Japanese-style mini-forests in Mumbai to tackle flood

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, August 5

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed planting a hundred Japanese-style mini-forests across Mumbai to deal with floods during the monsoon season.

”We have already begun work on planting mini-forests using the Japanese Miyawaki technology in five plots across Mumbai,” Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal told reporters here. The
plots are located in suburbs of Kurla, Chandivali, Bandra and Kandivali. This will soon be extended to 20 plots in the next stage before being rolled across Mumbai, according to the official.

Explaining the concept of Miyawaki mini-forests, Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi told reporters that trees will be planted in a highly dense manner as pioneered by Japanese horticulturist Akira Miyawaki.

“The forests will be 30 times denser with a thick cluster of trees and require to be nurtured for only
three years. After that the forests will take care of themselves,” says Pardeshi.

According to experts consulted by the BMC, thick forests will help rainwater percolate into the ground. “At present stormwater drains are not enough to evacuate rainwater. A mini-forest with natural pathways will help percolation,” Pardeshi told reporters recently.

The mini-forests will also be turned into nature parks with seating and recreation facilities for citizens, according to the plan proposed by the civic body. Only about one-third area of the hundred plots will
be reserved for the mini-forests while the rest will be meant for recreational purposes, according to officials.

With the Maharashtra government backing the proposal, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) too has decided to earmark part of the plots under its control for the mini-forest project. MMRDA is building several infrastructure projects in the city.

Sources say the civic body is also roping in corporate houses to fund the creation of Miyawaki mini-forests under the CSR programmes.