City Corporation launch greening initiative ‘Amara’ in Mangaluru

mangaloretoday.com

Mangaluru, April 21, 2025: Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC)launched a citizen-driven greening initiative titled ‘Amara’, aimed at planting 30,000 tree saplings across the city this monsoon on Monday.

The initiative, mooted jointly by the MCC, Dakshina Kannada district administration, and Centre for Advanced Learning (CFAL) in collaboration withthe Forest Department, ward committees, and citizen groups, proposes to plant the saplings in 60 wards of the city.

“It is to restore the city’s green cover for a sustainable future, making Mangaluru a greener, healthier and more livable city,” Ravichandra Naik, Commissioner, MCC said.

It has been proposed to plant at least 500 saplings in each ward during this monsoon, Mr. Naik said adding that the initiative will be launched at 10 a.m. on Monday.

The slogan of the initiative read: “Plant a tree sapling, adopt a tree, prakruthiye pragathi.”

Referring to the timeline of action the Commissioner said that after launching the initiative, the adoption of wards to support the greening project will begin on April 30. The identification of locations for planting will begin on May 15. The plantation drive begins on June 5 on the World Environment Day by distributing the saplings.

“The initiative was mooted after the ‘Tree Count Report-Mangaluru 2023’ brought out by Nitte (Deemed to be) University in 2023 revealed that the city has only 6.24 % greenery in public places,” the Commissioner said.

Mr. Naik said that people, organisations, institutions can adopt saplings/trees by planting and maintaining them.

“Each tree will be geotagged and cared for,” the Commissioner said. Mr. Naik said this initiative will also cover promotion and protection of mangroves on the coastal line.

Climate change is a global concern and Mangaluru, being a coastal cityis experiencing extreme heat and irregular rainfall. Trees are proven to be one of the best tools to combat and mitigate climate crisis, he said.

Meanwhile, the 2023 report by the Nitte (Deemed to be) University’s Centre for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) pointed out that the decrease in the number of trees led to an increase in the surface temperature in Mangaluru by nearly five degrees celsius between 2014 and 2022.

The report was the product of a year-long count of 19,171 trees on the roadside in 50 wards (ward no. 11 to 60) of Mangaluru, which started in November 2022. It was led by NUCSER Deputy Director Smitha Hegde. Over 50 students of Nitte, St. Joseph Engineering College, and Alva’s Institute of Engineering and Technology were involved in the exercise. Only roadside trees were manually counted, and trees on private properties were not. The green cover on the private land was assessed using high intensity satellite images.