Earth Today | Sandals Foundation adopts a hillside

THE SANDALS Foundation has launched its Adopt-a-Hillside programme with the Forestry Department by planting more than 500 trees in the Montego Bay Valley Forestry Reserve.

On December 6, some 30 ambassadors from Sandals hotels in the Montego Bay region planted the first batch of cedar and mahoe trees. Additional seedlings will be planted during the May to June tree-planting season next year, as mandated by the Forestry Department.

The foundation has adopted 2.6 hectares of prime forest lands with an aim of planting 1,537 seedlings. The programme is valued at some $1.24 million and forms part of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Forestry Department.

Addressing volunteers during the exercise, Ian Wallace, regional manager for northwest forestry operations, lauded the foundation for its efforts in preserving the environment, noting that the “input would go a far way in achieving the Government’s goal of planting some three million trees islandwide”.

Heidi Clarke, executive director for the foundation, said the tree-planting initiative demonstrates their commitment to improving environmental health and safety for communities.

“The Sandals Foundation’s Adopt-a-Hillside initiative forms part of our wider mandate of implementing projects that lead to the sustainable improvement of the environment. This programme will contribute to the long-term reforestation efforts of Jamaica and achieving our 2030 national development vision for the sustainable management of our natural resources,” she said.

Annet Bailey, a Montego Bay resident and Prestige Team Member of the Year for 2018 at Sandals Montego Bay, for her part, said she was pleased to be a part of a project that was protecting the environment and expressed hope that the efforts would reduce the water run-off often experienced from the hillsides.