T.N. government preparing a guidebook on century-old trees in Chennai

The government is preparing a comprehensive guidebook to document centenarian trees in the city, said Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests, in a social media post.

She said the initiative, part of the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, aimed to scientifically document trees that are over 100 years old. “We are documenting the city’s hundred-years-old trees under the Green TN Mission in collaboration with the National Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, the Chennai Forest Division and the Nizhal Trust. Scientific protocols and field surveys are underway,” Ms.Sahu said.

Shobha Menon, Founder‑Trustee of Nizhal Trust, said, “The scientific protocols for centenarian trees will be finalised by the Institute under Ms. Sahu’s guidance. Our team has, as an initial step, identified 110 very old and rare trees within the Greater Chennai Corporation limits. A few of these may not be ‘centenarian’ but are very rare.”

She added, “However it is crucial that systems for protection of the trees in this possible list are put in place immediately to prevent vandalism or other damage to safeguard our centenarian tree heritage!”

Study in 2024

In July 2024, the Chennai Corporation acknowledged poor maintenance of avenue trees after a study titled Slow and Systematic Elimination of Avenue Trees in Chennai by geographer O.M. Murali and former SRM University Vice-Chancellor S. Rajarajan. This found that tree numbers on select T. Nagar roads rose only marginally from 317 in 2004 to 327 in 2024.