Bengaluru lost 74% of its water bodies: Study
April 11, 2024 12:07
Bengaluru's summer of 2024 is just a sneak peek into the future, if you go by what the experts predict. The city, which lost its green cover by 66 per cent, water bodies by 74 per cent, and witnessed a growth of 584 per cent in built-up area as per Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of Indian Institute of Science buckled under the El Nino's assault this summer.
Things will get worse if the trend continues: By 2038, CES predicts that forests will be reduced to 0.65 per cent (as per last census in 2022, it is 3.32 per cent). Bengaluru city will be choked with paved surfaces (more than 98 per cent) and 69.90 per cent (from 55.71 per cent in 2022) in Bengaluru Urban will be paved areas by 2038, said a study by the CES.
"The increase in paved surfaces and reduction in green spaces have contributed to the urban heat island effect in Bengaluru. For instance, it increased land surface temperature (LST) from 33.04 degree Celsius (1992) to 41.4 degree Celsius (2017) from March to May," said professor T V Ramachandra, coordinator of energy and wetlands research group at CES.
According to him, decline in heat sinks (water bodies and green cover) has a negative impact on the local microclimate, evident from the reduced cooling effect and increase in land surface temperature.
"The urban heat island effect would enhance the ambient temperature and humidity levels, resulting in heat stress and heat-related illnesses," added Ramachandra.
Bengaluru's famed mild weather is not just nature's gift but also the prescience of its early settlers, who understood the pulse of nature, said Harini Nagendra, professor of ecology at Azim Premji University. Nagendra's book, Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future' compares the past and the present of the IT hub to give solutions to its future. The inscription stones left behind by early settlers, said Nagendra, tell us that they had a three-dimensional sense' of the landscape.
"For instance, when constructing a new lake, the plan' would include the wells below and the trees above," Nagendra told PTI. So along with water bodies the reason why Bengaluru used to be riddled with lakes, like Swiss cheese with holes the early settlers also put in place what is called gundathope', said Nagendra.
"Gundathopes are orchards or wood lots. Locals say rulers Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan started the trend, which was later adopted by the British. Around every village there were three to four of these gundathopes where people would plant trees they could be jackfruit or mango or other shade trees. They became gathering places for people. They were also ecological resources, making the climate cool, offsetting the heat effects.
"The open wells and lakes that were part of these gundathopes provided water to people, especially during summer because Bengaluru has always been this unusual semi-arid city, which doesn't get a lot of rainfalls that it needed to harvest every drop of water that it gets," added Nagendra. Science only proved what our ancestors already knew. -- PTI
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