KARACHI: Urban forests may help address the destructive impact of global warming on Pakistan’s seaside metropolis of Karachi, environmentalists say, as the local administration announced a decision to employ the Japanese Miyawaki method to increase the city’s tree cover.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2020 ranked Pakistan fifth on a list of countries most affected by planetary heating over the past two decades. Karachi, the country’s largest city, has been particularly hit by global warming and seen deadly heatwaves in recent years.
Karachi administrator Murtaza Wahab last week announced the provincial government would plant 300 Miyawaki forests across the city to help restore its biodiversity and reverse the effects of climate change.
The Miyawaki method, developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1980s involves planting two to four trees per square meter. The dense forests grow in two to three years and are self-sustaining. They help lower temperatures, reduce pollution and increase biodiversity by attracting various species of birds and insects.
“If we have trees planted around us, they will protect us,” Shahzad Qureshi, who introduced the Miyawaki forest concept in Pakistan in 2015, told Arab News.
This picture taken on October 27, 2021, shows a Miyawaki forest inside the Jinnah Urban Forest in Karachi, Pakistan. (AN photo by S.A. Babar)
The Clifton Urban Forest, which he planted after Karachi heatwaves killed over 1,500 in June 2015, served as a pilot project that proved the effectiveness of the Miyawaki method.
“The average temperature is increasing worldwide and internationally efforts are being made to control and counter the negative impacts of climate change,” Qureshi said. “Localized solution is to create greenery, which may not only counter heatwave but these will also help stop flash floods and absorb the water.”
He added, however, that 300 forests may not be enough to address the problems the city of over 16 million people is facing.
“These forests should be set up in thousands, not hundreds in Karachi,” Qureshi said. “This is the fastest method in which one creates a dense green spot which attracts biodiversity and native species besides amplifying the benefits greenery by thirty times.”
Masood Ahmed Lohar, an environmental expert who recently planned an urban forest on the Clifton beach, told Arab News the Miyawaki method was just one of the options, while there were also traditional ones such as the plantation of acacia tree, known as hurri. What matters is to make the city greener.
“We have large swathes of land in Karachi that can be used for urban forests,” he said. “To beat the heat and restore the biodiversity, 25 percent of the Karachi needs to be green.”
