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Blue-Green Infrastructure Across Asian Countries pp 251–270Cite as

Opportunities for Improving Urban Tree Cover: A Case Study in Kochi

Abstract

The unprecedented nature of human action has a direct relation to increasing heat, and unlike many other natural disasters, heat risk can be mitigated. Our engagement in Kochi helped prioritize urban heat as a risk, enable identification of potential areas for improving urban tree cover, and facilitate and establish a community-based strategy for continued efforts under the Cities4Forests initiative. Sentinel-2 satellite data was employed to generate the land use land cover (LULC) map, while Land Surface Temperature (LST) map was prepared using Landsat data. Two participatory mapathons were conducted with the local residents and city councillors of Kochi to assess spatial baseline of trees, potential areas for improving tree cover and restoration interventions using Open Foris Collect Earth tool. Focussed analysis was carried out in two wards of Vaduthala, Kochi. The LULC class-wise maximum potential estimates shows higher potential to improve tree cover in the built-up area (49.59%), followed by vacant land (34.77%) in Kochi city. Similarly, Vaduthala region shows maximum potential for vacant land (42.31%) and built-up area (40.38% area), wherein home garden (42.32%), plantation in the entire plot (28.84%) and boundary plantation (23.08%) are recommended as the most suitable interventions. The spatial analysis in Vaduthala indicated the potential for home garden in 96.11 ha (94.75%), avenue/linear plantation in 2.97 ha (2.93%) and mangrove in 1.65 ha (1.63%). Areas of existing tree cover and mangrove (31 ha) in Vaduthala are identified for protection. The generated data suggests the potential for tree-based interventions, which can improve urban liveability and provide long-term heat resilience in Kochi city.

Keywords

  • Cities4Forests
  • Nature-based solutions (NBS)
  • Heat resilience
  • Community-based approach
  • Mapathon
  • Urban heat island

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the Kochi Municipal Corporation, the Mayor and councillors, the ward member, Resident Welfare Association (RWA) members and the students from St. Teresa’s College, Kochi, and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Thrissur, for supporting in the mapathon data collection process. We also acknowledge all the student participants from various institutes (St. Teresa’s College, Kochi; Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) Thrissur; School of Architecture Mookambika Technical Campus, Muvattupuzha, Kerala) and others who supported the mapathon process and field data collection. We are thankful to Dr. Nirmala Padmanabhan, Professor, St. Teresa’s College, and Dr. Rajan, Director, Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, for their constant guidance. The authors are also thankful to the WRI India members: Aparna Vijaykumar, Dr. KM Jayahari, Jaya Dhindaw, Dr. Ruchika Singh, Rajeev Malagi, and Raj Bhagat P for their continuous support and encouragement. We are thankful to our donors Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) for supporting us under the Cities4Forests initiative. The mapathon is part of the Cities4Forests initiative in Kochi. Cities4Forests is a coalition of more than 70+ cities from around the world involving mayors’ offices and other city agencies, such as public water utilities and offices of sustainability. Cities4Forests encourages peer-to-peer learning and connects cities with technical support from institutions with expertise in cities, forests, climate crisis, water, communications, finance, policy and social equity. This helps cities recognize their interdependence with the world’s forests and use their political, economic and cultural power to protect and manage those forests for human well-being. Cities4Forests shares an aspiration to do what is within our power to reduce deforestation, restore forests (including more trees in cities) and manage forests more sustainably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Resources Institute India, New Delhi, India

    Kanchana Balasubramanian, Sidhtharthan Segarin, Priya Narayanan & Pulakesh Das

  2. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Kanchana Balasubramanian

Authors
  1. Kanchana Balasubramanian
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  2. Sidhtharthan Segarin
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  3. Priya Narayanan
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  4. Pulakesh Das
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, NM, Council Scientific and Industrial Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

    Dr. Shalini Dhyani

  2. Laboratory of Sustainable Rural Development, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Dr. Mrittika Basu

  3. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

    Dr. Harini Santhanam

  4. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Kanagawa, Japan

    Dr. Rajarshi Dasgupta

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Balasubramanian, K., Segarin, S., Narayanan, P., Das, P. (2022). Opportunities for Improving Urban Tree Cover: A Case Study in Kochi. In: Dhyani, S., Basu, M., Santhanam, H., Dasgupta, R. (eds) Blue-Green Infrastructure Across Asian Countries. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7128-9_11

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