Unintentional Vandalism: Unskilled tree pruning practices in tree management

Abstract

Urban trees are exposed to "unintentional vandalism" during poorly skilled pruning practices that can lead to tree structure damage. This causes harmful consequences that affect tree performance in terms of the ecosystem services they contribute. This study aims to explore the relationship between unintentional tree vandalism and poorly skilled pruning practices in tree maintenance by analysing qualitative and quantitative data from tree workers contracted by selected Malaysian local authorities and tree care experts. The results showed that insufficient tree pruning knowledge leads to unintentional vandalism in tree pruning practices. Keywords: Tree management; unskilled tree pruning; unintentional tree vandalism; urban tree eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i16.2633