Urban tree management task force holds first meeting

The urban tree management task force met for the first time today, discussing tree adoption concepts and a green area trust fund to encourage public-private partnerships.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa said they aim to maintain the percentage of green areas as targeted by the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040.

“The knowledge sharing is expected to produce more comprehensive guidelines and take best practices from other countries in maintaining and managing shade trees in Kuala Lumpur.

“It can also help in data sharing to improve the existing e-tree mapping system at Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in recording tree inventory data, old tree registers, new tree planting, and tree maintenance work and has now recorded a total of 236,551 trees planted all over Kuala Lumpur,” she said in a statement today.

Besides DBKL, the meeting also involved academicians from Universiti Putra Malaysia, the Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia (Ilam), the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia (Frim), the Malaysian Arborist Association, and government agencies including the Federal Territories Department, National Landscape Department, Royal Malaysia Police, Fire and Rescue Department, and Kuala Lumpur Civil Defence Department.

According to Zaliha, the task force also needs to examine the tree replacement plan by focusing on the 1 Million Tree Planting Programme and paying attention to factors including tree species, tree planting space, and root depth.

The establishment of the task force follows several incidents of trees falling due to heavy rain and strong winds including on May 7 when an uprooted tree claimed the life of a man and crashed into 17 vehicles and the monorail track on Jalan Sultan Ismail.

- Bernama

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