urban area 'fhe "COp~and importance of urban fo' estry through roadside tyeepl~ntation of Dhaka eily h~vc b~en highlighted in this paper. The ~speets of lllanugemcnt to maintain the health and strength of roadside tree plantation have been narrated. The main finding is llmt thc practice of roadside plantation is mcreasing, In 2004 "nd 2006, two field surveys have been conducted by (he author to lind out the growing trend of plantation in urban fore,try through road side plantation. The study found that th~ u&Cof oroalllelllJI rr~e, for mati .,ide tree plantation ha, lwen inc<ca,cd ovel' the year, and foreign varidi~s of plants have predominated over the local varieties [or',city beautificatlon, Government has contrnelCd out most of the city beautification project, and/or , road side tree plantatIOn projects to the privut~ companies to get better results from these projects Appropriate tree species have been recommended for road"d~ plantation in Dhaka city n,e role of urban tree, in reducing the air, g~s and ,ound pollution in the urbJn area has been discussed, The contribution o[ vegetation to p,ovide comfort to urban dwellers by improving the urban environment hao also been mentioned