Hyderabad recognised as a '2020 Tree City of the World'

Hyderabad, Feb 18 (PTI): Hyderabad has been recognisedas a '2020 Tree City of the World' by the Arbor DayFoundation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) ofthe United Nations.

The recognition is for the commitment of the city togrowing and maintaining urban forest.

Hyderabad is the only city in the country to get therecognition, an official press release said on Thursday.

Through this, the Telangana capital joins a network oflike-minded cities which recognise the importance of trees inbuilding healthy, resilient and happy cities, the releasesaid.

Hyderabad has earned recognition in the foundation'ssecond year of the programme along with 51 other cities inthe world (during 2020 and cumulatively 120 cities from 63countries) while being the only city in India to get therecognition so far, it said.

Most of the cities were from countries, including theUS, the UK, Canada, Australia and others, it said.

The city, to be eligible under the category of TreeCity needs to confirm to five standards -- 'EstablishResponsibility' (the city having a written statement by cityleaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees),'Set the Rules' (the city has in place a law or an officialpolicy that governs the management of forests and trees) and'Know what you have' (the city has an updated inventory orassessment of the local tree resource).

The other two standards are 'Allocate the Resources' (thecity has a dedicated annual budget for the routineimplementation of the tree management plan) and 'CelebrateAchievements' (the city holds an annual celebration of treesto raise awareness among residents).

The Municipal Administration and Urban DevelopmentDepartment (MA&UD) has applied for the recognition based onan online submission done on January 31, 2021, the releaseadded.

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