Westmoreland councillors encouraged to plant trees
Published:Monday | April 15, 2024 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Councillors serving in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) have been urged to plant trees as part of their role in mitigating the danger of climate change.
“I want to challenge all councillors here this morning, that before this week is out, each of us as councillors find somewhere, plant a tree and take a picture, so that when next we meet you can show us the tree,” said Danree Delancy, mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the WMC.
“Do that to show that you are playing your part in protecting the environment,” he encouraged.
Delancy said the drought currently being faced across the island has been attributed by many to climate change and global warming, and “from the basic knowledge” he has on the subject, they are introduced by man-made activities.
He pointed to the ongoing water crisis residents of Westmoreland in particular are now facing as a compelling reason “for everyone of us to pause and examine ways in which we can all help to protect the environment and our water sources”.
“We here in Jamaica, all across the island, I think have contributed to some of this,” Delancy declared. “We dispose of our garbage, sometimes not because we want to but sometimes out of frustration. We dispose of a large amount of garbage by burning; and by burning, we release all types of gases into the atmosphere which led to global warming.”
According to Delancy, the time has come for Jamaicans to replenish the island’s forestry by planting a tree to replace those that have been destroyed over many decades.
“We cut down our vegetation, we destroy trees without replanting, and very few people support the effort of planting a tree when called on to do so nationally,” the WMC chairman noted.
Recognising that trees are among the most important elements in combating climate change, a tree-planting initiative was launched by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2019 with a target of planting three million trees across the island in three years.
However, that target was slightly derailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, some three million trees of varying types have been planted under the guidance of the Forestry Department.