I have received queries from a few quarters as to whether the Miyawaki Method of Afforestation is scientific. Before I answer that, let me state that most of these questions have been raised before. My answers are available on YouTube. Therefore kindly subscribe to the channel so that you can access all our previous videos and get notifications of fresh ones. So please press the bell button. Now to answer your question.
A couple of Indian scientists have indeed alleged that the Miyawaki Method is not a right template. But my extensive online research has revealed that no scientific research has been able to prove that it is wrong, or it works against Nature. The quick growth rate of plants in the Miyawaki forest is the reason for such an objection. True, a Miyawaki forest takes only 20-30 years to attain a rate of growth that a natural forest takes 100 years to achieve. This has led a few people to state that it is like raising broiler chicken.
I beg to disagree. The growth of broiler chickens is accelerated by the injection of hormones and antibiotics. But we don’t make such artificial interventions with plants. The seedbed is prepared using organic manure, and the saplings are taken care of for one or two years. After that, the plants are left grow on their own. The only element of manipulation is in planting them close to one another so that they shoot up fast, in their struggle for sunlight. We do it so that a forest emerges quickly. If we allow a piece of land to be fallow, a natural forest will certainly emerge. But 100 years or more will be needed for it to become a full-fledged one, due to scarcity of water or manure.
However, with a JCB, we can easily destroy 3-4 acres of a 500-year-old forest in a matter of one or two days. Such a type and scale of deforestation is already happening in various parts of the globe. Besides this, we hear of natural disasters, and of wild fires in the Amazon forests as well as in California that rage for several days. If we wait for natural forests to re-emerge, it will take hundreds of years. By then, the earth would have turned into a mighty desert. Therefore, creating Miyawaki forests will be our small contribution to averting that tragedy. No other template has shown itself to be so effective. Its harmful effects have not been proven by anyone so far.
Many ask me whether the quick growth makes these plants more prone to toppling. From personal experience, I can confidently say “No”. In this particular Miyawaki forest, we have plants that have grown to 18-25 feet in height. Once when strong winds blew here, we were filming. You can see from the pictures that they didn’t fall, as we ourselves had feared. On the other hand, teaks shed leaves and branches when they become heavy. We don’t have teaks in our forest. A scientist-friend told me that trees have their own way of maintaining balance. As they grow taller, they send down roots deeper. As they spread branches wider, the roots grow more laterally.
From my experience of putting up Miyawaki forests, I haven’t seen anything unscientific about it. If the human race is to sustain itself, it has no alternative but to promote fast-growing forests. We need to replace at least one percent of the forests that are disappearing rapidly. And we cannot afford to wait long. What we can do is simulate forests even in a one-cent piece of land. The other day, a man called to ask me if it was possible for him to put up a forest in a 150 sq. m. plot. That was very gratifying to hear because at least 40 saplings can be planted in the area. “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean” – that is the principle that fuels crowd foresting.
So, let us all plant trees. Thus, together, we can simulate a forest. That will bring down the carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere. No one expects a tiger or a lion to make an appearance in our forest. But it will support small creatures and insects, including butterflies, that are fast dwindling. Their usefulness will be evident only after some time. It is in our interest to arrange a place for squirrels and birds to take refuge. Recently, someone dismissed bats as mere carriers of diseases. But they also transmit seeds, consequently ensuring pollination and propagation of many plant species. Birds and insects serve the same purpose.
We cannot live without them. By spraying pesticides on our rubber plantations and other farms, we destroy bees, and thereby, the chances of pollination. We are the last species to arrive on the planet. Therefore, it would be beneficial if, even while changing things for our convenience, we do something good for other creatures as well. The Miyawaki Model of Afforestation gives us that opportunity, and its greatest virtue is that a Miyawaki forest can be put up in tiny plots as effectively as in large tracts of land.