Making Mumbai Greener, 1st Miyawaki Forest Reaches the City

Nursery Today Desk

New Delhi: Urban Forest Project was launched on January 26, 2020 under which, around 64 mini forests have already been developed using the Miyawaki methodology. Taking the project further, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to develop 14 new urban forest using Miyawaki technique across Mumbai before Diwali this year.

The drive of planting 10,264 samplings at Chembur’s Sharad Narayan Acharya Park was launched on Monday, August 28, where one of the 14 forests will come up.

The park was an uneven plot, which was levelled up with mud. The soil was also prepared for planting samplings. BMC has also planned to put some benches and carve a pathway within the forest to create a vibe of natural forest for the visitors.

The plantation of samplings at the park will be completed over a course of eight days. Indigenous species of 48 varieties, including bamboo, guava, tamarind, amla, sheesham among many others are slated to be planted over an area sprawled across 2,500 square metres.

Miyawaki technique is a Japanese concept given by botanist Akira Miyawaki in the early 1970s to restore indigenous ecosystem whereby native trees are densely planted within small patches. This technique solves the challenge of vanishing greenery in the course of development of urban cities.

The BMC created the city’s first-ever Miyawaki forest at Chembur’s Bhakti Park, but Chandivali’s Nahar Amrut Shakti Udyan saw the largest Miyawaki plantation work, with over 41,000 trees spread across 13 acres.