The ‘Miyawaki Method’ has found global fame but its afforestation promises may have limitations

The Miyawaki method for cultivating fast-growing groves of native vegetation has found eager practitioners all over the world. But some say the method promises more than it can deliver, and that, in some cases, restorers are planting Miyawaki groves where they don’t belong.

Developed in the early 1970s by the late Japanese forest ecologist Akira Miyawaki, the method involves the following steps: determine the plant species native to a given area; improve the soil by mixing in organic material; plant seedlings of native trees and understory plants in a dense, mixed manner (about three seedlings per square metre) meant to simulate a natural forest; remove weeds from the site for up to three years after planting, if necessary.

After that, the grove is left to its own devices. Due to the dense planting, the seedlings grow quickly as they compete for sunlight.

Although originally implemented in Japan, Miyawaki collaborated with Japanese multinational companies to apply his method overseas as well. This led Miyawaki in 1999 to claim that “quasi-natural forests can be built in 15-20 years in Japan and 40-50 years in Southeast Asia”.

Over the past decade, the Miyawaki method’s popularity has reached new heights, including projects in Jordan and Brazil, among other locations.

However, two ecological restoration practitioners in India recently criticised the...

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