Perturbed Delhi residents took streets to protest against the felling of 16,500 trees for south-Delhi redevelopment project. The National Buildings Construction Corporation(NBCC) chalked a plan to redevelop seven colonies of south Delhi for its residents, the project demanded massive felling of trees, on which even the Delhi High Court questioned. With increasing pollution levels can Delhi afford to lose its green cover? According to Forest Survey of India (FSI), the tree cover in Delhi is on a decline since 2005. In 2009, the tree cover was 123 sq km which declined to 111 sq km in 2015. However it rose to 113 sq km in 2017. 
 
The capital’s per capita tree cover stands at an abysmal 0.002 hectare. The FSI puts Delhi’s per capita tree availability at 0.3 or which implies less than one tree per person. Delhi’s forest cover has marginally gone up since 2005. In a report by The Times of India (TOI), the FSI reports suggest that the loss in the city’s cover has taken place mainly in 2005-15 decade. The tree cover data means tree density in cities and rural areas that are outside and protected forests whereas forest cover is based on canopy density above 10 percent in one hectare. 
 
Prakash Lakhchaura of FSI told TOI, “Tree cover should be increasing in the cities. It can be dynamic because these are not protected forests. There can be some change but the overall trend should be of rise in tree cover across the city.” 
 
The declining tree cover in and around Delhi implies, more exposure to dust storms and severe air pollution much more than earlier. Anumita Roy Chowdhury from Centre of Science and Environment said, “Trees are excellent trappers of dust and carbon dioxide. Trees and vegetation are also crucial to minimise the impact of heat island effect, which not only increases local temperature but also causes a rise in emission of secondary pollutants like ozone.” 
 
The FSI data also pointed out that the very dense forest cover has declined whereas an increase in open forest had been recorded since 2005. The Delhi government on Thursday claimed that they have planted 176 lakh saplings in capital from 2009 onwards and the survival rate of these saplings has been