UP Adopts Japanese Miyawaki Technique to Plant Mini-Forests in 17 Cities

Uttar Pradesh has launched the Upvan Scheme, allocating ₹70 crore to create mini-forests across 17 municipal corporations. The initiative aims to combat the urban heat island effect, which causes cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, and Prayagraj to experience significantly higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas.

The Miyawaki forest technique is a method of rapid afforestation pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. It involves planting native species densely in a small area to create self-sustaining forests that grow 10 times faster and are 30 times denser than conventional plantations.

The method is particularly effective in urban areas, where space is limited but green cover is essential.

Traditional methods take decades to establish a mature forest, while Miyawaki forests can become self-sustaining in just 2-3 years. Moreover, Traditional methods often rely on monoculture plantations, which lack biodiversity and are more vulnerable to pests and climate shifts.

This technique is gaining popularity in India, with cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Lucknow adopting it for urban greening.

Each selected city in Uttar Pradesh will receive up to 3 crore to develop green zones spanning 2,000 square meters, with a focus on Miyawaki forests, a dense planting technique proven to lower surface temperatures. Officials will use GIS mapping and thermal data to identify high-risk zones, ensuring maximum cooling benefits.

This marks UP's first dedicated budget for urban cooling, signaling a shift toward climate-resilient urban planning. This initiative is part of UP’s broader effort to combat climate change and improve air quality.

Organizations like Grow Billion Trees have partnered with the UP government to expand Miyawaki forests across the state. Miyawaki forests in UP have transformed barren lands into thriving ecosystems, supporting local wildlife and improving soil fertility.

During the Maha Kumbh festival, the UP government used the Miyawaki method to increase green cover and create self-sustaining forests.

For the 1st Time, The Incredible Amazon Rainforest Gets Fiber Broadband Network

Known as the 'Lungs of the Earth' and the world's largest rain forest — Amazon Rainforest — has been equipped with a fiber broadband network. This groundbreaking project was carried out by Nokia in partnership with Global Fiber Peru, and the network is deployed underwater. 

Since Amazon has the world's largest river system and the most biologically diverse place on Earth containing millions of species, most of them still undescribed, the fiber cables used for subaquatic deployment are specially designed to withstand the underwater environment, including pressure, temperature variations, and potential damage from wildlife or natural occurrences.

The deployment of this subaquatic optical, IP, and XGS-PON fiber broadband network is a significant step towards bridging the digital divide in the incredible Amazon region.

The network is set to connect over 400 communities and more than 500,000 users across the heart of the Amazon rainforest, particularly in the three-border region shared by Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. This includes the localities of Iquitos and Santa Rosa de Yaraví in Peru, Leticia in Colombia, and Tabatinga in Brazil, which now have access to ultra-fast, multi-gigabit broadband services.

Dubbed as "Amazon Fiber", the first mega project with a deployment that has more than 1,600 km of subfluvial fiber optics, this initiative is expected to have a profound impact on the social, economic, and educational development of the region, providing high-quality internet access to thousands of people for the first time.

The deployment of the fiber network underwater in the Amazon Rainforest was a complex process that involved several steps and specialized equipment. Before laying the fiber cables, a detailed survey of the riverbed is conducted to determine the best route and identify any potential obstacles.

The fiber cable is laid on the riverbed using specialized ships or barges equipped with cable-laying gear. The process is carefully monitored to ensure the cable follows the planned route and is laid down smoothly. Once the cable is in place, it may be buried under the riverbed for additional protection or covered with protective materials to prevent damage.

After the cable is laid, it is connected to the network on land, and extensive testing is conducted to ensure the integrity and performance of the connection.

Nokia said that regular maintenance is required to ensure the network remains operational. This can include inspections and repairs if any part of the network is damaged or degraded. Underwater networks are more challenging to access for maintenance and repairs. Any issues that arise require specialized equipment and trained personnel to address them.

Technology Stack

In the case of Nokia's project with Global Fiber Peru, the companies deployed a complete solution that included their 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), 7750 service routers, 7250 interconnect routers, 7210 services access systems (SAS), network service platform (NSP), FX 8 and FX 16 optical line terminals (OLT), fiber optical network terminals (ONTs), and Nokia Beacon 1 devices to ensure a premium Wi-Fi experience within customer premises.

The deployment was made in collaboration with FYCO, a local partner specialized in fiber telecom networks in Latin America. They also provided training, professional services, and maintenance services as part of the project.

This project is a significant achievement as it bridges a considerable digital gap in remote areas previously inaccessible by traditional means. It's a testament to the advancements in technology and the commitment to providing connectivity even in the most challenging environments.

India's Forests Cover Increased By 5516 Sq. Km.

Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). There has been an increase in forest cover of the country by 5516 square kilometre between ISFR 2017 and ISFR 2021. The State/UTs wise details of change in Forest Cover including the State of Chhattisgarh between ISFR 2017 and ISFR 2021 are given in Annexure-I (below this content) .

The Ministry supports the States/Union Territories for carrying out afforestation activities through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely Green India Mission. This flagship afforestation scheme of the Ministry, aims to undertake afforestation activities in degraded forest areas with people’s participation. The scheme promotes environmental conservation and rain water harvesting through afforestation and tree plantation, restoration of degraded forest landscapes, habitat improvement including through soil moisture conservation activities.

The details of fund released under Green India Mission to the State of Chhattisgarh during the last five years are as follows.

Year	Fund released under GIM (Rs. In Crores)
2018-19	5.36
2019-20	5.04
2020-21	1.66
2021-22	6.12
2022-23	Nil
2023-24	Nil
Total	18.18

 

Afforestation activities are also undertaken in a major way under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund as per the provisions of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 and the Rules made there under. The approved Annual Plan of Operations (APO) for State of Chhattisgarh for undertaking activities under the State CAMPA fund during the last five years are as follows: -

Year	Amount approved in APO under State CAMPA  (Rs. In Crore)
2018-19	897.52
2019-20	848.51
2020-21	1347.02
2021-22	1500.75
2022-23	688.47
2023-24	471.36

The Ministry is also implementing the Nagar Van Yojana which envisages creation of 600 Nagar Vans and 400 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period 2020-21 to 2026-27. The Nagar Van Yojana aims at enhancing the green cover in the urban and peri-urban areas and augmenting biological diversity.

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes and schemes of line Ministries such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc. and under schemes of State Governments/UT Administrations through different departments, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Societies, Corporate bodies etc. The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing forest cover in the country. 

Annexure-I

(Area in Square Kilometre)

S.No.	States/UTs	Geographical area	Forest Cover	Change in Forest Cover between ISFR 2017 & ISFR 2021  (b-a)
ISFR 2017 (a)	ISFR 2021(b)
1	Andhra Pradesh	1,62,968	28,147	29,784	1,637
2	Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	66,964	66,431	-533
3	Assam	78,438	28,105	28,312	207
4	Bihar	94,163	7,299	7,381	82
5	Chhattisgarh	1,35,192	55,547	55,717	170
6	Delhi	1,483	192.41	195.00	2.59
7	Goa	3,702	2,229	2,244	15
8	Gujarat	1,96,244	14,757	14,926	169
9	Haryana	44,212	1,588	1,603	15
10	Himachal Pradesh	55,673	15,100	15,443	343
11	Jharkhand	79,716	23,553	23,721	168
12	Karnataka	1,91,791	37,550	38,730	1,180
13	Kerala	38,852	20,321	21,253	932
14	Madhya Pradesh	3,08,252	77,414	77,493	79
15	Maharashtra	3,07,713	50,682	50,798	116
16	Manipur	22,327	17,346	16,598	-748
17	Meghalaya	22,429	17,146	17,046	-100
18	Mizoram	21,081	18,186	17,820	-366
19	Nagaland	16,579	12,489	12,251	-238
20	Odisha	1,55,707	51,345	52,156	811
21	Punjab	50,362	1,837	1,847	10
22	Rajasthan	3,42,239	16,572	16,655	83
23	Sikkim	7,096	3,344	3,341	-3
24	Tamil Nadu	1,30,060	26,281	26,419	138
25	Telangana	1,12,077	20,419	21,214	795
26	Tripura	10,486	7,726	7,722	-4
27	Uttar Pradesh	2,40,928	14,679	14,818	139
28	Uttarakhand	53,483	24,295	24,305	10
29	West Bengal	88,752	16,847	16,832	-15
30	A&N Islands	8,249	6,742	6,744	2
31	Chandigarh	114	21.56	22.88	1.32
32	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	491	207	227.75	0.26
33	Daman & Diu	111	20.49
34	Jammu & Kashmir	2,22,236	23,241	21,387	-1,854
35	Ladakh	0	2,272	2,272
36	Lakshadweep	30	27.10	27.10	0.00
37	Puducherry	490	53.67	53.30	-0.37
	Grand Total	32,87,469	7,08,273	7,13,789	5,516

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday. 

Climate Change Strongly Affects Future Fire Weather Danger in Indian Forests – IIT Delhi Study

Human activity is causing the earth’s climate to change in unprecedented ways. Atmospheric temperatures are rising rapidly and will continue to rise in the future. These warming temperatures will increase the fire weather danger in many Indian forests, according to a recent study by IIT Delhi.

IIT Delhi researchers developed a very high-resolution data set of future climate projections and used that data to calculate the Fire Weather Index (FWI) for forest regions of India. The results showed that forests in Central and South India and the Himalayan region will see significant increases in FWI by the end of the century. The fire season in these regions will also increase by 12-61 days.

FWI zones over India

Study area depicting a topography and b classified FWI Zones over India.

These findings align well with the conventional wisdom that higher temperatures increase forest fire hazard. Interestingly, the study showed that not to be the case in all forests. Humid tropical forests in the Western Ghats and parts of the North-East, where rainfall and humidity are projected to rise, will experience lower FWI despite the warming.

Dr. Somnath Baidya Roy, Professor and Head of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, and a co-author of the study, said, “We must study forest fires in India at a high degree of granularity to properly represent the diversity in climate and forest types across the country. Course resolution global scale studies simply don’t work for us.”

Anasuya Barik, PhD student at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences and the lead author of the study, said, “Our study is the first of its kind in India and has significant implications for understanding and managing forest fires. Our study shows that we need to develop fire danger thresholds and management policies at local levels instead of national levels.”

The study was published in Communications Earth and Environment, a highly ranked journal from the Nature Springer group and is available online at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-01112-w.

India No.3 in Top-10 Countries with Increasing Forest Areas as per UN Agency

The world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion hectares (ha), which is 31 percent of the total land area. This area is equivalent to 0.52 ha per person – although forests are not distributed equally among the world’s people or geographically.

According to a latest report of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world has lost a net area of 178 million ha of forest since 1990, which is an area about the size of Libya. More than half (54 percent) of the world’s forests is in only five countries – the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China.

When it comes to average annual net gain in forest area, China, Australia and India are among top-3 countries for period of 2010–2020. However, it is to be noted that there was also a reduction in the rate of gain in South and Southeast Asia; the average annual increase in planted forest area in India, for example, was 365 000 ha in 1990–2000 then => 341 000 ha in 2000–2010, and then => only 49,100 ha 2010–2020.

The rate of net forest loss decreased substantially over the period 1990–2020 due to a reduction in deforestation in some countries, plus increases in forest area in others through afforestation and the natural expansion of forests. The rate of net forest loss declined from 7.8 million ha per year in the decade 1990–2000 to 5.2 million ha per year in 2000–2010 and 4.7 million ha per year in 2010–2020.

The rate of decline of net forest loss slowed in the most recent decade due to a reduction in the rate of forest expansion.

Bamboo Plantation

The total area of bamboo increased by almost 50 percent between 1990 and 2020 (Figure 13), largely because of increases in China and India.

Govt and Local/Tribal Managed Forests -

In Asia, the area of public forest managed by public administrations decreased and the area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities increased, due largely to India and the implementation of joint forest management (a participatory management regime involving the government and local communities in the regeneration and management of degraded forests). 

The forest area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities in India increased from zero in 1990 to about 25 million ha in 2015.