slash sedhai

Urban forest should be considered part of the basic infrastructure of urban cities and towns where people reside. But, urban forestry is not receiving as much attention as it should have received. A very few institutions in the major cities have initiated the works of urban forestry.The research was conducted in the Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city of Lalitpur district which aimed to identify the institutions working in the field of urban forestry , their urban forestry related activities and find out the major urban forestry species. It also aimed to assess the level of awareness and perception of people towards urban forestry. For assessing roadside trees a 30mx30m sample plot was laid out at an interval of 300 m along the roadside. Primary data was collected using questionnaire survey, key informant survey, and direct field observation. Secondary data was collected from published and unpublished literatures, authorized webpage and publications of concerned organization. The obtained data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Results were presented in the form of figures, charts, tables and text by using statistical tools like mean, average . The findings of the study revealed that there are number of institutions working in the field of urban forestry. However, none of them are fully devoted towards urban forestry but only contributing for it. Park development, plantations and raising awareness are the major activities of urban forestry. Other activities include tree hazard prevention, greenways/greenbelts, nursery establishment, city beautification, and some urban forestry related researches. The research also showed that not all the people were known about the benefits of urban forestry and there was less participation of people in urban forestry activities. The study also indicated that limitation of land was the major constraint for urban forestry development in the city. The greenery in the surrounding was decreasing due to unplanned urbanization. Urban tree species like Albizia sppss , Eucalptus spps, Delonix regia, Ficus spps. Callestomen viminalis, Cryptomeria japonica, Jacaranda ovalifolia, Cinnamomum camphora was found to exist in the area. The present study recommends that government should take immediate steps to establish the institutional setup to facilitate the urban forestry programmes and urban forestry should be developed as a part of urban infrastructure.
Keywords: Urban forests, urban trees, institutions, awareness