Akira Miyawaki

He was professor emeritus at Yokohama National University and director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology since 1993. He received the Blue Planet Prize in 2006.

Thesis Beginning in the 1970s, Miyawaki advocated for the restoration of natural forests. In 1992, he said he believed that the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro failed to emphasize the protection of native forests, most of which continued to decline.

Miyawaki observed trees that traditionally grew around temples, shrines, and cemeteries in Japan, such as the Japanese blue oak, Castanopsis cuspidata, bamboo-leaf oak, Japanese chestnut trees, and Machilus thunbergii. He believed that they were relicts of the primary forest. Meanwhile, he noted that trees such as Japanese cedar, cypress and larch pine, supposedly native to Japan, had been introduced into Japan over centuries by foresters to produce timber. Miyawaki reflected on the consequences of the change in composition and structure of most Japanese forests, most of which do not contain solely their original natural vegetation.

He calculated that only 0.06% of contemporary Japanese forests were indigenous forests. Contemporary forests, created according to forestry principles, in his opinion, are neither the most suitable candidates to address climate change nor the most resilient vegetation for the geo-bioclimatic conditions of Japan.

Using the concept of potential natural vegetation, Miyawaki developed, tested, and refined a method of ecological engineering today known as the Miyawaki method to restore native forests from seeds of native trees on very degraded soils that were deforested and without humus. With the results of his experiments, he restored protective forests in over 1,300 sites in Japan and various tropical countries, in particular in the Pacific region in the form of shelterbelts, woodlands, and woodlots, including urban, port, and industrial areas. Miyawaki demonstrated that rapid restoration of forest cover and soil was possible by using a selection of pioneer and secondary indigenous species that were densely planted and provided with mycorrhiza.

Reinhold Tüxen (1899–1980), who headed the Federal Institute for Vegetation Mapping, invited him to Germany. Miyawaki worked with him on potential natural vegetation from 1956 to 1958.

Miyawaki returned to Japan in 1960 and applied the methods of mapping potential natural vegetation. He found relicts of ancient forests still present in the vicinity of temples and shrines (surrounding sacred groves). He inventoried over 10,000 sites throughout Japan, and was able to identify potential flora affected by different types of human activity, including in mountainous areas, riverbanks, rural villages, and urban areas.

From the data collected, he created maps of existing vegetation and maps of potential natural vegetation. His maps are still used as a basis for scientific research and impact studies, and as a tool for land use, diagnosis and for mapping biological corridors. These maps of potential natural vegetation serve as a model to restore degraded habitats and native plant environments.

From 1980 to 1990, in cooperation with laboratories of phytoecology and universities, Miyawaki led botanical and phytosociological inventories to map vegetation throughout Japan, compiled into a ten-volume, 6,000-page study.

Miyawaki identified the potential natural vegetation of the area, and studied the forests surrounding two nearby tombs (Usa and Yusuhara). He chose various species of trees that he tested on the substrate to be afforested, and created a nursery where plants were mixed and then planted on the site. The steel corporation was satisfied with the results, and planted forests at its steel mills in Nagoya, Sakai, Kamaishi, Futtu, Hikari, Muroran, and Yawata. The original method was adapted while maintaining its theoretical principles. The results obtained after two and eleven years following planting were positive: plant biodiversity was high, and the new biocoenosis was able to improve without further operative support. On the other hand, between 61% and 84% of the newly planted trees had died after a period of twelve years.

France In 2018, the Miyawaki method was implemented by the boomforest.org team in Paris, France, to restore a 400-square meter area near Porte de Montreuil, in the Boulevard Périphérique, a controlled-access dual-carriageway ring road around the city. In 2021, a 180-square meter area that used to be a parking lot in a residential district near Bordeaux's Saint-Jean railway station was converted into the city's first mini-forest.

India In 2013, the Miyawaki method was applied in the Barapani Industrial Area of Umiam in northeast India.

Since that same date, the Anarghyaa Foundation has created Miyawaki forests in rural areas of north Bengaluru. The Anarghyaa Foundation will be creating mini-forests by planting lakh trees with the Miywaki method across Karnataka within the next year {which year?}.

In December 2019, the Annapradokshana Charitable Trust turned unused space in government schools into mini-forests by adopting the Miyawaki system at the Nonankuppam Government Higher Secondary School and the Vivekananda Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Villianur, Pondicherry.

The Sikh NGO, EcoSikh, has planted over 400 forests it calls 'Guru Nanak Sacred Forests' consisting of native plant species, using the Miyawaki method.

In June 2023, Xiaomi India partnered with United Way India (UWI) to create a mini-forest in Delhi NCR, following the Miyawaki initiative to promote ecological balance in the region. Under the program, 12,000 saplings of more than 60 different species will be planted.

Nearly 2 acres of Miyawaki Forest is being developed near Statue of Unity at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat.

United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, Miyawaki's "tiny forest" method was adopted by the environmental charity Earthwatch Europe with the aim to develop a hundred urban projects nationwide by 2023.

United States The first Miyawaki forests in the United States were planted in industrial areas of Indiana and Kentucky in 2014. Since then forests have been planted in New Haven and Madison, Indiana, as well as Camp Washingtion, Ohio. Other midwest forests have been planted in Markham, Illinois, Rochester, Michigan, Grand Forks, North Dakota, La Crosse, Wisconsin, the campus of University of Iowa, and Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota.

Massachusetts has at least twenty Miyawaki forests, with three in Cambridge and two newly planted in Worcester. The Cambridge Department of Public Works, with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and Natural Urban Forests, planted the first in the northeastern United States in Danehy Park in September 2021 and a second in Greene-Rose Heritage Park in November 2022. A third was planted on private property in 2023. There are at least two in Brookline, one in Somerville, and one in Brighton. In May 2024, Worcester completed the planting of two Miyawaki forests—one reclaiming a formerly paved section of the municipal parking lot at the Worcester Public Library, and another on private land bordering a low-income housing complex. Both are in heat island neighborhoods.

Other American Miyawaki forests have been planted in Griffith Park in Los Angeles and on Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state. A forest was planted in Bridgeport, Connecticut in the summer of 2026.

Pakistan In January 2021, Masood Lohar, a former UNDP officer, created the Clifton Urban Forest in Karachi, a private initiative operating over 200 acres on a coastline landfill site and following Miyawaki's techniques. In November, Karachi municipality announced a plan for growing 300 Miyawaki forests.

In August 2021, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, inaugurated the largest urban Miyawaki forest project in the world at Saggian. Using a technique pioneered by the late Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, the forest covers 12.5 acres and has more than 165,000 plants.

Method and conditions for success

The method's reconstitution of "indigenous forests by indigenous trees" produces rich, dense and efficient protective pioneer forests in 20 to 30 years, where natural succession would need 200 years in temperate Japan and 300 to 500 years in the tropics. Success requires compliance with the following phases:

Rigorous initial site survey and research of potential natural vegetation Identification and collection of a large number of various native seeds, locally or nearby and in a comparable geo-climatic context Germination in a nursery (which requires additional maintenance for some species; for example, those that germinate only after passing through the digestive tract of a certain animal, need a particular symbiotic fungus, or a cold induced dorming phase) Preparation of the substrate if it is very degraded, such as the addition of organic matter or mulch, and, in areas with heavy or torrential rainfall, planting mounds for taproot species that require a well-drained soil surface. Hill slopes can be planted with more ubiquitous surface roots species, such as cedar, Japanese cypress, and pine. Plantations respecting biodiversity inspired by the model of the natural forest. A dense plantation of very young seedlings (but with an already mature root system: with symbiotic bacteria and fungi present) is recommended. Density aims at stirring competition between species and the onset of phytosociological relations close to what would happen in nature (three to five plants per square metre in the temperate zone, up to five or ten seedlings per square metre in Borneo). Plantations randomly distributed in space in the way plants are distributed in a clearing or at the edge of the natural forest, not in rows or staggered

Results According to the classical theory of succession initiated by Frederic Clements in the U.S., a young native forest with a multi-layered community would need 150 to 200 years to restore itself on bare soil in Japan, and it would take at least 300 years to do the same in the tropics of Southeast Asia.

Miyawaki extensively tested the method in deforested sites in dry tropical zones in Thailand, alluvial tropical forests in the Brazilian Amazon, and the old Nothofagus forest area in Concepción, Chile.

In 1998, Miyawaki piloted a reforestation program dominated by Quercus mongolica along the Great Wall of China, and gathered 4,000 people to plant 400,000 trees, with the support of the Aeon Environment Foundation and the city of Beijing. The first trees planted by groups of Chinese and Japanese, on areas where the forest had long since gone, grew over 3 m high in 2004 and – except for one part – continued to thrive in 2007.

Miyawaki also contributed to the massive reforestation in China by its government and Chinese citizens in Pudong, Qingdao, Ningbo, and Ma'anshan.

Miyawaki received the 2006 Blue Planet Award for environmental conservation. The method was also presented in 1991 at the Symposium of the University of Bonn, and at the congresses of the International Association for Ecology, the International Society for Vegetation Science, and the International Botanical Congress, which included new aspects such as the links between growth, natural habitat, and estimated carbon fixation.

Criticism One criticism is the high cost of the initial establishment of a Miyawaki forest (nursery, soil preparation, dense planting) - around 3000 Euros per 100m²,

Other criticisms focus on the efficacy of a man-made forest versus a naturally developed forest.

Miyawaki forests have also been criticized for ignoring site-specific ecological niches and serving as a newer option for corporate greenwashing, while maintaining the timber industry illusion that primary forests can be recreated quickly and easily. 1952: Diploma in biology, Hiroshima University

Publications

In English Miyawaki A (1992). Restoration of Evergreen Broad-leaved Forests in the Pacific Region. In: M.K. Wali (ed.). Ecosystem Rehabilitation. 2. Ecosystem Analysis and synthesis. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague Miyawaki A, K. Fujiwara & E.O. Box (1987). Toward harmonious green urban environments in Japan and other countries. Bull. Inst. Environ. Sci. Technol.. Yokohama Natl. Univ. 14: Yokohama. Miyawaki A & S. Okuda (1991). Vegetation of Japan Illustrated. Shibundo, Tokyo (Japanese) Miyawaki A et al. (1983). Handbook of Japanese Vegetation, Shibundo, Tokyo Miyawaki A (1980-1989). Vegetation of Japan. vol. 1-10 Miyawaki A (1985). Vegetation-Ecological Studies on Mangrove Forests in Thailand, Inst. Environ. Sci. Technol. Yokohama Natl. Univ., Yokohama Miyawaki A, Bogenrider, S. Okuda & I. White (1987). Vegetation Ecology and Creation of New Environments. Proceedings of International Symp. in Tokyo and Phytogeographical Excursion through Central Japan. Tokai Univ. Press, Tokyo Miyawaki A, & E. O. Box (1996). The Healing Power of Forests -The Philosophy behind Restoring Earth's Balance with Native Trees. 286 p. Kosei Publishing Co. Tokyo Miyawaki A, Plants and Human (NHK Books) Miyawaki A, The Last Day for Man (Chikuma Shobo) Miyawaki A, Testimony by Green Plants (Tokyo Shoseki) Miyawaki A, Prescription for Restoration of Green Environments (Asahi Shinbun-sha) Miyawaki A, Chinju-no-mori (Native Forests of Native Trees) (Shincho-sha).

In Japanese 日本植生誌 , edition 至文堂, 2000. 植物と人間 , editions NHK 緑回復の処方箋 鎮守の森 , Shinshio Journal (新潮) いのちを守るドングリの森 東京に「いのちの森」を!, 2018.