Pune, 28-08-2025: What started as a riverside school project in Pune has grown into a digital platform with the potential to strengthen India’s urban conservation efforts. ‘The Tree Map’, a newly launched app developed by Aryaman Deshmukh, a high school student and environmental volunteer, is designed to help communities, schools, and institutions across India map and monitor trees with accuracy and purpose.
Inspired by years of volunteering with Jeevitnadi, an NGO working to revive Pune’s rivers, the app aims to digitalise the manual process of documenting flora biodiversity. What makes The Tree Map distinctive is its use of citizen data to create a location-linked database of trees, empowering everyone from students to city planners with actionable information.
“We’ve seen time and again that data changes the conversation,” said the 17-year-old Aryaman. “If you can show what species grow where, how rare or old they are, or what risks a green space face, you shift the debate from ‘development versus nature’ to something more informed and balanced. The Tree Map puts the power to do so in anyone’s hands.”
Users can enter details such as tree species, girth, height, photographs, and GPS location via a simple in-app form. The digitalised data can be easily used to visualise species diversity and threats to tree clusters, strengthen environmental petitions, support citizen campaigns against tree felling or concretisation, and assist local governments in managing green areas more effectively.
“At Jeevitnadi, our mission is to connect citizens to the rivers and conserve and protect them in the process. We’ve been manually documenting all the biodiversity along the rivers to ensure their conservation and protection. The Tree Map, developed by our young volunteer, simplifies the work and broadens participation, engaging students, citizens, schools, and institutions that care about the environment. This democratises conservation and environmental action accessible to all,” said Shubha Kulkarni, Jeevitnadi.
The app is already being piloted by the NGO along the riverbanks, where tree mapping has proven crucial in opposing unsustainable infrastructure projects that threaten riparian zones. According to Aryaman, this app emerged from his desire to protect that very stretch of river.
The Tree Map also serves as an educational tool, making sustainability tangible for the next generation. Schools can task students with exploring local biodiversity physically and contribute to its protection.
“At Vidya Valley, we believe in developing holistic education that creates exemplary citizens. With the app that Aryaman has built, we are confident our students can take an active part in conserving the environment and protecting trees, adding significant value to their community. It is a hands-on, real-world activity that stokes curiosity, empathy and civic responsibility, essential traits in today’s world,” said Nalini Sengupta, Founder of Vidya Valley School, Pune.
Ipsita Rodricks, Director at Vidya Valley School added “At Vidya Valley, we strive to impart experiential learning in addition to the conventional academic education. Aryaman’s initiative of tree mapping builds on what Vidya Valley stands for. We want to inspire children to work in fields that affect them, like their community. Through projects like this, we want to integrate industry and education, letting students explore work in the real world, while at school. We have seen many such projects make a difference to society. The Tree Map builds on the current global focus on sustainability, as climate change affects every one of us.”
In a country where local agencies often struggle with capacity and data, community-led tools like The Tree Map can help bridge gaps. It also aligns with India’s commitments under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (those of SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 15: Life on Land), offering a scalable, citizen-powered method to monitor and protect urban ecosystems.
Corporates, colleges, hospitals, and other institutions with tree-lined campuses can also use the app to document, maintain, and celebrate their green cover. For companies that plant trees as part of their CSR initiatives, The Tree Map can transparently track biodiversity and green zones.