COMPUTER chips will be embedded in ancient trees growing in the special economic zone (SEZ) in the second half of this year to offer better protection by recording their locations, yesterday’s Daily Sunshine reported.
Shenzhen started to use the Global Positioning System in 2004 to help the greenery management department monitor the growth of 387 ancient trees in the SEZ.
Following a number of experiments, the greenery management department decided to use computer chips to protect ancient trees more effectively. Information, including the trees’ ages, what botanical families they belong to, protection history and growth situation, can be stored in the nail-shaped chips, which are made from materials that are not detrimental to the trees. If the trees are removed or damaged, the greenery management authority can check changes to their appearance and their new locations by scanning the chips and identifying them.
Ancient banyan trees in Liantang, Luohu District, will be the first to have chips embedded in the second half of this year.
In 1998, a total of 414 ancient trees were on the city’s protection list. Of these, 39 disappeared that year. The number of ancient trees that had disappeared increased to 86 in 2004.
Luohu District has the largest concentration with 153 ancient trees, followed by Nanshan District with 146 and Yantian District with 41.
Luohu and Futian districts had the highest number of ancient trees to have disappeared, including two banyan trees aged 160 in Xiangxi Village and one longan tree aged 150 in Luofang Village, Luohu District.
More than 90 percent of the trees that had gone were cut down to make way for construction work, according to Liang Zhiyu, an engineer with the city’s greenery management department. Other reasons, such as blight, natural disasters like typhoons, bad survival conditions and vandalism, had also resulted in the disappearance of some of the oldest trees in the city, he said.
Some residents burn incense sticks and candles under ancient trees as it is believed the trees can protect their lives. “But harmful materials remaining after burning can damage their growth,” Liang said. (Wang Yuanyuan)