Hanover PDC embarks on tree-planting project
Published:Monday | March 7, 2022 | 12:05 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The Hanover Parish Development Committee (PDC) has embarked on an environmental project to plant trees on school grounds across the parish, aimed at providing both food and shade, while also enhancing the natural environment within the educational institutions.
The project, which Hanover PDC Chairman Petra Vernon-Foster said will be done in two phases, saw its first phase being implemented on March 2, when members of the PDC executive, assisted by Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Hanover Branch Societies Parish Manager Kameil Scott and a few farmers, accompanied by teachers from some of the schools, planting some 30 fruit trees on seven school grounds in western Hanover. There was also the handing out of another 18 seedlings to the schools to plant on their compounds as school projects.
Countering climate change
According to Vernon-Foster, the project is very timely as it is in keeping with a national tree-planting effort launched by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2019, which has as its target the planting of three million trees across the island in three years. She said that she was not up to date on the status of the national project, but she thought it was prudent to play their part by planting fruit trees on school grounds across the parish, which will in time provide food, shade and enhance the whole environment.
“The Hanover PDC is doing its part as it relates to the countering of climate change,” Vernon-Foster stated, adding, “in this first phase, we planted fruit trees on the grounds of Lucea Primary, Lucea Infant, Rusea’s High, Arthur Wint Basic, Esher Primary, Esher Full Gospel Basic and Haughton Court Nursery, Kindergarten and Preparatory schools”.
She made special mention of the Hanover Rural Agricultural Development Authority office, the Hanover JAS office, along with the Trees that Feed Foundation in Clarendon, for their assistance towards the implementation of the project. Vernon-Foster also expressed gratefulness to the schools for accommodating the project, and the manpower provided by the Hopewell, Lucea and Green Island Development Area Committees.
Principal of the Lucea Primary School, Yasmin Jackson, expressed appreciation for the fact that her school was chosen as part of the project, noting that it will offer both educational and environmental benefits to all.
“Every school needs a green area, and the project will add to the greenery that we already have at Lucea Primary School. It is beneficial, both environmentally and otherwise, as the trees will not only help in the atmosphere, but the children will benefit as those planted are fruit trees. And in the science lessons, we can refer to what is happening with the trees in the process of them bearing fruits, and so on. So, the project will help to enrich the curriculum and how we impart it to the students,” she stated.
Scott also praised the initiative, noting that tree planting is always a good project.
“In Jamaica, we cut down a lot of trees for different reasons, so if we can replace those that we are cutting down, then it is always a good thing. We at the JAS support this venture, and I hear that there will be a second phase ... we are intending to assist the PDC as well in carrying out the next phase,” she stated.
The Gleaner was informed that emphasis will be on schools in the eastern section of the parish for the second phase of the project, although the date is not yet decided.