In 2015 IVN Environmental Education planted its first Tiny Forest in the Netherlands. Since than the number of Tiny Forests and our impact increases with every forest we plant. In short the impact of Tiny Forest is:
Below you can read more about the impact of Tiny Forest. We feel that our biggest impact is made by helping school children and local communities plant and maintain their own forest. Children are the Tiny Forest Rangers. They monitor the growth, show people around and take lessons in the outdoor classroom. This way we educate the ecosystem restorers of the future.
But our impact is not just a feel-good story, we also have numbers to back up our story. We monitor the number of Tiny Forests we plant and the number of people we engage. And scientists from Wageningen University & Research (WENR) monitor the effects of the Tiny Forest on biodiversity, CO2 sequestration, thermal comfort and water retention.
In December 2015 we planted our first Tiny Forest of the Netherlands in Darwinpark in Zaanstad. The program has been running for 5 years now and is still expanding at a rapid pace. In November 2020 we planted the 100th Tiny Forest and we expect to plant our 200th forest in 2022. Check out all of our forests in the map below. The map will be update regularly.
Tiny Forest is not just about planting trees, but also about engaging and educating school children, teachers and local communities. The table below shows the number of Tiny Forests and the number of school children, teachers and locals that participate in our program.
Year |
Tiny Forests |
School children |
Teachers |
Locals |
2015 |
1 |
60 |
4 |
5 |
2016 |
1 |
60 |
4 |
5 |
2017 |
5 |
380 |
25 |
55 |
2018 |
16 |
2.060 |
149 |
205 |
2019 |
59 |
6.575 |
459 |
740 |
2020 |
111 |
10.482 |
686 |
907 |
Tiny Forest are fastgrowing native forests. This is a timelapse video that shows the growth of Tiny Forest Zaanstad in 2016 and 2017. Two years of growth in two minutes, enjoy!
In February 2017 scientists from WENR started to monitor the effects of our first Tiny Forest in the municipality of Zaanstad. This study ran for a year. Thanks to the Dutch Postcode Lottery we were able to start a four year research program in February 2018, that is executed by the same scientists. In this study they monitor the effect of eleven Tiny Forests on biodiversity, CO2 sequestering, thermal comfort and water retention. The scientists from WENR got help from 100 citizen scientist in 2019 and 2020, who assisted with the monitoring of the biodiversity. What have we learned about the effects of Tiny Forest so far?
Tiny Forest |
Planting date |
m2 |
Sequestration TF (kg CO2/year) |
Municipality |
Muziekplein |
4 April 2018 |
305,0 |
176,6 |
Utrecht |
Eigenwijze Artan |
2- April 2019 |
120,5 |
5,3 |
Utrecht |
Bostimist |
15 Nov 2018 |
231,6 |
4,3 |
Almere |
Mathaaibos |
23 Nov 2018 |
202,2 |
10,3 |
Almere |
Odytrees |
28 Nov 2017 |
172,4 |
23,4 |
Almere |
Harendonksplekske |
18 Febr 2019 |
228,9 |
6,6 |
Den Bosch |
Schoenmakersplantage |
28 March 2018 |
489,0 |
108,1 |
Delft |
Kristalbos |
16 March 2017 |
275,5 |
295,1 |
Delft |
Groene Woud |
10 Dec 2015 |
245,7 |
631,2 |
Zaandam |
Gouwse Bos* |
10 Dec 2015 |
251,1 |
136,2 |
Zaandam |
The preliminary results of this study will be presented on April 1st 2021. After the presentation we will update the website.