Aanchal Bansal 
The Miyawaki method has been previously used successfully in other parts of the country. Picture for Representational Purpose only.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has employed the Japanese method of Miyawaki urban forestry with the goal of turning the infamous garbage mountain at the Ghazipur landfill into a biodiversity park.
A municipal official informed The Times of India that more than 1,000 saplings of 40 native Indian species have been planted using the Miyawaki method over 450-square metres. “The system developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki reportedly promotes the growth of forests ten times faster and 30 times denser than through traditional plantation methods. The same methodology was used earlier near Barapulla drain at Sarai Kale Khan by Delhi Development Authority and the Union government’s department of biotechnology to reclaim a swampy sewage area and turn it into a carbon sink.
The Ghazipur landfill is currently being freed of legacy waste through bio-mining and trommeling. EDMC is removing more than 3,600 tonnes of waste every day from the site. The NGT had directed the biomining of the landfill instead of capping and turning the garbage dump into biodiversity parks. If successfully reclaimed through bio-mining and trommeling, there will be 70 acres of land at Ghazipur to be forested.
Picture Credit: BemanHerish, Afforestation at Kanakakunnu, CC BY-SA 4.0
