A child darts out from a bamboo thicket that meanders around a huge forest. His friends follow him, laughing as they spill onto a green lawn with yellow, white and purple flowers. A massive clock that reminds us that we are at Titan Time Park. A pocket forest in Hosur - an industrial hub home to several factories including Titan’s.
"These forests exemplify Titan's vision of an inclusive world, one where society thrives economically and sustainably."
Urban Forest
About Titan’s commitment to the environment, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mr. N E Sridhar says, “Wherever it had its operations, Titan has always played its part in improving the environment. It has encouraged all employees as well as their families to plant saplings. But over the years, we found that many saplings didn’t survive. And we needed a better solution. So that’s when we discovered the idea of a Miyawaki forest –a unique method of afforestation developed by Japanese scientist Akira Miyawaki. The Hosur park is a Miyawaki forest.
Miyawaki forests use nature’s very own ecosystems to create fast growing forests. Species that are native to the local climate are planted making them easy to establish. A diverse mix of seeds are used to mimic the natural interaction of seeds in a forest.
Titan’s Initiative
To meet Hosur’s need of the hour, Mr. Vairavel, Manager of Sustainability, was tasked to lead the Miyawaki project at Titan. Municipal officials helped us identify an abandoned, one-acre plot of land near the factory. Mr. Varivel says, “Since composting was the environmentally friendly thing to do, we put dry and food waste from our factory to good use. This would otherwise have gone into a landfill. Our factory people really supported this effort, making sure waste was segregated and provided to us on a regular basis.
Once the soil was fertile and oxygenated, Titan planted over 4500 saplings in the area. These saplings were carefully nurtured for over four years, until they grew into a self-sustaining forest. What’s more? To beautify the forest, a bamboo walkway was created with a floral park and an open garden too.
The Impact
The Titan Time Park is already showing a positive impact on soil health, air quality and temperature. Third-party verification of soil tests inside the forest shows a 40% increase in organic carbon, 24% increase in available phosphorus, and a 37% increase in available manganese compared to outside the forest.
Additionally, there is an 8% increase in water holding capacity, which contributes to better plant growth. The forest’s diverse range of plant species results in soil organic matter and nutrient cycling, creating a fertile base for native species to flourish. The park’s diverse directory of flora thoughtfully includes endangered species of trees like Kari Muruthu (Terminalia Crenulata Roth) and Bahera (Terminalia Bellirica).
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