Which Asian cities afford residents the most tree cover? Where is it lacking? And what are the benefits of having lush greenery near your home? DW's data team analyzed 50 major cities on the world's largest continent to find out.
00:00How many trees do you see in your neighborhood?
00:11A lot? A few? Not enough?
00:14From Mumbai, Beijing to Manila, DW analysed whether most people in Asian metropolises
00:21live in areas with lush or sparse tree cover.
00:25We looked at 50 major cities in Asia.
00:29What we found was there is a high level of variation.
00:34Only four cities are marked blue.
00:36That means most people in these metropolises live in areas with a lot of greenery.
00:43Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital.
00:46Mumbai, the financial capital of India.
00:49Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.
00:52And Chongqing, one of China's most populous cities.
00:56Let's take a closer look at Colombo.
00:59Almost 40% of people living here have many trees near their homes.
01:03We have a good, we have a large, I mean green spaces like the Vihara Mahadevi Park.
01:10We have a good tree cover.
01:12Then very close to the Colombo, we have more, I mean, green natural areas.
01:20So, it also contributes to a high percentage of tree cover.
01:25But the lush zones are actually in the suburbs, not in Colombo proper.
01:30Which is densely populated with people, but not with trees.
01:33As you can see in this map, densely populated areas with few trees are shown in blue.
01:39It's often the case in central areas in Colombo proper.
01:43For example, near the Colombo port city, a special economic zone along the capital seafront.
01:50Tree coverage is sparse around this area.
01:53Sometimes even close to zero.
01:56So, if you look at the coastal roads, we have high rising buildings coming up.
02:03So, no space for trees because nobody likes to have a tree.
02:07Because tree has an economical value.
02:11Not only the horizontal space, vertical space has a high value.
02:16So, there's no room for trees.
02:18So, that is one reason.
02:20And in our country, these roads, network of roads were developed sometimes back.
02:26And now, we can't provide much space for trees.
02:30That is a real issue.
02:32In case you were wondering, for this analysis,
02:35a city is a grouping of entire metropolitan areas.
02:39In the case of Colombo, it includes the grey city centre and green suburbs,
02:44like Negombo and Panadura.
02:47As you can see in this map,
02:49a green colour represents areas with a lower population and high tree coverage.
02:54They are concentrated in the sprawling suburbs.
02:58Darker shades blending green and blue show the places
03:01where there's a significant population, as well as tree cover.
03:05It's very important to protect trees and green spaces in the urban context.
03:10And can those both exist and coexist,
03:13build spaces and trees and urban greens?
03:16Absolutely.
03:17And they must.
03:18You know, we have many examples of cities where they're trying to re-establish the green cover.
03:23Where green cover, you know, has existed, has kind of gone down significantly,
03:29and now the trees, and now the cities are making concerted efforts to bring back green cover,
03:34to bring back tree cover.
03:35Where cities like Bangalore, Kochi, Bhavanesha and Mumbai are making these kind of efforts.
03:42On the other end of our analysis, this is what we found.
03:47What do these cities have in common?
03:50The graph is lopsided to the left.
03:53This means most people living in these metropolises live in areas with barely any trees.
04:00The number ranges from nearly all residents having no greenery like in Riyadh,
04:06to four in five people in Karachi, more than half of the people in Kabul,
04:11about a third in Tokyo, and around one in four in Dhaka.
04:16South and Southeast Asia are in a state of emergency after extreme heat levels.
04:21Hundreds of millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are facing soaring temperatures
04:26and drought as a heat wave grips the region.
04:29Dozens have been killed by a heat stroke in Thailand alone.
04:33Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impact of the climate crisis.
04:38It's currently facing its longest heat wave in 75 years.
04:43Temperatures in the Indian capital Delhi reached an all-time high of 52.3 degrees Celsius.
04:50That's a national record for India.
04:53Last year and this year, we are facing heat waves.
04:57So, it's a real issue and temperatures are going up, especially in urban areas.
05:01So, urban heat island effect, to reduce the urban heat island effect,
05:05trees can play a big role because most of the trees can give a very good shade
05:10and they have high transpiration rate, a lot of stomata.
05:14So, they can effectively contribute in thermal comfort in urban areas.
05:18That is one of the great environmental benefits that we get.
05:23I think it is really important to look at, you know, trees as a means for providing shade.
05:31And not just shade for, you know, your everyday walk to the park.
05:35A large part of our employment in India, for example, is informal.
05:40So, over 80% of workers are engaged in informal sectors or informal workers.
05:48And what that really means is they are the people who are working outdoors for the most part.
05:52So, there are construction workers, there are gig economy employees, you know, delivery agents and people of that nature.
05:58And for that, you know, segment, it becomes especially important to have access to shade in cities.
06:06And that is becoming very important because, you know, as heat is increasing, your mortality, illnesses,
06:12lack of productivity, loss of livelihoods is going to just, you know, keep increasing.
06:18It will have implications at the individual level, at the city level, but also at the overall sort of economic level and in terms of, you know, the GDP of the country.
06:26And so, just from that perspective, it's very important to ensure that we have enough, you know, shade and trees in cities.
06:34Among the Asian metropolises we analyse, nowhere, aside from the Gulf Desert cities, is more in need of trees than Karachi.
06:4480% of people there have barely any tree coverage near their homes.
06:48Karachi is in the desert. All around Karachi is a desert.
06:53It has no hinterland of trees.
06:56There has not been much plantation that has taken place over the years, as it could have taken place.
07:03That has not happened. But it is happening right now.
07:07For instance, a very large area on the hilltop has been converted into an urban forest.
07:14Trees have been planted there in a big way.
07:17And it has, I think, changed the landscape of the hilly area of the city considerably.
07:23And it is something that the city wishes to continue with.
07:27Something that will be very positive for the future.
07:31In addition to that, trees are being planted wherever there is space for them to be planted.
07:38And this is new.
07:40And, of course, there is a water shortage because this is being a desert.
07:44What is being used is recycled water.
07:47And much of the parks that are being built, being created now, are using this recycled water.
07:55Because we have no other source of water in Karachi.
08:00The 50 Asian cities analyzed span biomes that range from tropical forests to deserts.
08:06And climates from tropical monsoon to arid zones.
08:10Indeed, climate, terrain, and biome play an important role in tree coverage.
08:16The top three cities, Colombo, Yangon, and Mumbai, all have a tropical climate, which naturally favors more green spaces.
08:26Cities in desert regions usually have sparse tree coverage.
08:31But geography isn't everything.
08:34Cities in roughly the same climate and biome can often have different tree coverage levels.
08:40Manila in the Philippines has most of its population living in tree-less areas.
08:47Unlike large Yangon in Myanmar, even though they have a similar climate.
08:52So, how can urban cities increase tree cover?
08:57If you look globally, I think one of the examples that is famous, the world over river, that everyone talks about is Singapore.
09:07Being one of the very densely populated cities in the world, but has an excellent strategy around preserving, protecting, and conserving the green areas.
09:17So, you see a lot of nature-based solutions in Singapore, for example, which very meaningfully integrate sort of nature and green into developmental areas.
09:28Even the ones where you don't, you know, places where you don't expect it.
09:31And in small, incremental ways, you can see, you know, vertical gardens on the one hand, you know, vertical greening rather on the one hand along sort of, you know, vertical spaces and walls.
09:43But then you see these large sort of networks of parks and green corridors also that they have managed to preserve.
09:49So, I would say Singapore, of course, is a wonderful model for how they have managed to do this.
09:54And then the way which integrates blue-green infrastructure with the grey infrastructure and the built-up infrastructure really well.
10:02What's being done to increase the tree cover where you live?
