{"id":20032873,"date":"2020-04-09T11:30:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T06:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=32873"},"modified":"2021-05-13T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T08:20:37","slug":"poplar-trees-in-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/poplar-trees-in-kashmir\/","title":{"rendered":"Cut down poplar trees in Kashmir to check Covid-19 spread, orders government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government has ordered cutting and lopping of hundreds of thousands of female poplar trees in Kashmir to “contain\u201d the spread of Covid-19 infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are going by the local belief that poplars \u2013 which flower in late April and May \u2013 are responsible for allergies and spread respiratory infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Botanists say there is no scientific proof of this. Doctors say that by producing oxygen, trees actually improve lung capacity of all animal life in their vicinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poplars (Populus deltoids)<\/em> of a variety called Russian poplars – though they have no connection to Russia – now line almost every roadside in the Himalayan valley of Kashmir, and are grown in commercial plantations everywhere. In the flowering season, their cotton-covered seeds float in the air and settle everywhere, reportedly getting into respiratory systems as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is not a single study which has proved that seeds of female poplars cause respiratory infections.We can\u2019t blame them without any scientific evidence.<\/blockquote>Anzar Khuru<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

In 2014, a resident went to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking a ban on planting of female poplars, and the court ordered the state government to do so. In subsequent years, the court asked the government to also identify and fell female poplar trees across Kashmir. Thousands have been felled since 2014.<\/p>\n

\"Roadside
Lopped poplar trees on a roadside near Srinagar [Image by: Athar Parvaiz]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The number of felled trees would have been higher if environmentalists<\/a> and civil society<\/a> had not raised a hue and cry. They have been pointing to the lack of scientific proof about the role of female poplar trees in causing respiratory ailments.<\/p>\n

But, given the panic the Covid-19 outbreak has caused, the environmentalists may not be able to save the rest of the female poplars this time. In line with all other states and union territories of India, the Jammu and Kashmir government has issued a notification on March 17, declaring the coronavirus infection an epidemic<\/a>. The notification says any person who refuses to follow the government\u2019s orders on prevention or treatment of the disease will be dealt under the law.<\/p>\n

The order to cut down poplars takes strength from this notification. The order reads, \u201cSocial Forestry Department, Kashmir shall immediately start the process of felling of 42,000 poplar trees of Russian species at different locations-avenues in the form of strips. The department shall initially start lopping of all such trees and shall furnish action report within a week\u2019s time.\u201d The order has been sent to social forestry officials and deputy commissioners<\/a> of all districts in Kashmir following a meeting chaired by Kashmir\u2019s Divisional Commissioner, Pandurang Kondbarao Pole, on April 2.<\/p>\n

A tweeted order by an additional district magistrate attributes the issue to the pollen (sic) spreading infection.<\/p>\n

Poplars could complicate our problems. Public must comply, in their own interests. pic.twitter.com\/P5NWgjIQVu<\/a><\/p>— Syed Yasir (@yasirsyedx) April 3, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>