BMC to develop 14 Miyawaki forests before Diwali

Speaking to The Indian Express, Jeetendra Pardeshi, superintendent of gardens and tree department said, “The civic body is on a spree to develop 14 Miyawaki forests, which will all be completed by Diwali. The plantation drive was inaugurated on Monday in Chembur, where one of the 14 forests will come up.”

“Earlier, Chembur’s Sharad Narayan Acharya Park was an uneven plot, which we levelled with mud and prepared the soil for planting saplings. Besides undertaking the plantation drive, we are planning to carve out a pathway within the forest as well as put some benches with an aim to give visitors a feel of being amid a natural forest,” said Pardeshi.

Conceptualised by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the early 1970s, the Miyawaki technique of plantation was developed to restore indigenous ecosystems whereby native trees are densely planted within small patches. With 30 times the tree density of other plantation techniques, Miyawaki forests have the potential to serve as the perfect antidote to the challenge of developing green cover within a space-crunched city like Mumbai.

Close to 64 mini forests have already been developed under the Urban Forest project launched by the civic body on January 26, 2020. According to senior civic officials, 1,100 green plots were identified across Mumbai, of which 64 plots were earmarked in 2020 for the development of urban forests using the Miyawaki methodology.

The latest Miyawaki forest was inaugurated in Chembur’s Mysore Colony, which the civic body is developing along with the IIFL Foundation. 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.

Pardeshi added the plantation of saplings at the park will be completed over a course of the next eight days.

While the city’s first ever Miyawaki forest had been developed by the BMC at Chembur’s Bhakti park, the biggest Miyawaki plantation drive was carried out at Chandivali’s Nahar Amrut Shakti Udyan, wherein over 41,000 saplings were planted over 13 acres.