Miyawaki Forest Plantation in Bangalore

BBMP reported a 64.5% survival rate for trees planted between 2007 and 2013, while independent counts at the time put the real figure closer to 20-25%, and in some stretches as low as 10%, which is the gap a Miyawaki plot is designed to close through dense planting, soil preparation and a maintenance period rather than a one-time planting event.

For a CSR programme, that survival number is also what turns into a defensible report, since a forest that is still being watered, weeded and checked a year after planting has a verifiable count in a way that a roadside sapling planted and left does not.

Native species on prepared ground

We plant species already established in Bangalore's public forests, such as the native ficus, cassia and polyalthia found through Cubbon Park, alongside other locally adapted natives, chosen for the specific plot's soil rather than a fixed national list.

The 2017 Karnataka High Court order followed evidence that BBMP's own reported survival numbers did not match what independent surveys found on the ground, and it directed the corporation to plant a further ten lakh street trees along with a citizen-facing tracking app, a response that underlines how much documentation matters once a planting programme is challenged.

A method suited to small, awkward plots

Many CSR-funded plots available to companies in and around Bangalore are oddly shaped corners of land rather than open fields, left over after a campus or a road widening, and the Miyawaki method's dense planting on prepared soil works well on exactly that kind of small, awkward footprint where a conventional avenue-style planting would look thin.