New urban pocket forests have sprouted around Cape Town in Langa, Mitchells Plain, Bo-Kaap, Pinelands and Philippi. They were planted using the Japanese Miyawaki afforestation technique, transforming vulnerable urban spaces into thriving green spaces that support biodiversity and ecosystem restoration.

Using the Miyawaki afforestation technique for cultivating fast-growing groves of native plants, with the dense, mixed planting intended to simulate the layers of a natural forest, the non-profit organisation Mzanzi Organics together with local primary schools has planted 800 indigenous trees and shrubs in 200 sq m of Langa, establishing the area's first forest.

Planting began in January and the Langalibalele Forest was completed in March -- one of five newly planted SUGi pocket forests in Cape Town.

Aghmad Gamieldien, the founder of Mzanzi Organics and a SUGi forest-maker, began planting these forests in vulnerable and densely populated areas after completing a fellowship in 2021 on the Miyawaki forest method with SUGi Pocket Forests -- a non-profit organisation fostering biodiversity-building, ecosystem restoration and reestablishing nature connections in communities.

SUGi works with forest-makers like Gamieldien to deliver these pocket forests across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and South America using the Miyawaki method, planting ultra-dense, biodiverse forests of native and indigenous species.

Key species in the Cape Town forests are assegai, yellowwood, milkwood, red alder and keurboom.

Langalibalele Forest

The field where the Langalibalele Forest was planted was a dump site before the forest was established. "When we were cleaning...