What about flora space index?

In the exploited urban land there is hardly any place left for plants or larger animals

Do you wake up every morning to the chirping of birds? Do you hear the orchestrated croaking of frogs during the rainy season? If the answer is a ‘no’, you know what ails Mumbai.

As the financial capital of the country, Mumbai may have witnessed development in many spheres, but the city — now termed as a concrete jungle — has paid a heavy price in terms of flora and fauna.

The debate on the merits and demerits of development as against ecology may be unending. Environmentalists believe that a judicious balance could be struck

Naturalist Sunjay Monga said, “Development is a necessary evil no doubt, but it eats into the flora and fauna. Look at the city today. Several species that the older generations in the city once saw moving freely, have either vanished or are on the verge,” he said.

Monga said “there are species of most faunal and floral communities, facing serious problems as demands for development grows. In this immense, exploited urban land of Mumbai, one might be inclined to believe there is hardly any space left for larger animals. Surprisingly, there are four. These are protected areas lying less than 100 km away from the city.”

With a lot of uncontrolled construction activity in the last two decades — dubbed euphemistically as development — larger animals have been restricted to mostly the Protected Areas. Animals like four-horned antelope (chousingha) and striped hyena have all but disappeared from the region.

Barking deer, rusty-spotted cat, common palm civet and jungle cat are now confined to small areas. “Most of these were widespread in the region. But in past few years, there has been a steep decline in their population,” Monga said, adding, with man encroaching upon the habitat meant for wildlife, it is little wonder that we have instances where even an elusive creature like common palm civet, is seen ambling across busy roads like the Ghodbunder Road.

The mangrove forests along the creek, the grass and scrub terrain of north-west part of the city have been traditional hideouts of jungle cats and jackals. Now these magnificent animals are almost lost except for a few specimens along some of the creek-front stretches.

Privately, forest officials admit that the developmental explosion over the past few years has robbed the city of some of its finest endemic and old giant trees and several members of splendid exotic trees such as Baobabs, amongst others.

According to Monga, “Any species, be it flora or fauna, vanished from any region means a permanent loss that is almost impossible to repair.” The only solution to the problem could be by way of adequate measures to protect vital and important habitats, he stated.

Flying Fox, the largest bat of mainland India, is facing grave threat to its existence in the city as its roost sites, the giant trees, have fallen prey to rapid development. “The species that has on the one hand benefited by the planting of many fruit trees, is losing its roost colonies on the other. The biggest loss of Flying Fox colonies have been along LBS Marg,” Monga informed.

Monga said, “forget the big birds, even small birds are fast disappearing from the scene. “A drastic decline in sparrow population was noticed in the city over past many years, but in recent times, the bird has staged a partial recovery in some pockets.”

Apart from sparrows, many small birds, including the song birds and numerous other species have been seeing a gradual decline. Vehicular and sound pollution, breeding and food-related issues and the growing presence of pesticides — all offshoots of rapid and indiscriminate urbanisation — are taking a heavy toll on the small birds.

The so called modern architecture, huge buildings with gleaming glass fronts, the canopy of communication cables have only added to miseries of small birds. Yet, it is a miracle how the fragile-looking feather folk are able to cope up with all these pressures, Monga said.

The president of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry — the apex body of developers in the state — Mohan Deshmukh disagreed. He said, “Ecology is important sure, but not at the cost of development. We must try and find out effective ways to compensate loss to the ecosystem due to development.”

Deshmukh opined that government should encourage plantation and rope in developers in the process. “Acute shortage of land in the city makes it impossible to plant trees to compensate for ecological loss. However, ample land is available around the city for the purpose. Developers in the city would welcome such decision,” Deshmukh said.

Real estate consultant, Sunil Baja blamed it on Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the state government for allowing unplanned development. The problem should have been tackled in the very beginning.

“Big cities like Singapore and Dubai had the same problem. But planned development solved it and the cities have now become centres of attraction,” Bajaj said. The BMC earns huge revenue from all sorts of taxes on developers and builders. The fund generated should have been used for planned development to avoid such problems, Bajaj added.

Despite being a desert, Dubai is far more greener and cooler than Mumbai. “Flora and fauna should be integrated with development and a holistic approach to the issue is needed. Government should allow taller buildings and underground parking to provide space for ecosystem,” he added.