Two and a half years into a community reforestation project in south Nepal we are nearing an end-point. That is quite remarkable, given that reforesting towards establishing forests by a conventional approach takes decades.

Part of the secret has been our use of the rapid-growth Miyawaki Method that I have described in a previous blog post. But, broadly speaking, the Method encourages trees to grow ten times faster, creating forests that are twenty times more biodiverse, thirty times denser and with forty times the carbon sequestration potential of conventional forests.

In our pioneering use of the Method in Nepal, it has certainly delivered what it says on the tin. See the pictures taken below at the same spot in our first Miyawaki project.

There are a number of approaches to restoring nature ranging from fencing off land and letting it recover naturally (without grazers), to planting saplings conventionally, to using the Miyawaki Method. All have a place, but in my opinion the first two options, although comparatively low-cost, take too long to deliver results. Nepal is in crisis as it is in the frontline of three global crises – climate change, loss of biodiversity and soaring poverty and inequality. I believe we need to actively intervene to give nature and associated local communities a helping hand at this critical time.

With hindsight, we didn’t get this project quite right. When we set up our ‘Dhanushadham Bird Park’ project using the Miyawaki Method we thought that we would fence off an area and allow the new forest to become a haven for birds. This has been added to by phases as additional funds have come available. But then something serendipitous happened. We discovered that our six-foot high fence presented no obstacle to the Blue Bull, Asia’s largest antelope, which is the size of a horse. It was able to barge straight through our fencing in search of fodder and shelter.

Thankfully, the growth of the forest has been so prolific that it was able to cope with the attentions of this intruder. However, this has meant that the fencing has started to come down, little by little, which has allowed the ingress also of local people and their livestock. The livestock has included Water Buffalo that kindly leave droppings and disturb the soil with their hooves, both processes that are useful to bugs.

The return of people and livestock is no cause for concern. Quite the opposite. For this is being closely supervised by a warden whom we have appointed to ensure that grazing is controlled and that a balance is struck between the needs of nature and of local people. And this is very much the sweet spot that we have reached; a situation where all living things in the area stand to benefit rather than just the wildlife and visiting tourists. The overlap of wildlife, community upliftment and ecotourism spells success or, if you prefer, sustainability.

It seems to me that we have established a unique model for a rural nature project that is win-win-win for everyone and every living thing in Dhanushadham. Certainly, from what I witnessed last month, it is absolutely teeming with wildlife (not only birds!). That]s because the site benefits from a number of micro-habitats – dense forest, pasture, river and wetland – that make for excellent biodiversity.

This is a model that we will be rolling out in the rest of Dhanusha District over the coming decades. These rural nature projects – wildlife hotspots – will be superimposed on the new wildlife corridors that we will be creating. These will follow the rivers that run north-south from the Chure Hills (that cross mid-Nepal) to the Indian border.

Oh – and since we have created this rural nature project the water table has risen significantly in the immediate area so that villagers no longer need to dig quite so deep to access water. What is there not to like?