Clifton Urban Forest — Miyawaki Reforestation of a Former Karachi Dump Site

After Karachi's 2015 heatwave killed more than 2,000 people, former UNDP climate-finance officer Masood Lohar began converting a 200-acre former trash-dumping ground on the Clifton seashore, on land offered by the Pakistan Navy, into a dense native forest. The project launched on 8 January 2021, coordinated with the Government of Sindh and endorsed by the Chief Minister's Environment Adviser.
Using the Japanese Miyawaki method — planting native species densely to accelerate canopy closure — the project prepared roughly one million Salvadora persica (peelu) saplings at a nursery in Hyderabad alongside moringa, sukhchain, oleander, date palm and wild almond, targeting up to three million trees on the site. The initial nursery and site works were self-funded from Lohar's own pension and provident fund before donations were opened.
Over 700,000 trees have been planted to date. Bird surveys have recorded more than 140 species using the site, including two internationally near-threatened waders — the black-tailed godwit and Eurasian curlew — first documented in October 2022, alongside multiple lizard species. The project won a Google Geo for Good 2023 Impact Award. Because funding and leadership remain concentrated in one founder-led organisation rather than an institutionalised city programme, independent verification of survival rates and long-term maintenance funding is limited compared with government-run schemes.

Read the full analysis: https://cliftonurbanforest.org/