How the Miyawaki method of creating tiny forests could be the solution to Perth's tree canopy issues

Pocket forests are popping up around Australia in spaces as small as a car parking spot, a tennis court or a street verge.

Transcript

00:00This is a pocket forest taking shape at a Perth school.

00:07It's very exciting.

00:08It's exciting.

00:09It's fun.

00:10It's fun.

00:11And I love it the most because I love animals and nature.

00:13They can fit into spaces the size of a car parking spot,

00:16a tennis court or a street verge.

00:18Under the guidance of Dr Greg Copeland,

00:20these students are following the Miyawaki method.

00:23That looks pretty good.

00:24Which has three main principles.

00:26It's planting locally native species

00:28that are specifically adapted to the area in which you're planting them.

00:32Soil remediation and the high density planting

00:34and all those things marry together to create the Miyawaki method

00:38and all the amazing benefits that you see from it.

00:40And it seems to work.

00:42This one here was planted just two years ago and look at it now.

00:46One of the benefits is cooling the urban landscape.

00:49It was a 43 degree day.

00:51It was 69 degrees on the local basketball court,

00:5542 degrees in the forest and then even 48 degrees on the grass.

01:00Once planted, the forests become part of the school curriculum.

01:03The more they are immersed in nature, the more they care about it.

01:07The children who participate in this program,

01:09some have never played in the dirt before,

01:11some have never planted a plant before.

01:13As part of the project,

01:15the health and wellbeing of students who interact with the forest

01:18will be measured against students who aren't involved.

01:21We want to re-engage children with nature.

01:23We've got children on one end of the spectrum

01:25who are really worried about the climate crisis

01:28and feel that they can't do anything about it.

01:30At the other end of the spectrum,

01:31we've got kids who are just on their iPads and their screens

01:34and totally disengaged.

01:35What's better, a forest or a classroom?

01:38Forest!

01:40Small forests with big potential.