ILOILO City – The city government has established its first “forest pocket” along the floodway in Jaro district.
It is a carefully chosen and densely planted collection of native trees, flowering shrubs and plants to put biodiversity pockets of life into neighborhoods and gardens.
According to Executive Assistant for Environment Armando Dayrit, the “Miyawaki method” has been adopted for the city’s forest pocket.
“An area in the floodway is becoming an illegal dumping site of people’s garbage. We have to clear it. The floodway is not a garbage dump,” Dayrit added.
Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki that helps build dense, native forests. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.
Dayrit said the pocket forest has an area of eight meters x 55 meters (440 square meters).
Spaces between fire trees are planted with ylang-ylang, tapuyay, narra, kamansi, tambis, babana, kamagong, bakan, atis, jackfruit, palawan cherry, caballero, and pandakaki.
Already growing in the area are acacia, aratilis, passion fruit, and dwarf coconut.
The executive assistant said they will look for more areas to be transformed into forest pockets.
“We will continue to identify forest pockets to be planted and cultivated,” Dayrit said./PN
