00:00Sniha, do you want to start?
00:28We do it, but where do we do it?
00:31That Delhi's air today is in the very poor category.
00:35And we are celebrating because from severe it's gone back to very poor.
00:49Or what do we say that for years this is an issue which everybody talks about
00:55in the seasonal winter months.
00:58And we all think of it as a winter problem when it isn't.
01:01Delhi's air is bad throughout the year.
01:04Or what do we say that the governments don't really care to discuss about health
01:08and environment unless there is a pandemic.
01:11And this isn't a pandemic, but it's assuming pandemic-like proportions.
01:15No matter what you do, no matter how much noise you make,
01:19it doesn't seem to change.
01:21It doesn't seem to have an impact. Why?
01:24Because it is on the bottom of the priority list of the people that we choose to power.
01:30So we decided that apart from all the short-term solutions
01:34and knee-jerk reactions that we've seen from the governments,
01:37we go ahead and explore realistically what can Delhi and CR do.
01:43And in this quest for more information and more solutions, long-term solutions,
01:51we did travel to various parts of the national capital region to figure out what the experts,
01:59what is science really saying as far as air pollution is concerned
02:04and how can long-term solutions be worked out provided there has to be will when it comes to cleaning up this dirty ash.
02:14My name is People Baba and I think I'm a happy gardener.
02:28It was only in 2017 that we really went into urban forestry.
02:45And since 8 years, we have planted 278 urban forests.
02:50I'm Vijay Vijay Dashmana and I have curated the forests of Haravali Biodiversity Park here.
03:08For me, this Biodiversity Park signifies life, wild.
03:18So we need to create wild spaces in the city.
03:22Many development agencies, they don't think that way.
03:38But the DDA thought they took what you call academia with it.
03:44And with it, a person like Professor CR Babu's views came and he given the concept of Biodiversity Park first time.
03:54This is the first Biodiversity Park of India.
03:59So what is this Biodiversity Park concept?
04:02What does it really mean and how is it different from a regular park in Athens?
04:06Because we all talk about green spaces, you know, parks and trees vanishing in the city.
04:11But biodiversity parks are very different.
04:14It is not simple plantation. It is ecological restoration.
04:18What do you mean by ecological restoration?
04:21You are helping an ecosystem to recover which is degraded, damaged or even lost.
04:26It is not that it is simply based on plantation.
04:30But it's a very sound ecological principle that says that you need to have a site.
04:35When you have a site, you look at the ecological history of the site.
04:37What was there 100 years ago? And what happened to it now?
04:40And you bring assemblage of species in the form of biological community belonging to a specific ecological region.
04:47For example, if we are working on Yamuna Bairasty Park, then the vegetation belongs to Yamuna river basin.
04:58Our whole focus is on birds and insects, birds, pollinators.
05:04When we create the habitat for them, the rest of everything is taken care of.
05:11Tell us how difficult it has been to restore the Aravali Biodiversity Park.
05:17I remember my team members from Angola asking me, will they see a jungle in their lifetime?
05:24You know, and today, you know, just 16 years now.
05:27We are seeing patches of dhow, which is Aram versus Pendula or Boswellia.
05:32Nice ecology coming out. And that's why it was packed as the OECM site in the country.
05:38The journey was tough, initially very tough, because there was little buying in from the government side, the municipality.
05:48They trust it, but they were not seeing the results, you know, because the plants that we grow are not available.
05:57They were not available with any private nurseries or the government nurseries.
06:01So we had to create a nursery, germinate the plants, procure the seeds from the wild and then germinate them and then plant them out into right planting schemes.
06:12So, have you checked one year ago? Yes, it was 7.53.
06:17What do you think Delhi is actually breathing?
06:21Ah, it's a serious thing.
06:23Now, I feel like pollution is, like when corruption used to be a word, a keyword, 10 years ago.
06:33Now, pollution will become more of our lives.
06:37I don't think so, the way things are going on, that this is also an issue.
06:41It is more of a social media reels.
06:44No, what these decks are being used for.
06:50People are having fun in pollution.
06:55Yeah.
06:56You know, my whole thing is that, and I am also to be blamed a little.
07:02Nobody seems to be bothered.
07:05Yeah, that's the big thing.
07:08Yeah, I was just thinking.
07:10See, slow poison is okay for people, you know.
07:14As they say, the...
07:17Like, just say, people seem to be like, you know, enjoy.
07:22Actually, fog is a good weather to enjoy.
07:25Yeah, true.
07:26Apart from the visibility problems.
07:28Yeah, if there was no pollution, this was fine.
07:33You said vehicular pollution, the construction dust.
07:36How would a tree really help with the construction dust?
07:39Very good.
07:40Very good question.
07:41You see now, I will take one leaf.
07:43It's a tiny leaf.
07:44Yes.
07:45Look at the amount of particulate matter.
07:51Could you see it?
07:52It's black.
07:53This tree has kept so much of particulate matter.
07:56Otherwise, you would be breathing.
07:58The most important part that needs to be understood is that oxygen comes from chlorophyll.
08:10Chlorophyll, which are seeds, whether it's a tree, a fruit tree, a flowering tree,
08:15a flowering tree, an indigenous species, an ornamental plant, a flowering plant,
08:21or a big canopy, or a small tree, or a small tree,
08:27you're giving it to the forest, or a small tree.
08:28You're giving it to oxygen.
08:29So the oxygen that you're giving, the life force, the energy that you're giving,
08:34the energy that you're giving, the life force, that you protect.
08:36It plays a very significant role.
08:38Like the AQI on the road, compared to what is inside, deep inside,
08:42we have an AQI meter there, and Terry has put it in.
08:46And we see, on a very polluted day, up to 200 level difference in the AQI.
08:53200.
08:54Yeah?
08:55Or even in summers, 100 is very, very common to observe,
08:58and that much variation we see.
09:04You know, it's actually reducing, Simrind.
09:06I'm telling you.
09:08I told you that I went there, 200.
09:11There was 194.
09:13Yes.
09:14Sir, so if there's any favourite spot of this location,
09:23if you have to show us one, where are you going to take it?
09:26I would take you to the pond area.
09:28Yes.
09:29I would take you to the pond area.
09:31Yes.
09:32Here we have also made insect hotels.
09:35There are insect hotels that come from outside,
09:40and there are other areas that come from outside.
09:43We have made the place for them.
09:45So, here there is egg laying, breeding,
09:48and propagation.
09:50There is a place for them.
09:51This is one place I would like to show you.
09:52This is one place I would like to show you.
10:05Then, we have been taking from outside the lake.
10:08Aaspar, Bustia, Dhando, Slum area.
10:10We've seen some grass water here.
10:11They're taking the water, which we call the gray water.
10:14We have put filters here.
10:16They're coming from a different gradient.
10:18Once it gets in front, then the water falls into water.
10:21So, in this winter, there is a little bit of water, but when the rain water comes, it is full of water.
10:30And we have a lot of wildlife over here. We have snakes, we have a lot of, a Bengal monitor lizard,
10:38we have brown hair, we have rabbits, we have a lot of wildlife over here.
