Chennaiites create urban forests using Miyawaki method

Japanese plant ecology expert Akira Miyawaki, 91, has been highlighting the need to restore the green cover being lost due to deforestation since the 1970s. His demonstrations showed that forests could be rapidly restored by densely planting multiple species of trees even in small spaces. This inspired green activists around the world to replicate the idea, and led to the birth of the ‘Miyawaki method’ as it is popularly called.

The method, which was first tested out in Italy’s Sardinia in 2000, later travelled to France, North East India, and also in neighbouring Karnataka’s Bengaluru, where groups are attempting it to afforest in urban spaces. Chennai, too, has been taking to the Miyawaki method in open spaces at schools and government buildings.

City-based non-government organisation (NGO) Thuvakkam has been implementing the method at various government schools across Chennai. Krishna Kumar Suresh, the founder of the group, says, “While trees planted normally take at least 20-30 years to fully grow, Miyawaki reduces that time to just five or six years. Since multiple plant species are grown in the same space, they grow faster. We initially tried the method to showcase the model at Jain Public School a few months ago. We planted a total of 40 different kinds of trees (including indigenous varieties) in a 200-square-foot piece of land. Within four months, we saw a very good result,” recalls Krishna.

The group’s members, along with volunteers, also implemented the method in Thoothukudi along with the local administration, and at government schools, hospitals and homes in the suburbs of Tiruvallur and Poonamallee. “Anyone can implement the method if they have open space to grow trees. One can dig a deep pit till about 2 ½ to 3 feet, and fill it with vegetable waste compost, and then rice husk and coco peat to enrich the soil. A mix of trees, like few native ones and a few fruiting varieties and shrubs can be planted with 3-foot distance between each other,” he asserts.

Maya Ganesh, a permaculture practitioner in the city, says the Miyawaki method can be a quick way to afforest. Working as a visiting faculty at APL Global School, Maya, along with students, converted two patches of land in the school’s backyard into urban forests that are home to several plant species. “We had planted saplings of about 20 different species (fruit trees and other multipurpose variants like moringa) in July last year. In Miyawaki method, trees compete and collaborate to grow faster than when monocultures (single variety or species of plants) are planted. We noticed that within just over a year, trees like banana, guava, papaya are already fruiting,” she says. Besides improving the groundwater levels, the planting method has allowed students to learn about diversity in flora, she asserts.

“We had used only open pollinated seeds (those produced through natural pollination by birds, insects or wind) in the forest. The Miyawaki forest helps recharge groundwater, prevents soil erosion and floods,” Maya says. Besides adding biodiversity on the school campus, it has also been providing food through the fruit and vegetable trees planted, she adds.