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Kerala Tourism has launched a project to create Miyawaki model micro forests at 22 tourism spots in 12 districts across the state. The green initiative was inaugurated by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran by planting a sapling at Shanghumukham beach in Thiruvananthapuram. He said that more than 30,000 saplings will be planted in about two acres of land identified for the scheme. The Minister noted that the creation of micro forests that compare well with natural forests will make the tourist destinations in the state, especially those in the urban areas, environment-friendly.
Pioneered in the 1970s by botanist and plant ecologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki of Yokohama National University, Japan, the micro forestation model seeks to expand the green cover on the earth by nurturing mostly indigenous species of plants in small patches of land. A Miyawaki model forest can attain a level of growth within five to ten years, what a natural forest takes 25 to 30 years to gain.
The model has been replicated across continents, especially among communities where the pressure on land is heavy. It has proved effective in fending off the ill-effects of environmental degradation and climate change by conserving biodiversity, saving plants from extinction, shielding communities from natural disasters and serving as a bulwark against atmospheric and noise pollution.
Apart from foliage-rich trees that make tourism spots eco-friendly, saplings of medicinal and fruit-bearing plants as well as rare indigenous species are planted under the project. Former Minister and local MLA V. S. Sivakumar, Tourism Secretary Rani George, IAS, and Tourism Director P. Bala Kiran, IAS, were present.
