SUMMARY

Green spaces in the urban landscape include public and private lands (parks, streets, backyards) consisting of trees, shrubs and, herbs, etc. COP21– recently concluded United Nations Climate conference at Paris acknowledges the need to limit warming to well below 2 °C (3.6 ° F) above pre-industrial levels and the need to try to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C through carbon neutrality and de-carbonisation mechanisms to avoid the worst climate impacts. World Health Organization stipulates minimum green space of 9.5 m2/person considering the services (oxygen, moderation of micro climate) and goods in the urban environment. Estimates indicate that about 6 kg of carbon is sequestered by a tree annually. Per capita respiratory carbon ranges from 192 to 328 kg/year depending on physiology of humans (525-900 gms/day/person depending on the age and physiology). Land use analysis show that the spatial extent of  tree vegetation in Bangalore is  100.02 sq.km.(14.08%) and total number of trees in Bangalore is about 14,78,412 trees. Computation of trees per person show that Bangalore has one tree for every 7 persons, which highlights of crossing the threshold of urbanization. Overall improvements in human well-being in urban areas necessitate at least 33% green space that ensures at least 1.15 trees/person.

Keywords: Bengaluru, Bangalore, trees, tree density, vegetation density, trees per person.

Inventorying of trees show that Bangalore city has about 14,78,412 trees, which accounts to one tree for every 7 persons, compared to the requirement of 8 trees per person to sequester human’s respiratory carbon.