The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Arbor Day Foundation have recognised Hyderabad as a 2020 Tree City of the World, in wake of the major boost to the State’s social forestation efforts through campaigns like the Haritha Haram. Hyderabad is the only city from India in a list of 51 cities across the world.

With this, Hyderabad joins an elite network of 120 cities from 63 countries selected over two years (51 of them in 2020) for their commitment to growing and maintaining urban forests. Most of the other cities were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, to name a few.

Arbor Day Foundation President Dan Lambe said Hyderabad was ‘part of an important global network leading the way in urban and community forestry’. Appreciating Hyderabad’s commitment to effective urban forest management, which he said was helping to ensure a better future for its residents.

The city, to be eligible under the category of Tree City needs to confirm to five standards, which include Establish Responsibility (a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees); Set the Rules (a law or an official policy that governs the management of forests and trees); Know What You Have (an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource); Allocate the Resources (a dedicated annual budget for routine implementation of tree management plan), and Celebrate Achievements (an annual celebration of trees to raise awareness).

According to a statement from the Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department, the Haritha Haram programme and identification and development of Urban Forest Blocks had contributed to the recognition.

The recognition, officials said, was a testament to the city’s sustained and institutional efforts to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, development of urban and peri-urban forestry actions, projects and strategic planning, and commitment to building a healthy city.

MA&UD and IT Minister KT Rama Rao, tweeting about the achievement, it was an acknowledgement of the efforts to improve green cover as part of the Haritha Haram programme.

“Happy to share that Arbor Day Foundation (which works with FAO of UN) has recognised Hyderabad as a Tree city of the world. The only Indian city to be included in this list… This is an acknowledgement of our efforts to improve green cover as part of Haritha Haram programme,” he tweeted.

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