An engineer's vision for tiny forests, everywhere

A forest planted by humans, then left to nature’s own devices, typically takes at least 100 years to mature. But what if we could make the process happen 10 times faster? In this short talk, eco-entrepreneur (and TED Fellow) Shubhendu Sharma explains how to create a mini-forest ecosystem anywhere.

I'm an industrial engineer.

The goal in my life has always been to make

more and more products

in the least amount of time and resources.

While working at Toyota,

all I knew was how to make cars

until I met Dr. Akira Miyawaki,

who came to our factory to make a forest in it

in order to make it carbon-neutral.

I was so fascinated

that I decided to learn this methodology

by joining his team as a volunteer.

Soon, I started making a forest

in the backyard of my own house,

and this is how it looks after three years.

These forests,

compared to a conventional plantation,

grow 10 times faster,

they're 30 times more dense,

and 100 times more biodiverse.

Within two years of having this forest in our backyard,

I could observe that the groundwater

didn't dry during summers,

the number of bird species I spotted in this area

doubled.

Quality of air became better,

and we started harvesting seasonal fruits

growing effortlessly

right in the backyard of our house.

I wanted to make more of these forests.

I was so moved by these results

that I wanted to make these forests

with the same acumen with which we make cars

or write software or do any mainstream business,

so I founded a company

which is an end-to-end service provider

to create these native natural forests.

But to make afforestation as a mainstream business

or an industry, we had to standardize

the process of forest-making.

So we benchmarked the Toyota Production System

known for its quality and efficiency

for the process of forest-making.

For an example, the core of TPS,

Toyota Production System, lies in heijunka,

which is making manufacturing

of different models of cars

on a single assembly line.

We replaced these cars with trees,

using which now we can make multi-layered forests.

These forests utilize 100 percent vertical space.

They are so dense

that one can't even walk into them.

For an example, we can make a 300-tree forest

in an area as small as the parking spaces of six cars.

In order to reduce cost and our own carbon footprint,

we started utilizing local biomass

as soil amender and fertilizers.

For example, coconut shells crushed in a machine

mixed with rice straw,

powder of rice husk mixed with organic manure

is finally dumped in soil on which

our forest is planted.

Once planted, we use grass or rice straw

to cover the soil

so that all the water which goes into irrigation

doesn't get evaporated back into the atmosphere.

And using these simple improvisations,

today we can make a forest

for a cost as low as the cost of an iPhone.

Today, we are making forests in houses,

in schools, even in factories with the corporates.

But that's not enough.

There is a huge number of people

who want to take matters into their own hands.

So we let it happen.

Today, we are working on an Internet-based platform

where we are going to share our methodology

on an open source

using which anyone and everyone

can make their own forest

without our physical presence being there,

using our methodology.

At the click of a button,

they can get to know all the native species

of their place.

By installing a small hardware probe on site,

we can do remote soil testing,

using which we can give step-by-step instructions

on forest-making remotely.

Also we can monitor the growth of this forest

without being on site.

This methodology, I believe,

has a potential.

By sharing, we can actually
bring back our native forests.

Now, when you go back home,

if you see a barren piece of land,

do remember that it can be a potential forest.

Thank you very much. Thanks.

(Applause)