Meet Dr RK Nair, man behind world’s largest Miyawaki forest in India who left Anand Mahindra in awe

There is no dearth of heroes in India. And Anand Mahindra keeps reminding us that. This time, he has shared the story of Dr. Radhakrishnan Nair, also known as the Green Hero of India.
Dr. Nair is accredited with building with the world's largest Miyawaki forest in Gujarat. Mahindra -- the billionaire chairman of the Mahindra Group -- lauded Dr. Nair's work in a post on X. "At a time when the U.S has taken sustainability off its priority list I am just grateful that we have such heroes amongst us."

He accompanied the post with a video of a regenerated forest in Gujarat's Kutch -- the largest Miyawaki forest across the globe.

Dr. Nair a pioneer of Miyawaki movement

Dr. Nair, a longtime environmentalist and the founder of the Enviro Creators Foundation, is known for pioneering the Miyawaki movement.

Miyawaki is a method of forestation named after the famed Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.

It is a rapid afforestation technique designed to create dense and native forests in a short span of time. Under it, a variety of indigenous tree species are planted closely together in soil enriched with organic matter -- mimicking natural forest ecosystems.

Dr. Nair built his first Miyawaki forest in 2014 and never looked back, having created more than 100 such forests in several states across the country by now.

His most prominent achievement remains the Smritivan Miyawaki forest in Kutch, Gujarat -- the word's largest of its kind -- spanning 470 acres and home to over 3,00,000 native trees. It serves as a tribute to the victims of the devastating 2001 Gujarat earthquake. And Dr. Nair has no plans to stop anytime soon as he aims to plant 100 crore trees by 2030.