#InternationalForestDay

Walking the Talk: How WayCool is Creating Mini Urban Forests with the Miyawaki Technique

The earth’s dwindling green cover has thrown up possibilities of creating urban forests in small spaces in bustling cities. Miyawaki forests help in creating small footprints as a response to large scale environmental challenges, and WayCool is committed to taking on these challenges head on. In the Perungudi area in Chennai, what was previously a barren burial ground was converted into a small forest – the size of a children’s playground – right next to large buildings in the middle of the city. Different varieties of plants and small trees have been planted here since, transforming this barren land into a lush 14,650 sq.ft. Miyawaki forest.?

WayCool got into a tri-party agreement with the Greater Chennai Corporation and Thuvakkam NGO in 2021, and helped sponsor the project to demonstrate that impact and profitability can go hand in hand.?

We have used the Miyawaki method of afforestation to create a miniature native forest environment. The Miyawaki approach, which requires growing forests in small landholdings within concrete jungles, is incredibly effective.?

What is the Miyawaki technique?

Deforestation is a critical problem that endangers our environment, displaces humans and animals alike, destroys a wide variety of flora and fauna, and causes drastic weather phenomena as a result of climate change. Massive attempts have been made to restore formerly forested areas that were destroyed due to human activity. However, increased urbanization is the main factor contributing to the disappearance of green cover. Enacting strategies that allow cities and woods to coexist is one method to recapture afforestation, but further urban expansion must be restrained. This is where the Miyawaki technique comes into play.?

Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist, conceptualized the Miyawaki afforestation technique – a novel way to grow a dense forest in small pockets of big cities. Miyawaki applied the concept of potential natural vegetation (PNV) and phytosociology or plant sociology, and developed a unique method of growing ‘urban forests’. The Miyawaki approach involves planting a variety of native species adjacent to one another in order to create forest cover on unused or barren land. The idea is to put together these various species of trees to create a thriving forest.

Replenishing the carbon cycle?

Ideally, earth’s carbon cycle maintains the planet’s carbon concentration in balance, moving the carbon from one location to another while retaining the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at steady levels. However, the carbon cycle is now highly compromised due to various human activities in cities, which release more carbon into the atmosphere. Deforestation is a major problem that is depleting earth’s supply of carbon sinks. As a result, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is rising. The Miyawaki technique is one potential option for safeguarding these ecologically vulnerable cities by planting trees inside the city to encourage urban areas and forest environments to coexist, which may be made possible by small, dense forests. These small clusters of forest gradually turn into a massive forest.

Forests are typically carbon sinks, places that absorb more carbon than they release. The Miyawaki forest developed by WayCool in Chennai now holds a total of 42 species of plants with over 3,000 saplings. Currently, the estimated carbon sequestration of our Miyawaki forest has been equivalent to 860 kgCO2e after the first year of quantification. This is equivalent to making our Padappai unit carbon neutral. The forest also has the potential to capture 198,000 kg CO2e upon full growth over a period of approximately 10 years, making this one of our major future investments in the city.?

The Coimbatore Miyawaki at Kurichi is another feather in WayCool’s cap. We signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu Forest department for converting abandoned land adjoining an abandoned limestone mine along with CUBE NGO (Centre for Urban Biodiversity Conservation and Education) who were the implementation partners. Currently, the 20,000 sq.ft. Miyawaki forest holds over 7,000 saplings with 100+ native species. The forest has the potential to capture 462,000 kg CO2e upon full growth over a period of approximately 10 years. It is expected to become self-sustaining in the next 3 years, with the biodiversity thriving on its own.?

These Miyawaki forests represent an important step towards achieving WayCool’s net-zero goal, neutralizing our operations carbon footprint by 6.6%.