Besides the damage to properties and vehicles on the road, many motorists have been injured from falling trees and one life has been lost.

While many have called for old trees in the city to be felled, others have argued that trees play an important role in the country’s environmental balance.

FMT Lifestyle spoke with certified arborist Saifful Pathil, who is involved in the cultivation, management, and study of trees, shrubs and vines, for his thoughts on this pressing issue.

“For me, personally, chopping down one unsafe tree gives the opportunity to plant ten more, doesn’t it?” he said, adding that it was the job of arborists like himself to manage, control and minimise the risks of trees being uprooted.

“Of course, we’ll try to preserve it if we can, but there’s this quote: plant the right tree in the right place,” he said, adding that an arborist would know which trees were “right” for a particular area as they understood tree biology, tree physiology, and tree behaviour.

“It’s all the things a doctor should know about their patients,” he said candidly.

In his opinion, the government should have engaged with arborists during the city’s early planning phase, so that the authorities could have been advised on how to select the right tree species.

“If it’s not suitable for the roadside, it’s going to fall eventually and hurt someone.”

He said the recent incidents of trees falling during thunderstorms was not due to a lack of maintenance, but the infrequency of it.

“I was involved with the city council to inspect trees previously, and we assessed 15,000 trees in a certain area, which took us two years. However, a lot can happen within that time gap before we get back to that first tree.”

A typical assessment, he said, involved maintaining the sturdy branches of trees, and trimming those deemed hazardous. Pest control was also carried out if the tree was infested with termites. And sometimes, soil correction was needed too.

Every job comes with its own set of challenges, he said, and for those in his line of work, preserving the health of trees, regardless of species or age, while ensuring public safety is of the utmost importance.

Saifful, who is from Johor, said Singapore handled the situation of trees falling differently from Malaysia.

“What they did was increase the frequency of tree assessments by arborists. For example, if they assessed trees annually before, they changed it to every three or six months.”

Saifful also commended the use of a technology called tree tilt sensors that the Singapore authorities installed on high-risk or mature trees. With these sensors in place, the authorities are notified immediately if tree movement is detected.

“They’ve been doing this for a few years now, and I think maybe this is something we can try too,” he said.

Follow arborist Saifful Pathil on Facebook and Instagram; or head to his website here.