Bengaluru's Vanishing Green Heart: The Urgent Call for a Biodiversity Master Plan
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- September 20, 2025
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Once celebrated as India's Garden City, Bengaluru now grapples with a paradoxical reality: it's a recognised biodiversity hotspot, yet its natural heritage is rapidly eroding, choked by unchecked urbanisation. The alarming truth is that despite its rich ecosystems, the city lacks a comprehensive, integrated, and actionable plan to preserve what remains of its invaluable biodiversity.
This critical oversight manifests in multiple ways.
There's no consolidated database detailing Bengaluru's diverse flora and fauna, no unified vision, and crucially, no single agency coordinating conservation efforts. Instead, a patchwork of government bodies—from the BBMP to the Forest Department, BWSSB, and BDA—operate in silos, often with conflicting agendas, leading to fragmented and ineffective environmental management.
The absence of a dedicated common platform for biodiversity conservation leaves a gaping void, allowing invaluable natural assets to slip through the cracks.
Adding to the peril, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), intended as crucial safeguards, are frequently superficial or outright disregarded.
Major development projects often proceed with scant attention to their ecological footprint. While the Biodiversity Act of 2002 mandates the formation of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level to document and protect local ecosystems, their implementation in Bengaluru has been fraught with challenges, often rendering them ineffective or non-existent in critical areas.
The price of this negligence is starkly visible across the city.
Proposed infrastructure, like the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR), threatens to carve through sensitive ecological zones. Commercial projects encroach upon vital wetlands, while ancient, oxygen-giving trees fall victim to widening roads. Bengaluru's once numerous lakes shrink and vanish, and its precious green cover recedes, replaced by concrete.
This relentless march of 'development' consistently prioritizes short-term economic gains over long-term environmental sustainability, jeopardising the very 'ecosystem services' – clean air, fresh water, pollination – that sustain urban life.
Experts are sounding the alarm. Dr. T V Ramachandra from IISc emphasises the immediate need for meticulous mapping and documentation of biodiversity assets.
Kanchi Kohli of the Centre for Policy Research highlights the necessity for a robust, legally backed participatory plan. Leo F. Saldanha of the Environment Support Group (ESG) underscores that true conservation requires a scientific, inclusive strategy, not just ad-hoc measures. They all agree: a reactive, piecemeal approach simply won't suffice.
Presently, the BBMP's environmental focus largely revolves around tree planting drives, a commendable effort but one that falls far short of a holistic biodiversity strategy.
Conserving biodiversity demands more than just adding greenery; it requires a deep understanding of ecological interdependencies, the protection of habitats, and the scientific management of all living organisms within their ecosystems. A long-term vision, coupled with genuine citizen involvement and legally empowered local committees, is the only sustainable path forward.
Bengaluru stands at a critical juncture.
The urgency to adopt a comprehensive biodiversity master plan cannot be overstated. Without a unified strategy that integrates scientific data, legal frameworks, inter-agency coordination, and active public participation, the 'Garden City' risks losing its natural soul forever, leaving behind an ecological void for future generations.
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