Warming cities can’t afford to sacrifice their urban parks

Deepa Padmanaban is an independent journalist based in Bengaluru, India writing on environment, climate change, science, health and wildlife conservation.Some of my earliest memories of Bengaluru, where I spent my summer holidays, are of looking up in wonder at the towering canopy of trees in Cubbon Park. Even in the height of summer, Bengaluru could be cool enough to require a light jacket. Today, the iconic Cubbon Park, the pride of the city I now call home, is under threat. So is Lalbagh Botanical Garden, another of the city’s iconic green spaces, with roots stretching back more than 250 years.On a Sunday morning in Bengaluru last month, thousands gathered at Lalbagh Botanical Garden carrying a simple message: “Walk in Lalbagh. Walk for Lalbagh”. They were protesting against a new Karnataka law that allows up to 5 per cent of protected parkland to be used for public infrastructure. The provision could make as much as 12 acres of Lalbagh and 15 acres of neighbouring Cubbon Park available for such projects.This is not the first time Bengaluru’s citizens have defended these green spaces from infrastructure projects. Earlier campaigns opposed proposals to build a metro line through Lalbagh. Today, protesters are confronting both a tunnel road project and a legislative change that potentially makes protected parkland easier to use.