Assessment of Biodiversity and Growth Parameters of Miyawaki Forest of Selected Sites in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala

Abstract

Abstract Miyawaki afforestation is a reliable forest restoration method using native plants, proposed by Professor Akira Miyawaki in the 1980s, and introduced in Japan with the challenge to restore indigenous ecosystems and maintain global environments, which helps in disaster prevention and carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation. The Miyawaki micro-afforestation aims to grow many trees in a limited space in a brief period of time and grow a forest similar to a natural forest. Today, Miyawaki method has been used successfully to restore the forest worldwide. A study was conducted to find the growth performance of selected plant species grown as per the Miyawaki method of planting in three sites of the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. The study site includes Miyawaki forest in Kanakakunnu (site 1), Government High School Chala (site 2), and Dept. of Botany, Kariavattom (site 3). The growth parameters of the selected plants in the sites were recorded. The growth rate was compared to the naturally growing plant species, which indicated that the plants in the Miyawaki forest in three sites had a higher growth rate. These results could offer a chance to introduce the advantages of a new afforestation method, which helps to reduce the time for a complete environmental restoration in a short period. Moreover, it also offers a model for conserving native plant species within their natural habitat, even in urban areas. It can also be concluded that these native micro forests can offer many ecological and social services, including protecting many pollinators and conserving biodiversity in urban areas. Thus the use of these indigenous species can be successfully employed for the Miyawaki afforestation technique to create thick, multilayered forests.