Kerala to Go the Miyawaki Way

As an integral part of the green initiative move, Kerala tourism, under the leadership of the state tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran, recently launched a forest conservation project inspired by the Miyawaki method. The aim is to create micro forests based on the Miyawaki model at 22 tourism spots across 12 districts. 

As per Surendran, nearly 30,000 samplings would be planted in two acres of land. These micro forests will make the tourist destinations, especially those in the urban areas, environment friendly. While a natural forest takes 25 to 30 years, the Miyawaki method on the other hand takes only five to ten years to attain the same level of growth. 

The Miyawaki method has been adopted in many places as a concept of urban afforestation. Introduced by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in 1970, this technique helps to build a dense and native forest cover in a shorter duration of time. This method is now being extensively used in other parts of the world. The move is also part of the &lsquoRebuild Kerala&rsquo initiative. In addition to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Telangana have also adopted a similar approach.

But the method has been criticised by many environmentalists and scientists who say that forcing trees to photosynthesie so fast is unnatural and the artificially induced growth of trees can never match a forest&rsquos complex ecosystem.