Urban Forest Developed by Viral Desai Reduced Toxic Air Pollution: Shows SVNIT Research

• The findings of the research, which focused on the significance of urban forests in metropolitan areas like Surat, were shared at a joint press conference by researchers from SVNIT & Viral Desai

• The researchers studied the Shahid Smritivan, the first urban forest of Indian Railways developed in Surat’s Udhna locality, for 3 months as a part of their research

• The urban forest, developed by Viral Desai, demonstrated significant reductions in air pollutants, particularly PM10 & PM2.5, in the area

Surat: An urban forest developed in Surat by renowned environmentalist Viral Desai, also known as “Greenman”, helped in significantly reducing toxic air pollutants, research by a team from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat has shown.

The findings of the research, which focused on the significance of urban forests in metropolitan areas like Surat, were shared at a joint press conference by researchers from SVNIT and Viral Desai.

The researchers studied the Shahid Smritivan, the first urban forest of Indian Railways developed in Surat’s Udhna locality, for three months as a part of their research. The urban forest, developed by Viral Desai, demonstrated significant reductions in air pollutants, particularly PM10 and PM2.5 in the area.

Addressing the conference, Viral Desai said, “The high pollution levels and poor air quality index in cities like New Delhi and Lahore clearly demonstrate the need for more urban forests. These forests can help combat pollution and reduce urban temperatures as we have successfully shown with our project in Surat.”

Researcher Yugmi Patel said, “Our research revealed an 18.85% reduction in PM10 levels and a 10.66% reduction in PM2.5 levels in Udhna area in the vicinity of Shahid Smritivan, significantly contributing to the health of a large number of residents.”

She emphasized the need to choose native tree species for urban forests and added that the selection of tree species in Shahid Smritivan was spot on.

It is worth noting that the urban forest was established by Viral Desai in 2019. Spread over 19,000 sq ft, it features over 1,500 native tree species. The site used to be a wet waste dumping site once but has been transformed into an oxygen chamber now. The forest has also emerged as a model of urban ecosystem restoration, with a variety of insects, birds, squirrels, and reptiles living in natural surroundings in the middle of the city. Over the past five years, Desai has developed seven urban forests and planted more than 6,50,000 trees in Surat and other places in Gujarat.