Though according to law, three saplings must be planted for every tree cut for a project or otherwise, state authorities have said that an exception would be made for Aarey and six saplings per tree would be planted. Also, said an official, 60% of the trees at the site of the proposed Metro-II cars shed are non-native and exotic, which can be replaced by native trees during the replantation drive.
“It is possible to replace the removed trees by replenishing an adjoining area with native species. The area was used to cultivate para grass by cattle shed operators through lease arrangements; therefore, there will be minimal disturbance to ecology,” said a senior official. “Of 30 hectares required, five hectares will continue to be green. Aarey has 4.8 lakh trees, of which just over 2,700 are going to be affected, which is only 0.6%.”

Wildlife experts worry that more than a billion plants have perished in the  wave of bushfires that have ravaged eastern and southern Australia for months.

SYDNEY: Australia’s bushfires have burned more than half the known habitat of 100 threatened plants and animals, including 32 critically endangered species, the government said Monday (Jan 20).

Twenty-eight people died in the blazes, which have swept through an area larger than Portugal.

Officials say it will take weeks to assess the exact toll as many fire grounds remain too dangerous to inspect.

But the government’s Department of the Environment and Energy on Monday issued a preliminary list of threatened species of plants, animals and insects which have seen more than 10 per cent of their known habitat affected.

More than 80 per cent of the known or likely habitats of 49 species has fallen within fire zones, while another 65 species have seen 50 to 80 per cent of their distribution areas affected.

“Some species are more vulnerable to fire than others and some areas were more severely burnt than others, so further analysis will be needed before we can fully assess the impact of the fires on the ground,” she said.

The threatened species in the path of the fires included 272 plant, 16 mammal, 14 frog, nine bird, seven reptile, four insect, four fish and one spider species, the department said.

Of the 32 critically endangered species impacted by the fires, most were plants though they also included frogs, turtles and three types of bird.