One of a kind project spanning in One and Half Acres of Area at Malad, at Sanjay Gandhi national Park in Mumbai and being supported by our project partner Amazon in various capacities, This initiative is set to make a lasting impact on local biodiversity, soil health and restoration of forest of Sanjay Gandhi national Park, Mumbai.

 The growing population in Mumbai has led to degrading in the protected area of Sanjay Gandhi National Park Forest. Encroachments began and continued to grow over the years in the fringes of the SGNP forest. As per High court orders of clearing of all illegal encroachments from SGNP forest area, forest department has cleared few such encroachments. But to stop these clear areas from being encroached again, additional steps are required. The Forest Department and FORREST collaborated to take up restoration in one of the cleared areas to halt future encroachments.

This habitat restoration is being done in a 1.5 Acre area of SGNP from where encroachments were removed at Malad, Mumbai. Forest restoration is being done with Miyawaki forest restoration technique. A total of 3500 native forest trees of 129 species are being restored in this forest. Restoring forests in the area cleared of encroachments is creating new forest and extending the boundaries of SGNP.

The challenges of such restoration in urban areas are very different from other restorations as the project area is surrounded by slums from three sides and on the fourth side Malad round office of forest dept. is situated.

This is a 3 year project. till the forest becomes self-sustainable. Protection will be a major part of the maintenance which will be taken up in collaboration with the forest department.

Restored tree species includes 10 ficus which are keystone species, Critically Endangered and Endangered species like Commiphora wightii (Guggal), Tecomella undulata (Rohitak),Near threatened species like Aegle marmelos(Bel), Pterocarpus marsupium(Bija), Vulnerable species like Dalbergia latifolia(Kalarukh), Saraca indica(Sita ashok) and many rare species.Restored forest trees have 23 species which restore and stabilize degraded soil, 22 species of drought tolerant trees and 92 medicinally important species.

The forest restoration is changing the attitude of the local community already, making them pro to conservation and value the green space.