‘Green’-ing Kolkata : Creating a Sustainable City – An Overview

[Rapid expansion of cities takes place without any land use planning strategy and the resulting human pressure has highly damaging effects on forests, landscapes, as well as green areas in and around cities. The environmental impacts of urbanization are often intensified by climate change and include increased pollution, decreased availability of food and resources, as well as increased poverty and frequency of extreme climatic events. Urban trees can help to mitigate some of the negative impacts and social consequences of urbanization, and thus make cities more resilient to these changes. Biodiversity of a city like Kolkata is always interesting because of the fact that this polluted and densely populated ·city with so little greenery supposedly should not be holding much in terms of biodiversity. ‘Nature-based solutions' to improve climate resilience are suggested, and urban forests and green spaces have taken a leading role for their many functions and benefits within the urban landscape of this megacity