Metta Garden & Eco Garden by ECO-V (Eco Friendly Volunteers), near Colombo
Colombo (southern suburbs), Sri Lanka · Operator: ECO-V（Eco Friendly Volunteers、代表 Kanchana Weerakoon）
Overview
A small patch of degraded wasteland used as a dumping ground, regenerated from 2013 by the environmental NGO ECO-V. Soil was rebuilt by composting organic waste, and the site was divided into two zones — an 'Eco Garden' urban forest and a 'Metta Garden' for pollinators and insects — combining a butterfly garden of native host plants with organic vegetable beds.
Citizen participation
Neighbours used to fly-tip on the site; now they bring their kitchen waste for the compost heaps instead. The garden runs training for children, young people and women's groups, and has become a place where organic growing is taught.
Operating model
Run by an NGO. Produce covers the staff's own vegetable needs, with the surplus sold at farmers' markets; medicinal plants and flowers also go to the local temple.
Impact
Within one year the number of butterfly species recorded rose from 6 to 63, and bees were documented on site. Turning a dumping ground into habitat also changed how neighbours treat the place, and the garden is now known as a training site for organic food production — a legible example of rebuilding soil and recovering biodiversity together on a very small, low-cost footprint.
Crops
- 有機野菜
- 薬用植物
- 在来の食草・蜜源植物
Scale
18パーチ（現地の面積単位）の小さな土地。コロンボ市街から南へ約12km、半都市化した地域にある
Sources（1）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
Related cases
Jardins Partagés (Main Verte), Paris
FRParis, France
A shared-garden framework based on the City of Paris's 2003 'Main Verte' (Green Hand) charter, under which resident associations run gardens on city plots, committing to public access, events, composting and organic growing to spread social bonds and greenery.
paris.fr+1
Edible KAYABAEN, Nihonbashi-Kayabacho
JPChuo, Tokyo, Japan
Opened in spring 2022 on a building rooftop in Tokyo's Nihonbashi-Kayabacho, this urban community garden grows about 200 species of edible plants. Run by Heiwa Real Estate with Edible Schoolyard Japan as an 'edible schoolyard' in the city, it hosts food education for the nearby Sakamoto Elementary School and community exchange, and has won green-city awards.
edibleschoolyard-japan.org+1
ØsterGRO (Copenhagen)
DKCopenhagen, Denmark
Denmark's first rooftop farm, built atop a five-storey former car-auction building. Run as a CSA in which citizens invest and participate, with an on-site restaurant serving the harvest.
oestergro.dk+1
Huerto del Rey Moro
ESSeville, Spain
A permaculture garden on about 5,000 m2 of vacant land in Seville's historic centre, occupied by residents in 2004 for communal use. Grounded in recycling and self-management, it remains a rare green space and site of environmental education downtown.
una.city+1