Taking the Chipko legacy forward: How mature trees are getting a second life

Translocating a mature tree means moving the living tree from a threatened site to another location where it can continue growing. The aim is to preserve an established tree instead of replacing it with a small sapling after development destroys it. This matters because mature trees have already accumulated substantial carbon over many years.

A nearly 100-year-old banyan in Zaheerabad faced the axe in 2015. With help from Vata Foundation, Ashwin Rao moved it to vacant land he owned. Later, he translocated about 800 mango trees threatened by a link road. Vata also helps identify trees, find adopters, and oversee their moves without charging.

The method is difficult and not guaranteed. Trees have better survival chances when moved during the monsoon, and their original orientation to the sun should be preserved. Since 2015, Vata says it has helped more than 17,500 trees find new homes. The wider debate asks whether destroying established landscapes and planting replacements makes ecological sense.

Since it was founded in 2015, Vata Foundation says it has helped more than 17,500 trees find new homes. This figure covers its work identifying trees marked for felling, finding people or institutions willing to adopt them, and overseeing their movement. The foundation provides this help free of cost.

Its model connects different kinds of supporters. Some adopters have both land and money. In other cases, Vata matches people willing to adopt trees with people or institutions that have land. The idea began after a school offered to adopt trees that needed relocation, showing Uday Krishna how unused land could help save threatened trees.

The number also illustrates the scale of the foundation’s network, which includes around 8,000 people across the country. Yet the work does not solve every ecological problem. Uday questions whether destroying landscapes and then planting trees is sensible, because forests also involve water bodies, animals, and rock formations.

The banyan in Zaheerabad was nearly 100 years old and faced being cut down. In 2015, Hyderabad-based developer Ashwin Rao worked with Vata Foundation to move it to vacant land he owned. The rescue gave the tree a new home rather than allowing development to end its long life.

The move depended on preserving important parts of the tree’s former setting. The banyan had grown for almost a century in a particular environment and orientation to the sun. Ashwin therefore placed it in the same orientation after moving it. He also says the monsoon offers the highest chances of survival for translocated trees.

The outcome helped shape Ashwin’s later decisions. During a residential project, about 800 mango trees had to be removed for a link road. He bought empty land and moved all of them there, a process that took six to eight months. These examples show that relocation requires planning, suitable land, timing, and careful handling.

The article does not identify a definite biological reason why one century-old banyan survived while the other died. It records the difficult conditions surrounding their rescue, rather than proving that one particular factor caused the different outcomes. Both trees had already been uprooted and left beside a road.

Uday Krishna’s volunteers found the banyans a week later. A fourth-grade girl in the United States raised around Rs 95,000 to help move them, and a Hyderabad school agreed to take them. The rescue then faced practical problems. The available equipment was inadequate, and the truck carrying the trees broke down.

Most importantly, the trees were moved around 10 days after they had been uprooted. The article reports that one survived and the other did not, but gives no further explanation. The episode shows that mature-tree relocation is possible but fragile. Timing, equipment, transport, and post-move care can matter, although the article does not assign responsibility for this pair’s different results.

The Kancha Gachibowli dispute reached court because Vata Foundation and other parties challenged the Telangana government’s plan to auction 400 acres near the University of Hyderabad for development. They filed a public interest litigation, arguing against the consequences of clearing the site’s trees. The case turned a local tree-felling issue into a major legal and ecological dispute.

After hearing the petition, the Telangana High Court directed that further tree felling should stop. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter on April 3, 2025. A later site inspection found that nearly 100 acres had already been cleared of trees.

The Supreme Court has since sought the state government’s response. The dispute concerns more than the number of trees removed. Uday Krishna says development can also affect animals, water bodies, and rock formations. The continuing proceedings therefore focus on the wider ecological landscape as well as the proposed development.

Planting a sapling after cutting a mature tree does not create an immediate equivalent. A mature tree has already spent decades growing and accumulating carbon. A sapling may eventually become valuable, but it begins much smaller and needs years before it can hold as much carbon or provide comparable ecological functions.

Translocation tries to keep the existing tree alive in another place. Ashwin Rao moved a nearly 100-year-old banyan from Zaheerabad to vacant land in 2015. He later moved about 800 mango trees threatened by a link road. These efforts required suitable land, careful transport, correct orientation, and timing during the monsoon.

However, relocation is not automatically successful. Two banyans more than 100 years old were moved after difficult delays, but only one survived. The comparison changes the conservation question. Instead of asking only how many saplings will be planted, planners must first ask whether a mature tree can be moved and given another home.

Mature trees matter because they represent decades of accumulated growth and carbon storage. When one is cut, planting a sapling does not immediately restore what was lost. The article also presents trees as part of a wider ecological landscape, not as isolated objects that can always be replaced one for one.

The wider landscape may include animals, water bodies, and rock formations. Uday Krishna asks how development can bring those elements back after destruction. This is why saving an established tree can mean preserving more than its trunk and leaves. Relocating a tree attempts to retain at least some of that existing ecological value.

The limits are clear. A pair of century-old banyans faced inadequate equipment, a broken truck, and a ten-day delay after uprooting; only one survived. Vata’s work shows that new homes are possible, but the Kancha Gachibowli dispute shows the need to consider whole landscapes before clearing them, rather than relying only on compensatory planting.