Mumbai Launches Digital Urban Forestry Dashboard Amid El Niño Heat; 21,098 Trees Felled Since 2017

Amid rising temperatures and recurring heatwave conditions linked to the El Niño climate pattern, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has proposed a large-scale digital urban forestry initiative aimed at improving environmental monitoring in Mumbai. As part of the plan, the civic body intends to create a comprehensive digital dashboard containing records of every tree across the city. Officials said the initiative is expected to strengthen urban planning, track green cover, and support climate resilience efforts in one of the world’s most densely populated metropolitan regions.

The project comes at a time when Mumbai has witnessed substantial tree loss due to infrastructure expansion and civic development projects over the past decade. Data sourced from the BMC reportedly showed that 21,098 trees were felled between 2017 and 2023 for various development-related works. Environmentalists and urban planners have repeatedly raised concerns over shrinking green cover in the city, warning that reduced tree density could worsen urban heat island effects, air pollution, and flooding risks during extreme weather events.

Officials said the first phase of the project involves conducting a long-pending tree census, which began earlier this month. The collected information will later be integrated into a digital platform that will maintain records of tree species, locations, conditions, and other ecological details. Under Union government guidelines, municipal corporations are required to conduct a tree census every five years. However, Mumbai’s last official tree census was conducted in 2011, and the exercise scheduled for 2016 was delayed by nearly a decade. The 2011 census had estimated that Mumbai had around 29.75 lakh trees.

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The proposed digital forestry exercise is being viewed as part of broader climate adaptation efforts as Mumbai faces increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, rising temperatures, and rapid urbanization. Experts believe a technology-driven tree management system could help authorities identify vulnerable green zones, improve conservation measures, and plan compensatory plantations more effectively. The initiative also reflects growing awareness among civic authorities about the importance of preserving urban biodiversity and green infrastructure in combating climate-related challenges in major Indian cities.

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