To make India a richer nation, ensure more green and blue spaces

Green trees and plants are vital for human health. In villages and farmlands, the uppermost parts of the tree provide a canopy, with roof-like branches, offering people a cooler and healthier environment. And the rivers, canals, ponds and pools offer people there a bluer environment.

Such rural areas thus offer their residents healthier environs. But when private enterprises and commercial agencies take away many acres of land in towns, suburban, and rural areas to build large multi-storied buildings and housing complexes, it results in further canopy loss. The State of Telangana has about 48% of the people living in urban areas, with more trees sacrificed, while farmlands and villages are left with fewer trees and less water for agriculture. This is also true of several other southern States. 

The urban population across India is now 36%. UNICEF has pointed out that children’s health is affected when green and blue spaces are disturbed. According to the National Family Health Survey, the infant mortality rate can be correlated to the greenness of the area; the lower the greenness, the higher the rate. In the green States Kerala, Goa and Puducherry, the infant mortality rate is quite low, around eight per 1,000 births, while Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have higher rates, closer to thirty per 1,000 births.

In 2023, an international team of researchers pointed out in the journal The Lancet (vol. 8, issue 9, September 2023) that since a significant fraction of the human population now lives in urban areas, these people should also enjoy greater access to urban green and blue spaces, which could lead to improvements in public health. It will also promote environmental biodiversity and civic sense through parks, sports fields, higher physical activities, and camaraderie among the residents.

A more recent paper by three Indian researchers in the Indian Journal of Science and Research (Pande et al; Ind. J. Sci. Res., 5 (2), 2025) expanded on this theme and suggested a framework to achieve green infrastructure and urban sustainability. This involves greener urban areas, including more trees, parks, walkways, sports arenas, and swimming pools. These have now become part of the Indian government’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

In this connection, recently, an international group of epidemiologists analysed data from 57 countries. Their findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, under the title ‘Urban tree canopy fragmentation and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries’ (PNAS, 123 (34) e2606669123, August 21, 2026), shows how the loss of green and blue spaces through the loss of canopy can affect children’s health by increasing climate stress, air pollution, anxiety, loss of playground space and infection by pests and microbes. These factors can also lead to low birthweight, psychological stress, congenital anomalies, and child mortality, notably under the age of five. The researchers collected data from 42 lakh children hailing from 57 low- and middle-income countries or regions where green and blue spaces are more prevalent, such as in West Sudan, the Punjab region in Pakistan, and the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh, and found that these regions have lower levels of under-five mortalities than in the other countries studied.

According to the World Bank, India ranks as the fifth wealthiest nation in the world. Even as we aim to make India rank higher, let us ensure the country becomes greener and bluer.

dbala@lvpei.org