Degradation of the city of Colombo

The role that trees, green spaces and greenery play in our day-to-day lives is indescribable and inimitable. They are a balm to the soul of man, who goes in search of the miracles of Mother Nature - forests, wildlife, jungles - leaving behind, temporarily, the fast paced lives and concrete monstrosities in  urban towns.

Daily Mirror notes - "World Bank Identifies Sri Lanka too hot for people to work 6 hours a Day"  Sri Lanka is among a few South Asian countries identified with a temperature level that is considered too hot for people to be able to work safely outdoors for an average of six hours a day. American Forests organisation  advises – “The need for Tree Equity is heating up”

“You don’t see kids playing outside anymore”. “It’s more heat, and the amount of asphalt and concrete and buildings that store up that heat. There is no respite.” The farmland since been paved over, big box stores and fast-food chains lining the streets. The amount of tree canopy that exists across a city, however, is unequal, a result of discriminatory policies that left communities with little of this life-saving infrastructure. A national movement to advance Tree Equity — a term coined by American Forests — is disrupting these disparities, inclusively and comprehensively, by developing policies that prioritise expanding tree cover in the most vulnerable communities, planting trees where they are most needed, developing a workforce to maintain them, and unlocking investments to continue supporting the equitable expansion of urban forests. Government needs to make policies:

1) one house one tree campaign - make such a policy mandatory for a more fulfilling and overall quality of life for all. 

2) commercial spaces - leave mandatory space in front for trees. Present day commercial buildings are ugly, unplanned and an eye-sore.

3) CMC and UDA – both entities possess huge budgets and should be immediately mandated to plant shade-giving trees on pavements, open spaces and correctly managed during their lifetime.  This is a national crisis and should be addressed immediately.

Your faithfully, 

A concerned citizen.