Analysis of socio-environmental impacts of the loss of urban trees and vegetation in Lahore, Pakistan: a review of public perception

Abstract

Introduction: This paper focused on the process of urbanization in Lahore and its correlation with the loss of urban vegetation and perceived environmental impacts based on local population's perception through administration of a questionnaire survey. Lahore is known as a city of gardens and green spaces in Pakistan and always possessed rich green character in its long history. For the past few decades due to rapid urbanization, the city has lost its aesthetically important urban vegetation, tress, and greenery. The field studies and remote sensing data revealed that the loss of vegetation has been experienced at an astonishing rate in many union councils of the city. Methods: This study was conceived to probe importance and value of the urban tress and vegetation of Lahore in an environmental context and its general importance for the residents of the city. The objectives were to analyze the role of vegetation in the life of citizens; the specific objective was to reveal the attitudes and responses of city dwellers about loss of urban trees/vegetation and its role in the overall environment, process of urbanization, and maintenance strategies. In the present paper, perception of local people (n = 2080) regarding the socio-environmental impacts due to the ongoing process of urbanization and detriments of vegetation loss has been probed through administration of a household questionnaire. The collected data has been tested with respondent's age, gender, marital status, education, monthly income, and occupation. Results: This study was an attempt to document and explore the change in historical transformation in vegetation and perception of the sample population of Lahore. This perception survey has revealed that urbanization is the major cause of loss of vegetation and has caused a number of perceived environmental problems in the city. Conclusions: The study underlined an analysis of people's perceptions regarding the loss of trees and vegetation . The perceived socio-environmental findings revealed that the urbanization and population growth are the fundamental reasons for trees/vegetation loss in the city.

An Assessment of Urban Vegetation Abundance in Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana: A Geospatial Approach

“…They acknowledged the new awareness on the part of government agencies of Australia for their quest for smarter city designs to curb boiling summers. Shirazi and Kazmi (2016) on the other hand wrote about the socio-environmental impacts of the loss of urban trees and vegetation in Lahore, Pakistan. They articulated the planning failure, which has led to loss of vegetation in the urban environment.…”

Peer Review #1 of "Urban–rural differences in perception of trees described by parents bringing up children in Warsaw and Jedlińsk, Poland (v0.1)"

“…The awareness that trees raise the value of property rises with age, education level and affluence of the respondents [73]. Citizens prefer trees near houses and liked both native and exotic tree species, but not those that dropped leaves or tended to fall.…”

Linking Social Perception and Provision of Ecosystem Services in a Sprawling Urban Landscape: A Case Study of Multan, Pakistan

“…The explanatory variables in this study included gender (male/female), age group (youth/mature), profession (farming/other than farming), literacy (illiterate/literate), and the area of residence (urban/peri-urban) of the respondents. These variables were chosen after a detailed review of the published literature [27,28,31,47]. A detailed analysis of the explanatory variables is presented in Table 2.…”

“…We also acknowledge that the sample size for the survey conducted was, although statistically acceptable, not large enough to draw concrete conclusions. For future studies, we recommend taking a larger sample size (500-1000) for more comprehensive conclusions [31].…”