About Us
Healing Forests is an organisation working on urban afforestation and forest landscaping. We adopt the revolutionary method developed by the Japanese botanist Dr. Akira Miyawaki. This method helps to create fastest growing self sustainable native forests in the shortest time period. It also helps quickly to recreate a dense canopy reminiscent of indigenous forests. This method has worked successfully in over 3000 sites around the world, including the Amazon, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Italy, France, USA, Iran and Lebanon besides Japan. The Miyawaki method was pioneered in India by Mr. Shubhendu Sharma in 2010. Over 300 Miyawaki micro-forests have been created In India alone since then. We have been trained by him on the rigors of Miyawaki approach and we follow it without any compromise. In our large landscaping projects, we use combination of Miyawaki method with conventional plating procedures and elements such as ponds, sitting areas, pathways etc to achieve an aesthetic and comprehensive transformation of the area.
Transparent Process
As the Miyawaki method involves elaborate processes in order to achieve the extraordinary results, it mandates large resources and hence it is relatively expensive. But the initial costs are fully justifiable considering the long term benefits and self-sustainability of the forests. Besides that, we at Healing Forests make every effort to keep the expenses minimal and our process transparent.
We keep the options of charging only the consulting and supervising fee where the client can pay for the materials and labor directly, so that the client knows where and how the money is being spent. For public spaces such as educational institutions, hospitals, parks etc, our fee would be subsidized.
Services
- Creating Miyawaki method urban micro-forests for educational institutions, hospitals, factories, offices, residential areas, public spaces etc.
- Natural landscaping, ideal for larger projects. Miyawaki micro-forests with ponds, rock structures, sculptures, installations, pathways, sitting areas, cottages and other elements to create an aesthetically pleasing landscape. We specialize in tropical landscaping with native species.
- Re-forestation of larger areas using combination of techniques.
- Butterfly Groves with butterfly larval host plants, shrubs, trees and climbers.
- Botanical Theme Parks.
Key People
Babu Gangadharan (Founder)
Inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s One Straw Revolution, he dropped out from the academic studies in Kerala in 80’s and went to the Rasulia commune, Madhya Pradesh to explore the natural farming methods proposed by Fukuoka. After a year at the commune, he moved to live with the Bhilala tribals in the forests of M.P for another year. Forests have been his passion from an early stage of life. He used to participate in wild animal census program conducted by the forest department of Kerala while in college. That was a rare opportunity to tread into the untouched evergreen forests of Kerala and camp inside the forests. That gave the exceptional forest experiences and the chance to observe the it from deep inside. This apart, many visits to forests whenever possible deepened his connection with the forests. It was only a natural choice after 25 years of urban life in Bangalore, to re-connect with forests and nature. He took training from Mr. Shubhendhu Sharma who pioneered the Miyawaki forest making in India since 2010. He also participated in Miyawaki forest tree planting; several site studies etc in Bangalore before founding Healing Forests. He continues his study of native tree species and soil micro-biology to understand the forest making better. Rasulia commune was perhaps one of the early permaculture centers in India, he plans to explore the permaculture system as well as an extension of forest making. He is also a filmmaker, creative consultant and co-founder of Filmocracy Foundation (www.filmocracy.in).
Gireesh V G (Project Manager)
His skills are to organize materials, equipments and to manage human resources required for forest making. He schedules the workflows and manages them meticulously.
