Cut down the disconnect, not trees
The felling of the trees at Sat Masjid Road at the heels of record-breaking heat waves in the country is perhaps the latest example of a fatal disconnect between environmentalists and city authorities
Young flower plants now stand on Saat Masjid Road dividers – barely withstanding the gush of wind from the passing vehicles. Some odd-650 flower plants have already been planted in the 800-metre section of the 1.7 km long road's divider by Friday.
Replacing the felled trees – cut down late at night by the Dhaka South City Corporation earlier this month – these saplings are not the plant variety that environmentalists asked for.
But therein lies the problem. Akin to clearing off jungles for rubber cultivation, the Saat Masjid saga represents the inherent disconnect between environmentalists and authorities. In the past few weeks, Dhaka's Dhanmondi stood witness to a public outcry against the felling of trees, all of which fell on deaf ears.
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A missing Mayor
On Sunday, the police stood near the Bangabazar intersection. Ready, with batons in hand, to curtail incoming protestors. The protestors in question were marching – under the banner "Saat Masjid Sarak Gach Rakkha Andalan" – to the DSCC Nagar Bhaban in Gulistan. The protestors included environmentalists.
Their demand? "We insist on meeting the mayor to address our concerns," said Amirul Rajib, the chief coordinator of Saat Masjid Sarak Gach Rakkha Andalan. In the end, two "senior" DSCC officials did come to meet the protestors at the intersection. But Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh did not make an appearance.
For the uninitiated, in the dead of the night on 1 May, city corporation workers had cut down trees on the median strips of the road adjacent to the Abahani Field and hauled them away in a truck.
Later, they stopped due to the locals' obstruction. However, the city administration-sanctioned onslaught continued – cutting down about 1,000 trees on the road in phases defying protests, including human chains.
In fact, this felling of the trees in the area began in January 2023 as part of a developmental project of the Dhaka South City Corporation. Dhaka South officials said the trees are being cut under a Tk9.62 crore project, aiming to develop different infrastructures, including the beautification of islands, footpaths, and road medians. Of the total budget, Tk2 crore would be spent on the two-kilometre Sat Masjid Road.
People came out in the streets to protest and continued to raise objections against the felling of the Sat Masjid Road for weeks. So when the Sunday protestors were told that the Mayor was busy, Amirul Rajib said, "Despite spending a month and a half at Saat Masjid Road, the mayor did not grace us with his presence."
Once again, this goes to show the intention (or the lack thereof) of the city administration to listen to its constituents. This a jarring reminder of the administration's bleak response to concerns about the damage its actions are causing to the environment. And all this at the heels of the country experiencing a record-breaking heat wave in April.
16 April saw the temperature reach 40.6° Celsius (105.1° Fahrenheit) – the highest in 58 years. And unfortunately, this is not a one-off event. Studies and reports predict an uncertain and volatile future due to climate change.
For instance, a study by the World Weather Attribution says there is a "strong increase in the likelihood and intensity of humid heat events, similar to those witnessed in 2023. The probability of such an event occurring in India and Bangladesh has increased at least 30-fold due to human-induced climate change.
Moreover, a heatwave that previously had a 20% chance of occurring in any given year is now approximately 2°C hotter in heat index due to human activities." Meanwhile, the UN reports say the next five years are set to be the hottest period ever recorded.
This is to say, if you found the latest bouts of heatwave intolerable, then it would be wise to prepare for hotter temperatures in the near future. The heat wave is set to, perhaps, become the new normal in the coming years.
This brings to the fore the key role of trees and green spaces in urban cities. It has been long established by scientists and urban planners that trees are the most effective strategy to stand guard against heat waves in cities. Trees can lower air temperatures and ease heat waves.
But greenery has become scarce in today's Dhaka under the guise of development projects.
According to a report from last year, Dhaka has lost around 56% of its green spaces over the last three decades. In 1989, the city had 12,745 hectares of vegetation, which came down to a mere 5,599 hectares in 2020.
Overall, while a liveable city should contain 25% greenery of its total area, Dhaka has barely 5% greenery.
Disconnect and discord
A government-sanctioned campaign under the slogan "Plant trees, save the environment" has been going on for years. In fact, in June last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon all, including the leaders and workers of Awami League and its associate bodies, to plant at least three saplings to make Bangladesh a much greener country.
Earlier, the Prime Minister also said that the Awami League and all its associated organisations, including the Krishak League, have been planting trees on a large scale across the country for three months every year since 1985.
The future will tell us how successful these campaigns are. For now, facts contradict plantation campaigns and promises, as Dhaka continues to lose its green space.
And Mayor Taposh, who is yet to address the protestors' call to action to stop the felling of trees, is the latest example of the disconnect between what the government says and what it does.
On 18 May, the authority started to plant flower saplings in place of the felled trees at Saat Masjid Road, spending a total of Tk10.40 lakh for planting the saplings and purchasing necessary sand, soil, dung and fertiliser. But the activists and protestors under the Saat Masjid Sarak Gach Rakkha Andalan banner demanded the authorities plant saplings of local varieties of trees.
So why flower saplings? "Nowhere in the world would you see big trees in the middle of the road. We planted the flowers so that trees do not cause problems to traffic movement and people," replied Md Abu Nasser, DSCC Public Relations Officer.
On Sunday, another DSCC official said trees are being planted in canals and reservoirs, working with the "advice of urban planners, environmentalists, and all concerned." But the environmentalists who marched in protest were not included in the advisory pool.
Cutting down trees is perhaps the most tone-deaf, detrimental action a city administration can take to create a more vulnerable city to climate change. And while the powers turn a deaf ear to protestors, Dhaka city dwellers continue to watch in shock how their city becomes a heat island.
