Miyawaki forest

For decades, Rajkot’s Nakrawadi was buried under waste. Today, it’s a thriving urban forest with 2.35 lakh trees and water systems — reborn through a bold city-led transformation.

Kerala businessman Musthafa Parammel Ambadi has transformed a former laterite mining land into Green Ara, a dense bamboo and Miyawaki forest with tropical plants, fruit trees, ponds, and more.

Civic chief at Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Abhijit Bangar, has converted 3-acres of land in Navi Mumbai into a green oasis that has attracted biodiversity, including snake species, butterflies, birds and more

Sheeba Sen and her NGO Alaap are aiming to uplift rural India and conserve the environment with their revenue model, while off-setting the carbon footrprint of giant corporations. Here’s how

Raphi Ramanath, a biology teacher at Vignjana Vilasini Higher Secondary School (VVHSS) in Kerala, has set up a herbal garden with 150 plants and a Miyawaki forest with over 450 trees on campus.

Chitlapakkam Rising, founded by Sunil Jayaram, Udaya Utthandi and Ezhildasan, is a volunteering group based out of Chennai, has been working relentlessly to find solutions to basic civic issues in their neighbourhood from waste disposal to bigger movements like reviving a lake.

Hoping to do his own bit to fight climate change, Varun Ravindra roped in 40 like-minded people to convert 100 acres of barren land into a green community forest named Vanantara

Bhuvnesh Ojha from Rajasthan has planted over 26,000 plants to create Miyawaki forests, and subsequently help 1,200 farmers increase their income through horticulture

Krishnakumar S from Chennai founded NGO Thuvakkam to increase green cover in the city and the surrounding districts. They now have a total of 1,800 volunteers

Using a method invented by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, Kukma village in Gujarat has built a flourishing forest using 10,000 litres of wastewater, which is purified daily to water thousands of plants.