Species, size, health and the ground each one is standing in — recorded tree by tree, ward by ward. It is the hardest thing a city has to do to be recognised as a Tree City of the World, and Mangaluru is the rare Indian city that has already done it.
A Mangaluru street under full canopy — recognisably this city, ideally with the survey team working in frame. Avoid a generic forest image; the whole argument is that this is an urban forest, on roads people use.
The programme is run by the Arbor Day Foundation with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. A city earns recognition by meeting five standards: establishing responsibility for the care of trees, enacting a law or policy governing how trees and forests are managed, maintaining an updated assessment of its tree resources, allocating a budget for a tree management plan, and holding an annual celebration of trees.
Hyderabad was the first Indian city recognised, in 2020, and Mumbai joined the following year. 283 communities were recognised in the 2025 cohort. There is room for a coastal city of Mangaluru's size, and one standard in particular is where most cities fail.
A written statement from city leaders placing the care of trees with a named department, officer or tree board.
An administrative decision for the Corporation. Nothing prevents it.
A law or official policy governing how the city's trees and forests are managed.
Karnataka's tree preservation law provides the base. What is usually missing is a city-level policy that says what happens before a tree is felled, and who decides.
An updated inventory or assessment of the city's tree resource.
This is the standard that stops most cities, because it takes years and money. Mangaluru has it. Every recorded tree carries its GPS location, species, height, girth, canopy spread, condition and pavement type — and it is public.
A dedicated annual budget for carrying out the tree management plan.
The inventory makes this straightforward to justify: the city now knows how many trees it maintains, where they are, and which ones need attention first.
An annual public event that recognises the people who care for the city's trees.
Tree walks already run in Mangaluru. What is missing is a single annual civic occasion, held by the city.
Four of the five are decisions, not projects. They cost the Corporation very little and can be done inside a financial year. The one that takes years is already finished.
An inventory is only worth having if it changes decisions. This one does, in four specific ways.
Trees in open soil grow measurably better than trees sealed in concrete, bitumen or interlocking pavers — visible in girth, height and canopy across the dataset. Every sealed tree is a cheap, reversible decision.
A small number of species dominate the streets. Uniform planting means a single pest or disease can take out a whole road, and the record shows exactly where that risk sits.
Condition is recorded for each tree — good, branch dieback, crown discoloration, termite damage, dead. That is a maintenance queue, ordered by risk, rather than a response to whatever fell last night.
As new planting is added to the record each year, claims can be checked against it: what was planted, where, by whom, and how much of it survived. Recognition should follow outcomes, not announcements.
A canopy map of Mangaluru, or a ward comparison showing green cover against the 30% target. This is the image a Corporation official should be able to screenshot into a presentation.
See every recorded tree near you — its species, its size, its condition, and whether it has room to grow.
Open the mapA tree missing from the record, a wrong species, a tree that has been cut, or one in trouble. Corrections are published against the record, not quietly applied.
Send a correctionThe survey method is being published in full so any group can survey its own area. You do not need a science degree — you need to know your neighbourhood and be willing to walk it.
Join a ward walkFour of the five standards are decisions only the city can make. Residents asking for them is how they get made.
Add your nameVolunteers with girth tape and phone, on a Mangaluru street.
A mature tree sealed in concrete to the trunk — the single most persuasive image on this page.
The mangrove planting, ideally with people at work in it.
For the ward walks, for corrections to the record, and to be counted among the residents asking Mangaluru City Corporation to apply.
Contact is by WhatsApp only, about this project. Your details are never sold or shared.
The survey is led by the CFAL Research Centre in Mangaluru, whose team carried out the first city survey here, the biodiversity assessment at Bangalore International Airport, and the scientific leadership of the Mysuru census of more than one lakh street trees.
It is not a government project and not a corporate one. It works because residents, colleges and organisations walk their own wards.
Partner list and logo permissions to be confirmed before publishing.
Every record will be freely available: coordinates, species, height, girth, canopy, condition and pavement type. Free for non-commercial use, so that residents, students, planners and the Corporation are all working from the same evidence.
Cite as: Trees of Mangaluru, CFAL Research Centre.
research@cfal.in · +91 99005 20233 · CFAL Research Centre, Akashbhavan, Kavoor, Mangaluru 575015
