With micro forests, how a district in Punjab expands its green cover | Governance News,The Indian Express
The idea was to target an unused one-acre plot of land in Kuharianwali village and develop a “forest” by applying the so-called Miyawaki method. In less than a year, the efforts have borne fruit with the area now full of firm plants such as kachnar, neem, arjun, ashok, jamun, guava and others.
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HomeGovernanceWith micro forests, how a district in Punjab expands its green cover
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With micro forests, how a district in Punjab expands its green cover
The idea was to target an unused one-acre plot of land in Kuharianwali village and develop a “forest” by applying the so-called Miyawaki method. In less than a year, the efforts have borne fruit with the area now full of firm plants such as kachnar, neem, arjun, ashok, jamun, guava and others.
Written by Raakhi Jagga
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Chandigarh | Updated: September 9, 2022 7:03:30 am
Different stages of a micro forest’s growth in Kuharianwali village of Punjab’s Fazilka district. ExpressKuharianwali, a village in the Fazilka district of Punjab, has become a trendsetter in expanding forest cover. As of 2021, according to data from the Forest Research Institute, the district had just 1.34 per cent forest cover, one of the lowest in the state. The district administration knew it had to do something to drastically change the picture.
They launched a pilot project called “My village, my forest” in October last year. The idea was to target an unused one-acre plot of land in Kuharianwali village and develop a “forest” by applying the so-called Miyawaki method. In less than a year, the efforts have borne fruit with the area now full of firm plants such as kachnar, neem, arjun, ashok, jamun, guava and others.
Different stages of a micro forest’s growth in Kuharianwali village of Punjab’s Fazilka district. Express“The forest is now self-sustainable as plants have gained enough strength,” said Karanjeet Singh, the sarpanch of Kuharianwali. Singh said that in the initial few months, the trees needed to be cared for, but once they grew taller than an adult, they could be considered strong enough.
The Miyawaki method, which was devised by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1980s, is a technique to create micro forests over small plots of land. Achieving this goal requires planting a wide variety of plants in a fairly dense manner so that the plot of land has different layers of a forest such as shrubs and canopies and not just trees. Plants typically require anywhere between eight to nine months of care before reaching a point where the micro forest becomes self-sustaining.
The project was initiated by Sagar Setia, the then Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) of Fazilka. He was transferred in July this year. But Dr Himanshu Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner of Fazilka, said that since the project had worked well in Kuharianwali, more sarpanches were approached to replicate the success.
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