It’s important to remember to do the the appropriate intervention - not merely plant trees anywhere. Of course, grazing pastures are also over exploited in many cases and there are examples of community managed regeneration and controlled grazing to help revive them.
Sure sir (@manvendra). This has been our experiences and am sure an expert can do wonders, and I am not an expert. 1.) high density restricts movement of Eco system players (animals, etc.). 2.) requires intensive care and hence can be done successfully till about 50 kms from cities till where labour is abundant and pretty cheap. Beyond that, labour is sporadic and maybe expensive, especially during harvest time. 3.) usually, people, in a hurry, dump lots of manure and expedite the growth of sown seeds. This does not allow for enormous rooting time, maybe results In vegetative growth (not resulting in fruiting and propagation of species), and because it is an artificial way to create forest and requires deep expertise, is vulnerable to wind speeds, especially during the nascent period.
Again, personal observation and am sure we have people who have implemented this successfully and beautifully. Depends on the expertise and experience of an engineer/ artist.
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Thanks @ant . I am happy that your perspective is grounded in experience. I’ve been working with Miyawaki Method for some time now. I’ll take this space to share some of my thought on the same.
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Yes. High density restricts space for fauna. Miyawaki Method mimics the densest part of a native forest. The idea is to create a highly diverse and resilient seed forest from where the anchor could spread out boosting natural regeneration for the region as it provides all the species participating in ecological succession. This provides a gateway for climax forests to get established, which has been a major challenge for traditional planting methods and direct seeding methods. Thus when combined with other methods which are more economically scalable, the result is much better than either alone. Covering hundreds of acres with Miyawaki forest(densest part) seems like a waste of resources to me as even in nature these densities are not constant. But if we use it as a tool in the form of booster packs for large scale projects, it can be magical.
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We have experimented with some highly economical methods which require very low resources and minimum maintenance only in the first year of the project. Interestingly, Miyawaki forests are cheaper in the longer run because of zero maintenance after the first year.
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I totally agree with nutrient dumping done by certain players. It’s like providing steroids to boost plant growth speed to pamper our own egos. But even with 600 grams of farmyard manure per sapling, we managed to achieve a decent growth rate, The reason these forests grow faster is also the fact that the property of emergence comes in play. Forests behave differently than individual trees would. So does the concept of “forest creation” compared to “tree planting”. Also, more important than vertical growth of individual trees is the temporal pace on the scale of ecological succession.
All ways of afforestation are artificial. But I like the reference to artist. I believe afforestation is more intuitional than abstract intellect. Also, Shashi from Madman’s Farm is a close friend. 
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Vijay Dhashmana (of Aravali Biodiversity Park fame) has done a lot of work on seed bombing. He says there is a very tiny window when it will work. He pioneered the idea in India. Today, he prefers saplings
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Step by step claiming back the land. It has to start as a lifestyle change.
The first step is to ensure that everyone understands that every thing we eat, and that we don’t eat, needs to go back to the earth.
So composting, ensuring that wet waste goes back to the earth and is used to enrich the soil is the first step.
Changing your lifestyle, to be more healthy, to eat more plants, means that you are then looking at which of these plants, especially the medicinal ones, can you start growing around you, and during which months.
So, even if it’s a flower pot, use it to grow.
It has to start with a lifestyle change.
The need to complete the circular economy, to understand that if we first look at building our immunity, we will eventually look at growing more trees, appreciating the ecology, all in due course.
Take a look at this video on Growing Food at home https://youtu.be/NVlbJA_9pVs
More people should grow food, which will lead to rewilding.
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Thanks! Do share the details of some of the economical, scalable models that can be replicated across 100s of acres.
There are so many methods out there each with their own pros and cons and specific use case scenario. No one model fits all. But understanding how forests evolve can help us decide on the strategies to make our interventions resource efficient and create forest spaces closer to natural forests. There was so much to say, so I decided to make a short video describing the underlying basis of ecological succession and some of the methods of afforestation with their relevant case scenario. Well, the short video became a little over 20 minutes long, so not that short.
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Manvendra,
Suppose money, people, and knowledge were not an issue. Suppose your own ability to live and learn was limitless. Suppose we needed to do 10 small experiments to “grow” a forest, and “fight”, climate change, and also generate “livelihood”!
What would those 10 small experiments look like?
Just a thought experiment.
Thanks
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Hi,
I have a very basic question. A couple of farmers in Krishnagiri (near Cauvery North reserve forest) want to forest barren patches of their land (about 15 acres in total).
- How should we go about creating a forest so that it does not look like a plantation but a forest
- Is there a good resource for identification of local tree species to within a block level?
- What are the most cost effective ways to manage watering in the early days?
we want to start on a few acres with farmers this monsoon. Please suggest
Thank you
Hi Manavendra,
I saw your video- very enlightening for a novice. Thank you for sharing this. I am very keen on understanding how to do this in practice with identification of particular species in a Block of Tamil Nadu
Best
You could get them to visit our farm The Tamarind Valley Collective at Thagatty and have a word with Madhavan there.
@Malvikaa has also experimented a lot with agroforestry approaches. Farmers for Forests and Saytrees have also learned a lot in their efforts.
Thanks for the references
I think there are a lot we can learn from indigenous communities.
In Meghalaya and some parts of the NE, communities demarcate a community reserve where people are not allowed to hunt or chop trees. They have been doing this for centuries and it is now also part of the legal structure.
They do it because they identify the need and importance of these assets and what they do to the environment. Today Meghalaya has about 6200 hectares across the state
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Dear Ant
My apology for delayed response. Have been travelling since 30th Jan and just stepped in home yesterday. Catching up on communications.
I appreciate your drive to find a solution to the forests and climate change. But it’s a bit difficult for me to think things in terms of standards and replication as my perception emerges from seeing various case scenarios and finding unique solutions relevant to that particular challenge. But if you are free sometime and good with standards, we can sit down, brainstorm it and come up with something you are looking for. Happy to contribute.
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Dear Ajay
A lot of plantation efforts with good intentions can become a problem because species selection did not happen right. And species selection usually doesn’t happen right because we are limited by our own understanding of forests, thus finding it difficult to even imagine the forests we want to create. If you can really spend time with these two questions, you can achieve meaningful results irrespective of method followed.
I’m hosting an online workshop on forests from 3rd to 11th April. I’ll be talking about species selection there. If you are interested, you can join it and see if it helps you in your cause. tiny.cc/basicmiyawaki
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Man_Vendra,
Appreciate your response and I hope you had fun with your travels.
Just a quick thing - I have no drive for no solution we are analytical minded city bred people, creativity on aspects like bio diversity will take time to occur naturally and adequately and without anxiety to mortals like us.
I wasn’t looking for a solution, rather asking you what would be 10 short term experiments.
What I mean is, if you look at a few global reports published by well meaning economists and livelihood creators, climate change doesn’t list in the top 10 things to do.
I was merely inquiring, what would be 10 things you would do with your own understanding.
Would love to engage in a conversation. Let me know the time and correct portal for that.
Ty
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Scalable. More Forests.
Lets discuss where this can be done. Soil. Soil is something which needs to enhanced today all across with deforestation there came a plenty of soil erosion. Why not we start enhancing the piece of soil where ever we see it.
What do we need to enhance the soil we will have to put back the life into it. We need to put back the carbon into soil that’s adding life back into this.
We at HarithAvani Technologies have built digesters where all the wet waste can be dumped into it and it becomes manure and can be used to enhance the soil.
If we efficiently use our technology (digest all the wet waste generated around) we can simply replace synthetic manure, save the planet and future generations to come.
Please tell your point of view all. Adding Carbon back into the soil increases the microbial weight of the soil.
We can capture Carbon
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Hi Manvendra
Sorry I have not been here in a while due to a lot of travel. I missed your discussions in April. Please let me know if when you will be holding them next.
Thank you