Effect of destruction of trees on highway roads and its impact on climate change at Coimbatore - a case study

Modernization and Globalization paved a way to the infrastructural development in cities. This causes an increase in the population and as a result lot of job opportunities are being created and this provides a path for people to migrate from rural to urban areas. This leads to increased pollutant gases which are released because of increased vehicles and industries. This causes a change in the Climate. The other major reason for climate change is the destruction of trees because of infrastructural developments like roads and bridges. This study mainly focuses on the effect of destruction of trees on the highway roads in and around Coimbatore city. The meteorological data like soil temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and rainfall is analyzed for period of five years from 2015 to 2019 since the infrastructure development is more for the above said period. The main reason for this analysis is to project the amount of carbon capture and storage that is done by the trees. Though the carbon capture and sequestration by plants are being addressed by authors, correlation between the destruction of trees and climate change have not been well described in the literature made earlier which may cause increased pollutant gases in the atmosphere. This work elaborately describes the number of roads laid and bridges built in around Coimbatore city and trees that were cut down because of infrastructural developments. Alternate solutions for the reducing the destruction of trees in Coimbatore and necessary suggestions for implementation of policy decisions are addressed.