A TALE OF TWO URBAN FORESTS

ENVIRONMENT BODIES BACKED BY CORPORATES ARE DEVELOPING TWO AREAS IN DELHI-NCR USING THE MIYAWAKI TECHNIQUE OF FORESTATION

- RAJKUMARI SHARMATANKHA 

THE MPL Park in Mayur Vihar Phase 3 is up for greener days with DCB Bank creating an urban forest here, in association with NGO Green Yatra.

Under the jurisdiction of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), this 2,200 sqm park was just crying for attention, when the bank decided to develop it under its CSR initiative.

Since June, over 7,000 saplings of over 25 varieties of indigenous varieties have been planted. These species can withstand the singeing summers, short bursts of monsoon and the biting Delhi winters.

The urban forest is being developed using the Miyawaki technique, pioneered by Japanese botanist Dr Akira Miyawaki, in which area-specific native species are planted close to each other so that they grow faster. Prior to the plantation, a detailed soil analysis is done to find out the biological activity and nutritional value of the soil according to which husk, hay, cocopeat, manure, etc., are added.