Clifton Urban Forest was initiated by an individual named Shahzad Qureshi after Karachi witnessed its first “official” heat wave in 2015. More than 2000 people died in the region when temperatures reached over 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Karachi (Ref: 1,4). The major culprit for this heat wave was the ‘Urban heat Island’ effects, resulted from the congested concrete build-up and less green cover. At that time everybody started realizing the non-existence of green cover in the city is the reason behind the city being very hot. Qureshi saw a TED talk about the Miyawaki Method, a quickly growing dense urban forest and decided to give that a try. He believed that the Miyawaki Method, which promised a fast and sustainable forest within three years without using any pesticides and chemicals, could transform Karachi (Ref: 4,7). Therefore, in December 2015, he and his team planted the first pilot forest covering about 300 square meters based on Dr Akira Miyawaki’s Methodology in a city-owned site in the Clifton area of Karachi. The area previously was used as an open dumping site. The project landscape design was developed by a German-trained landscape architect on 3 acres area and turned into an urban forest park (Ref: 6, 9). When the project became successful, they expanded the forest to the whole park, which is almost 12,000 square meters. The current project envisions increasing the green cover to restore Karachi's degraded environment by creating evergreen and sustainable forests. It targets to feature 50,000 trees, more than 50 native species, 1.2 km of nature walkways, vegetable gardening, community composting, a butterfly garden, a children's natural playground, a fruit forest, a central lake and a skywalk (Ref: 2, 4). The created forest is self-sustaining with recycled wastewater. It has an organic vegetable garden that provides food for the community, a natural playground for kids, a lake for excess water storage, and a composting and recycling area that absorbs waste from 100 households around the park. Multiple school field trips have been arranged in the park to create awareness among the children about biodiversity and the natural ecosystem (Ref: 5, 6). Moreover, people have been actively visiting the Urban Forest and enjoying the interaction with native plants, and biodiversity and spending some peaceful time for relaxation and leisure (Ref: 9). The project has received a lot of national and international recognition and funds from Sugi Projects, the Rotary club and crowd-sourced from various corporations and individuals (Ref: 7). Since then, Qureshi and his team have created 24 more forests in Pakistan (Ref: 5, 6).
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Blue infrastructure
- Lakes/ponds
- Parks and urban forests
- Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Climate change mitigation
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Green space creation and/or management
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
Focus
Project objectives
Implementation activities
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
- Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat
- Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms
Climate change mitigation:
- Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore native species
- Restore ecological connectivity
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Citizens or community group
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
Project implemented in response to ...
Financing
Total cost
Source(s) of funding
- Corporate investment
- Crowdfunding
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Donations
Non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of labour
- Provision of expertise
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
- Private sector (businesses, financial institution)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Enhanced carbon sequestration
- Water management and blue areas
- Increased protection against flooding
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Reduced biodiversity loss
- Increased number of species present
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased opportunities for social interaction
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
References
2. Urban Forest. (NA). Clifton Model Park. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
3. Arab News. (2022). Pakistanis plant trees to provide relief from scorching sun. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
4. Kusmer, A. (2020). In Karachi, planting dense urban forests could save the city from extreme heat. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
5. Ebrahim, Z. (2018). Building a forest in the heart of Karachi. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
6. Chakraborty, R. (2018). How Shahzad Qureshi is building forests in the middle of Pakistan’s cities with his startup Urban Forest. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
7. Rotary. (2022). Made for the shade. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
8. The Karachi Walla. (2019). City Notebook – Earth Day celebration at Urban Forest in Clifton. Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
9. Euro News. (2022). This rundown park in Karachi has been transformed into a thriving urban forest. (Youtube). Available at: Source link (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
10. Sugi Projects. (NA) Shahzad Qureshi. Available at: Source link. (Accessed: February 07, 2023)
11. Simone Webber on Creating Tomorrow's Forest (2022), The Miyawaki Method for Creating Forests, Available at: Source link (Accessed February 14, 2023)
12. Youline Magazine (2018), Shahzad Qureshi's Miracle: Urban Forest, Clifton, Karachi, Available at: Source link (Accessed February 14, 2023)