How to grow your own tiny forest
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UNCCD Library
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When you look at a row of empty parking spots, what do you see?
Many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks.
But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a compact yet mighty forest.
What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can thrive anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals and insects. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma, a TED Fellow. “A forest can be an integral part of our urban existence.”
Most of us know just how essential trees are to our health and to the planet’s. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction, making deforestation one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost, threatening a vital carbon sink, and Brazilian president Jair Bolsinaro is opening up previously protected parts to commercial development.
When you look at a row of empty parking spots, what do you see?
Many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks.
But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a compact yet mighty forest.
What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can thrive anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals and insects. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma, a TED Fellow. “A forest can be an integral part of our urban existence.”
Most of us know just how essential trees are to our health and to the planet’s. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction, making deforestation one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost, threatening a vital carbon sink, and Brazilian president Jair Bolsinaro is opening up previously protected parts to commercial development.
After two years, they achieved this inviting patch of greenery.
Inspired by the work of Japanese scientist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma built a forest in the backyard of his family’s home in northern India in 2010. An industrial engineer at the time, he planted 224 spindly young trees and shrubs In the 75-square-meter (or 807-square-foot) plot. They grew and flourished, and a dozen species of birds came to check them out. The plantings created welcome shade, and their roots were able to absorb even the abundant monsoon rains. After a year, he had his own forest.
Since then, Sharma has founded a company called Afforestt. Its top priority is to bring back natural forests to places where they no longer exist. This means restoring stable ecosystems of plants and animals that used to exist in these spaces. Such systems ordinarily take hundreds of years to evolve, grow and mature together, but Sharma believes it’s possible to do this in as little as 10 years — and he has plenty of examples to prove it. He’s shown you can take a space the size of six or seven parking spots — and create a lush, verdant forest with over 100 trees and shrubs. So far, Afforestt has planted 144 forests in 45 cities around the world.
So, how do you build a complete forest ASAP? By aiming for two things: Density and planting native species.
Healthy soil is the basis of a healthy forest. “Find different types of biomass, or organic matter, that can make your soil moist, full of nutrition, and so soft that roots can penetrate into it easily,” Sharma says. His team often uses coco-peat (also known as coco coir; it’s the fibrous husks from the outer layer of a coconut) because it’s highly absorbent and improves water retention in dry soil.
“To loosen up compacted soil, we use pear tree husk or any biomass, which is crunchy in nature,” Sharma elaborates. Peanut shells are OK too. He adds, “It has to have a spring-like property. When you crush it, it should come back to its original shape.” These characteristics are important to help support the roots of your trees.
Instead of adding nutrients or artificial fertilizers, Afforestt adds microorganisms. “We take soil from a natural forest, so we can get the native colonies of microbes and fungi and we multiply their number in what we call compost tea,” Sharma says. Compost tea is a microbe-rich nutrient broth, which is diluted and added to the soil. These fungi and microbes grow and support the root network to allow trees to grow quickly and collectively. While more studies are needed to better understand compost tea, you can add regular compost, which is known to support soil health.
Read the whole article following the link above
Many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks.
But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a compact yet mighty forest.
What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can thrive anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals and insects. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma, a TED Fellow. “A forest can be an integral part of our urban existence.”
Most of us know just how essential trees are to our health and to the planet’s. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction, making deforestation one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost, threatening a vital carbon sink, and Brazilian president Jair Bolsinaro is opening up previously protected parts to commercial development.
When you look at a row of empty parking spots, what do you see?
Many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks.
But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a compact yet mighty forest.
What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can thrive anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals and insects. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma, a TED Fellow. “A forest can be an integral part of our urban existence.”
Most of us know just how essential trees are to our health and to the planet’s. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction, making deforestation one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost, threatening a vital carbon sink, and Brazilian president Jair Bolsinaro is opening up previously protected parts to commercial development.
After two years, they achieved this inviting patch of greenery.
Inspired by the work of Japanese scientist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma built a forest in the backyard of his family’s home in northern India in 2010. An industrial engineer at the time, he planted 224 spindly young trees and shrubs In the 75-square-meter (or 807-square-foot) plot. They grew and flourished, and a dozen species of birds came to check them out. The plantings created welcome shade, and their roots were able to absorb even the abundant monsoon rains. After a year, he had his own forest.
Since then, Sharma has founded a company called Afforestt. Its top priority is to bring back natural forests to places where they no longer exist. This means restoring stable ecosystems of plants and animals that used to exist in these spaces. Such systems ordinarily take hundreds of years to evolve, grow and mature together, but Sharma believes it’s possible to do this in as little as 10 years — and he has plenty of examples to prove it. He’s shown you can take a space the size of six or seven parking spots — and create a lush, verdant forest with over 100 trees and shrubs. So far, Afforestt has planted 144 forests in 45 cities around the world.
So, how do you build a complete forest ASAP? By aiming for two things: Density and planting native species.
Healthy soil is the basis of a healthy forest. “Find different types of biomass, or organic matter, that can make your soil moist, full of nutrition, and so soft that roots can penetrate into it easily,” Sharma says. His team often uses coco-peat (also known as coco coir; it’s the fibrous husks from the outer layer of a coconut) because it’s highly absorbent and improves water retention in dry soil.
“To loosen up compacted soil, we use pear tree husk or any biomass, which is crunchy in nature,” Sharma elaborates. Peanut shells are OK too. He adds, “It has to have a spring-like property. When you crush it, it should come back to its original shape.” These characteristics are important to help support the roots of your trees.
Instead of adding nutrients or artificial fertilizers, Afforestt adds microorganisms. “We take soil from a natural forest, so we can get the native colonies of microbes and fungi and we multiply their number in what we call compost tea,” Sharma says. Compost tea is a microbe-rich nutrient broth, which is diluted and added to the soil. These fungi and microbes grow and support the root network to allow trees to grow quickly and collectively. While more studies are needed to better understand compost tea, you can add regular compost, which is known to support soil health.
Read the whole article following the link above
Keywords
forests
afforestation
human story
soil health
drylands
fertilizer requirements
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