Companies
Taking action for real
While improving the working environment, microforests also reinforce the ties between a company and its staff. If they contribute to the planting and upkeep of a forest, and when they enjoy the improved landscape, employees appreciate the actions taken by a company to improve its environment. They see the impact this has on the wider neighbourhood, and the positive impression it makes on customers and suppliers.
A microforest at your company
Rooted in your business strategy
Integrate the planting of microforests into your business strategy in a project that matches your sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives. The microforest project fits the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and embraces the the “3Ps” principle: people, planet, prosperity. A facilitator will coordinate the project and delegate the upkeep to a professional landscaping company.
A participatory event
Get your partners involved in a participatory planting day. This encourages their commitment and sense of ownership of a significant environmental project.
Individual support
To ensure the success of your project, we’ll support you every step of the way, from design and tree planting, to technical aspects and advice on the forest’s upkeep. Maintenance work is carried out either by us or by a gardener, whom we instruct accordingly. Urban Forests monitors the progress of the microforest for three years, until it is self-sufficient.
Impacts
The results your company can expect to achieve :
- A participatory project that helps build team spirit
- A positive impact on the environment
- Greater awareness of climate and biodiversity issues
- Relevant activities for your CSR and sustainable development strategy
- Positive communications
Kids in the woods
If your company has no land of its own you could support Kids in the Woods, the sponsorship programme for school microforests, which teaches children about the importance of forests. This would enhance your company’s educational and environmental impact.
Some examples of company projects
We have carried out numerous corporate projects to date, each adapted to its specific context. These projects have transformed uninteresting sites into magnificent, self-sustaining ecosystems, reducing the need for gardening activities while improving the working environment.
3 years
Axis Park is a commercial estate. The garden used to consist of a frequently mown meadow covering several hectares. Since the planting of a micro-forest, biodiversity has returned. Wildflower meadows have taken over, along with an orchard, hedges and pleasant paths.
2 years
A microforest established on a previously featureless slope at a redeveloped site alongside an industrial building of the GSE Group.
1 year
The head office of insurance firm MACIF is an extensive property development near Niort. The company has transformed a large and monotonous space by planting a 3,000 m² microforest. Biodiversity has increased and the staff enjoy a pleasant working environment.
What other benefits might a microforest bring ?
Microforests are miniature ecosystems that combine environmental conservation with social benefits. Besides that, they can also perform a number of other functions :
The forests attract an astonishing level of biodiversity, including birds, butterflies and fungi. Life teems abundantly in these green havens, as microforests invite nature to reclaim its rightful place.
Because they are situated close to people – in gardens, around a neighbourhood, at schools and in workplaces – Miyawaki forests become meeting places ; they encourage social interaction and strengthening community ties.
With their diversity of plants and trees, microforests can transform what are often monotonous spaces into a green paradise. The trees’ foliage or their bright autumn colours always provide inspiring visual scenery.
Miyawaki forests create a more comfortable microclimate for people in the immediate vicinity. Not only is the air cooler, it is also less dry, and the vegetation provides much appreciated shade.
A microforest is a powerful tool for awareness-raising. It provides an immediate, tangible experience of nature that sensitises people for ecological issues.
Microforests act as natural sound barriers, absorbing and diminishing ambient noise. The density of their foliage provides effective acoustic insulation that improves the comfort of work spaces.
Microforests develop into natural sight screens that mask unappealing views. With their dense vegetation, they transform working environments into more aesthetic and calming spaces.
Miyawaki forests can help reduce run-off and erosion by retaining water and improving infiltration into the soil. The roots absorb rainwater and release it more slowly into the environment.
Natural spaces within a school are a wonderful source of inspiration and discovery, offering pupils unique opportunities to learn, observe and explore.
In the media
Some articles and broadcasts (in French) on urban forests planted by companies.
- Article in the newspaper L’Echo – Sabato « L’arbre qui cache la forêt. Reboiser: c’est plus qu’une action de relations publiques », March 2021
- Article in Trends Tendances « L’appel de la forêt » , March 2021
- Article in L’Echo « Pierre Mottet soutient les forêts urbaines », November 2017
- Video news item about Axis Park, by RTL-INFO , November 2019 – VIDEO
- Video news item on regional channel RTC, November 2020 (Awans) – VIDEO
To be honest I didn’t believe it at first, especially seeing such small trees. But now I’m impressed. How quickly they’ve grown! I really love it. It’s beautiful.
The renewal of biodiversity like this is wonderful and enchanting.
Thanks to Urban Forests for your expertise and friendliness, for being there, and for passing on your values! The forest is thriving.