Health impact of losing tree cover never considered

A tree is not planted for oneself, it’s planted for posterity. We do not inherit earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our future generations. However, the most intellectual creatures to walk the planet Earth, ‘humans’ appear to be the most careless about their surrounding environment.
Since Hippocrates wrote ‘On Airs, Waters and Places’, the natural environment has been viewed as an important determinant of human health. MahaMetro’s revised plan proposing the alternative road around Futala lake may incur unnecessary loss of around 500 trees to facilitate constructions of a temporary road passing through Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth’s lush green patch.

This move will significantly damage Nagpur’s last few remaining biodiverse hotspots. The human health impact of eco system alterations is a vital consideration and must not be overlooked while urban planning, especially for short term goals. Development at the cost of environment poses serious health implications which must not be overlooked.

Being one of the fastest growing cities, Nagpur has seen a deluge of developmental activities in recent times. More often than not, such development is accompanied by loss of tree cover and promises of re-plantation. But, do such assurances materialize is a question that remains unanswered. This lays further emphasis on the need to re-evaluate the decision about meddling with green cover in question to avoid further damage to ecology and inadvertently human health.

The empirical data aside, common knowledge about disadvantages of deforestation is being overlooked by the planning authorities. Role of trees and plants in absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen via photosynthesis is taught to pupils from primary school curriculum but this familiar fact often gets ignored while justifying urban development.

One of the most concerning issues emerging from loss of tree cover is the drop in air quality and rise of resulting respiratory diseases. The recently held Clean Air: Healthy cities dialogue series in Nagpur highlighted that its not just respiratory diseases but rising air pollution may lead to severe aliments such as cardiac disorders, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s too.

The inhaled pollutants may enter the blood stream and thus reach brain and increase the chances of neurological diseases as well. The green area reduces atmospheric temperature and arrests pollutants and dust. Destruction of tree cover causes rapid release of stored carbon and further adds to drop in air quality.

Empirical data further adds that displacement of insects, rodents birds from such ecological areas increases both, their interactions with humans and the chances of diseases caused and spread by animal carriers. Interruptions of streams in area and exposure to sun light creates puddles of warm water that are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes and thus increasing the chances of various mosquito borne diseases.

Simply put, trees help in controlling the air pollution. Trees and forests have beneficial effects on the environment. They conserve biodiversity, protect soils and watersheds and act as a carbon sink. Loss of tree cover on the other hand results in deleterious effects on the environment.

The best-known disadvantages are those attributed to the poor air quality and increased temperatures. Loss of biodiversity areas also results in habitat changes, which affect disease vectors and parasites resulting in a change in disease incidences.

(The writer is assistant professor of oral medicine and radiology)