2020

Mithila Wildlife Trust, with support of its’ supporting organization ChoraChori, had recently launched a 10 year programme of urban reforestation. MWT is planning to make dense forest in the urban open space of Janakpurdham through Miyawaki method. Through its ten-year strategy, ChoraChori and MWT will make a meaningful response to the climate emergency through prevention of release of greenhouse gases and carbon sequestration in its Nepal projects. The approach includes through large-scale rewilding and reforestation alongside small-scale rewilding using the Miyawaki Method. The Miyawaki method of reconstitution of “indigenous forests by indigenous trees” produces a rich, dense and efficient protective pioneer forest in 20 to 30 years, where natural succession would need 200 years in temperate Japan and 300 to 500 years in the tropics. The later will be used primarily in urban environments and will have the additional benefits of being linked to an environmental education programme for schools and engagement with young people, girls and women. The programme will be conducted in phases as funds become available, with the first phase being conducted at a secure site- the department of forestry office in Janakpur, the capital of province 2 in southeast Nepal. We will achieve our Aim through a range of activities that will include major reforestation alongside small-scale deforestation using the Miyawaki method. By planting in this method it grows ten times faster- a mature forest develops in 20 years rather than in 200 year. It is 20 times more bio diverse and it absorbs thirty times the CO2 of a green field site. If we combine the reforestation with the planting of native bamboo species and fast growing Neem trees, the carbon sequestration is even greater. As part of the overall programme we will “Turn Janakpur Green”, Janakpur being the capital of province 2. There are a good number of potential reforestation sites on waste land within the surrounding area. In the first phase we will reforest the perimeter of the Division Forest Office (DFO) in Janakpur itself. This covers an area of 1,575m2 (six tennis courts equivalent) perimeter of its headquarter office site in Janakpur. The site offers the benefit of being a secure location as it lies within a compound. Also, it can act as a showcase for others who are interested in using the Miyawaki method elsewhere. The project will be implemented by MWT with the support of local labour and volunteers. The volunteers will be young people and school children, most of whom are girls. The site will require considerable excavation works (in line with the Miyawaki method) and land levelling as some of it lies below the level of the road and is prone to flooding. This will be the first initiation to implement Miyawaki method in Nepal by Mithila Wildlife Trust with the collaboration of Chora Chori and it’s aiming to give their best for the welfare of the environment.