Miyawaki method based forest development and plantation drive was organized at Kanganheri Village, near Dwarka, New Delhi on 12th July 2020 by RISE Foundation along with villagers and nature lovers. 350+ saplings were planted at the location.
Why Plantation ?
Global warming and its aftermath is an undeniable fact which has become a regular occurrence, affecting all and sundry. Air, land and water quality is deteriorating day by day. Flora and fauna worldwide are threatened with extinction. Nations are ravaged by floods or famine. The groundwater level is fast depleting, while sea levels are rising. Seasons have become imbalanced and unpredictable. Increasing temperature of the Earth is posing many challenges. India’s economic growth is also threatened by the adverse impact of climate change. Under such circumstances only option available to secure our future is to expand green cover of the Earth on a war footing.
RISE Foundation adopted unconventional method of plantation called Miyawaki Method. In this , before plantation, land is required to be prepared properly. D. Akira Miyawaki, a botanist and expert in plants ecology invented this unique method of plantation. In Miyawaki method multi-layered saplings are planted close to each other. This blocks sunlight from reaching the ground and prevents weeds from growing, thus keeping the soil moist.
The entire area marked for this method is dug up to a depth of one metre. Soil texture should be checked as this helps in determining appropriate amount of perforator (rice, wheat or corn husks), fertilizer (organic manure), water retainer (coco peat or dry sugarcane stalks) and mulch (rice, wheat straws, corn or barley stalks). They enhance soil quality, resulting in a successful outcome. This treatment makes it possible to plant an unbelievable number of 300-500 trees of 20-25 species in a plot of just 100 sq. metres. This method requires the planted area to be given attention like watering and removing weeds for just two to three years. It thus becomes self-sustaining in hardly three years, requiring no further treatment or nurturing.
Action on a War Footing
The project is completed in record time of 10 days from ground preparation till Plantation. RISE Foundation team comprises Madhukar Varshney, Madhuri Varshney, Munish Kundra and Youth leader Deepak Bhardwaj supervised the project till end. Post deployment – RISE Foundation will do regular visit and maintenance of the place for next 3 years till it become self sustainable forest.
Citizens’ Response
The new experiment undertaken by RISE Foundation, is eliciting a positive response from all sections of villagers . The most of the consumable items are donated by Villagers and well supported the cause. As everybody realised that is unique and first such project in whole Matiala Vidhansabha and Kanagaheri Village. This is one of the good example of citizen engagement and collaboration.We expect in future that School and college students, voluntary organizations and other citizens will visiting the mini-forest and getting trained in this method.
We are looking forward to plant more such #urban #forest in coming days.
RISE Foundation (NGO) 