For people in urban hellscapes? Yes.
For non-human animals? More complicated. These sorts for forests are generally dominated by “edge species”. Edge species generally do relatively well out of habitat fragmentation.
The most sensitive species that need a lot of depth in forest generally don’t do well with these small pockets.
This is not to say that Miyawaki forests aren’t an improvement, just that their “conservation” value is limited and still need to preserve/manage huge amounts of actual contiguous forest with a minimum perimeter compared to the area covered.
This is not re-wilding. We aren't trying to get urban badgers and lions.
So, in summary I think your critique is true but misplaced. Consider the viable alternatives, not the pipe dream.
When we de-populate on the next virus, we can re-forest for bears.
I am not against Miyawaki forests but I think we need to recognise they are largely for people. They vastly improve important metrics for us but in the press for Miyawaki forests the benefits for forests are sometimes conflated with the benefits of Miyawaki forests.
It’s a little like when growing afforestation for the sake of timber is sold as a benefit to the environment as though it’s just like any other forest.
TFA is about urban overheating. Biodiversity is a powerful idea and valued aesthetic in our society but ultimately biodiversity will only be conserved through a cessation of deforestation and significant afforestation on large scales.
Ok maybe minimum forest requirements is more accurate but had to do it
RaRa.
https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the-many-benefits-of-...
Googling them, I can find images of a few proof-of-concept plots in the middle of fields but I can't find a single example of how they might integrate with a city.
It would be nice to see some kind of before-and-after, even if just an illustration, to get a sense of how they would fit into a cityscape aesthetically and practically.
Here's a photo of what it looks like when it's first planted: https://voice.somervillema.gov/miyawaki-micro-forest
Note though that your climate is changing, and what was historically considered native for your region may no longer be a good fit: https://heatmap.news/is-native-gardening-becoming-pointless
EDIT: Found a great list after a little investigation! https://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/tasks/projects/miyawaki-for...
But yes, wild hedgewoods of a mix of useful shrubs are totally doable even in really small spaces. I had designed a few. They are low maintenance, beautiful, useful, funny, and tasty and everybody should have space for one of this wildlife lifesavers in their gardens.
Here is an article about her project.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-08/act-micro-forests-in-...
It's been two years, the some of the trees are well over 2m tall already.
I’m in New Zealand where life is less spicey.
"Forests will reach a mature state in only a few years" is just other of this marketing statements that sound nice, but are wrong.
> Fuck minimum parking requirements, where are the minimum forest requirements?
I want a t-shirt with this phrase. Is simply brilliant
"Forest is a land area of more than 0.5 ha, with a tree canopy cover of more than 10%, which is not primarily under agricultural or other specific non-forest land use."
-- https://agridata.ec.europa.eu/Qlik_Downloads/InfoSheetSector...