Forest the size of a basketball court, a possible solution for urban environments

Story by: Jorge Rodriguez Photography by: Benjamin Elliot/Unsplash Translated by: Jorge Rodriguez dom 18, Jul 2021

In 2018, in the city of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, the IVN Nature Education organization planted seven ultra-small forests in this central Dutch region, and another 144 throughout the country. Known as micro-forests, it is expected that by the end of 2021, this European country will have about 200 scattered throughout its territory.

This trend, which is being replicated in different European countries, and in India, seeks to reduce the environmental impact of urban areas, by planting native forests that attract a great biological variety, such as insects. These small parks are not, by themselves, the solution to current climate problems, but they do contribute to the sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by urban areas.

Daan Bleichrodt, founder of IVN, said in an interview with National Geographic, that this initiative is presented as an attractive alternative for people, due to a growing ecological awareness on the part of the general public. “It’s a very practical way to do something positive against climate change and the loss of diversity,” Bleichrodt said.

These micro-forests are planted for a year, and being native forests, their growth time is not very long. It is based on the “Miyawaji method,” created by the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who, during the 1970s, began planting young native species to regenerate forests on degraded lands. According to statements made in 2006, Miyawaki said that this method is functional if the focus of reforestations is on local species, and if the principles of analog forestry are respected.

Functional anywhere in the world

The creation of green areas within urban areas is necessary to reduce the environmental impact of cities, as well as to reconnect people with nature. Photo: JP Valery/Unsplash

In the same National Geographic publication, Kazue Fujiwara, a contributor to Miyawaki, stated that this method can work anywhere in the world, even on terrain only one meter wide. It is not even necessary to go to Miyawaki himself to put this method into practice. In 2009, the Indian botanist Shubhendu Sharma, inspired by Miyawaki’s practices, planted a small forest outside a car factory in India. In 2014, seeing the success of this initiative, he published his version of the instructions, so that anyone could do it.

Sharma also founded a company that helps create these small ecosystems, and to date has already planted more than 100 micro-forests in 44 cities, most of them located in India. However, he highlights three of these projects: two are located in the eastern United States, a treehouse eco-project in South Carolina, and a permaculture project in the city of Maysville, Kentucky. The other was made in Estelí, a department of Nicaragua, in a cigar and cigars factory located in the Central American country.

Building on the success of this fast-growing forest technique, countries such as Belgium, France, the UK and Pakistan have already announced their intentions to invest in the creation of these small urban ecosystems. In the Netherlands, these micro-forests have quite particular specifications, which are adapted to the characteristics of the areas where they are planted.

Per IVN instructions, the land must be at least four meters wide. The projects in which this Dutch company works, generally are on land between 200 to 250 m2, and have been carried out with the support of schools, communities and municipalities. The price ranges from 20,000 to 22,000 euros. However, if anyone is looking to plant their own micro-forest, the cost can be considerably less, below US $ 3,500.

Positive environmental impact

Wildlife in urban areas benefits from the creation of new natural spaces. Photo: Sebastian Latorre/Unsplash

In April this year, Wageningen University conducted a study in 11 Dutch micro-forests. 636 different species of animals were observed, as well as 298 species of plants, additional to those that were initially planted.

Regarding CO2 capture, the figures vary. One of the oldest, located in the north of the Netherlands, with an area of 245.7 m2, captured 631.2 kg of CO2 in 2020. For its part, one of the youngest located in the center of the country, with an area of 231.6 m2, captured just 4.3 kg of CO2. According to these studies, it is anticipated that, once mature, micro-forests with an average area of 250 m2 could capture an estimated 250 kg of CO2 annually. In comparison, some Dutch forests aged 10 to 50 years capture around 227.5 kg of CO2 annually.

Cécile Girardin of the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative at the University of Oxford recently published a finding that if nature-based solutions are implemented on a large scale globally, they could contribute to reducing warming by 0.1 degrees. Celsius in a scenario that assumes a maximum warming of 2.7 ° F (1.5 ° C) in 2055.

However, although they are a great help for the issue of the climate crisis, these micro-forests have a greater objective, to reconnect the urban population with nature and wildlife. “It is better to measure (these initiatives) in the impact they have on cooling cities, water regulation and biodiversity,” Girardin said. He also added that the fact of using native species provides these ecosystems with an important resilience to withstand the passage of time and adapt to the changes that the environment experiences.

Initiatives in Central America

Sembrando Huella is an initiative supported by the National Forest Institute of Guatemala. Photo: INAB

“Choosing the right species is key for this concept to work,” Fujiwara said. Although these initiatives are still being studied to be applied in different parts of the world, with native species of the place, in regions such as Central America some measures have already been implemented to reduce the impact of urban growth on natural areas.

In February of this year, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced the collaboration they carry out with the Government of Costa Rica, for the creation of Urban Natural Parks (PANU), focused on improving conservation and health in the cities of the Central American country, as part of its National Decarbonization Plan.

“Urban ecosystems are essential to have healthy cities and people. Within the National Decarbonization Plan, Costa Rica committed to having 4,500 hectares of green areas for the well-being of citizens. Our country needs to remember that the areas that we now see urbanized and gray were living ecosystems until a few decades ago. With the correct measures, we can rescue the survivors and regenerate many areas, which will bring health and economic benefits to citizens ”, said then the Minister of Environment and Energy, Andrea Meza Murillo.

Although this project is completely different from the idea of planting new forests within urban centers, it is a very interesting initiative that aims to take people to natural areas, while promoting their care and protection. In Guatemala City, the municipality promotes the Metropolitan Ecological Belt, which “is mainly based on the protection of the forest remnants around the capital city. These forests are basically found in ravines and hills ”.

In addition, there are some reforestation programs, such as #YoReforestoChallenge, promoted by the National Institute of Forests (INAB), and supported by private initiative. According to a statement from the institution, “So far 439 reforestation days and 60 awareness activities have been carried out, 226,356 trees have been planted on 203.7 hectares, 13,620 adults and 2,529 children have participated.”

Despite these official initiatives, the culture of conservation is still far from being a priority for these countries. Always in Guatemala, in 2020, a controversy was unleashed over the destruction of an urban forest that, according to March for Science, generated ecosystem services for an annual value of about US $ 650 thousand, to make way for a real estate project.

What is clear is that the Miyawaki method is a very attractive alternative for the recovery of degraded lands, especially within urban areas. With short-term projects to be carried out in large European cities, it remains to be seen if this practice becomes a global trend, or if it is limited to first world countries.

*with information from National Geographic, UNDP and INAB

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