Noida’s forest department turns to Miyawaki plantation to counter pollution

The forest department of Gautam Budh Nagar on Monday started a plantation drive at a site in Ecotech 3 area of Greater Noida using the Miyawaki forest technique

The forest department of Gautam Budh Nagar on Monday started a plantation drive at a site in Ecotech 3 area of Greater Noida using the Miyawaki forest technique.

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The department, along with corporate groups, will develop four such areas of 0.3 hectares each and over 8,500 plants will be planted during the upcoming monsoons season. The plantation drive was initiated by CP Goyal, director general of forests and special secretary, Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) at the premises of New Holland Fiat India Private Limited.

Officials said that dense plantation allows more carbon absorption and is best suited for highly polluted urban areas such as Noida, Greater Noida and parts of the National Capital region (NCR).

The Miyawaki technique was tried and tested at the Surajpur collectorate about three years ago as a pilot project. Officials said that the area has no walking space now because of the thick vegetation with over 90% survival rate. Around 9,000 trees were planted in 0.32 hectares area at the collectorate’s premises, officials added.

“Miyawaki plantation is being done by various groups as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Noida and Greater Noida and the results are great. We just tried one patch at the collectorate’s office in Surajpur a few years ago. Now, the plantation is so dense that one can hardly walk through it. We have now earmarked four patches that will be developed during the monsoon. Noida is known to have high pollution levels and having such dense plantation spaces will help improve the air quality,” said PK Srivastava, divisional forest officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.

Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki that helps build dense, native forests. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual. It includes planting a mixed variety of tall and short plants along with shrubs and herbs, mostly native species. Usually, the plantation would cost around ₹45 lakh per hectare including three years of maintenance, after which the area is expected to be self-sustainable.