Earth Today | Governmental regulator rallies support for reforestation

JAMAICANS ARE being encouraged to support the sustainable use of forests as the island contends with the estimated loss of thousands of hectares of tree cover over the last two decades.

For Francine Black Richards, senior director of corporate communications and marketing at the Forestry Department, this is critical, given the value of forests to the environment and the economy – from the production of clean air and water, food and medicines to the offer of spaces for meditation and relaxation.

“This means not illegally harvesting timber; and where they have removed trees on private lands, replanting them and planting more trees. They can also have trees in their infrastructural projects and developments to account for the trees lost to construction,” Black-Richards said.

She noted that to do so provides a ‘win-win’ for all, given the role of forests and trees in disaster mitigation.

“The root system of trees helps to hold soil together to prevent it from washing away, stabilise slopes and reduce landslides. Also, in urban communities, trees act as a defence against strong winds and rains, often taking the brunt of the storm, and reducing the impact on infrastructure,” Black Richards noted.

“Mangrove forests play a vital role in protecting the coastline and coastal communities. These forests reduce the force of waves, thereby reducing the risk of shoreline erosion. Mangroves also serve as a buffer against strong winds,” she said further.

According to Global Forest Watch, an open-source web application that monitors global forests in near-real time, between 2001 and 2021 Jamaica lost some 51,800 hectares of forests – the equivalent of a 6.7 per cent decrease in tree cover since the year 2000.

The Forestry Department is now assessing the nation’s forests to determine whether there has been any change in forest cover since 2013, when it carried out its last assessment. The exercise, which appraises land use and land cover change, is usually done every 10 years, the government agency disclosed. In the last assessment, some 40 per cent of lands in Jamaica were classified as forests.

While himself noting the benefits of forests, Parris Lyew-Ayee, chairman of the JN Foundation and a retired geologist, pointed to the need to enculturate the population early in the responsible use of the natural resource.

“It starts at the school level for them to recognise the importance of plants. This involves harvesting the seeds and planting nurseries and seeing the miracle of growth. If we can do that – engrain that in their psyche and way of life – it will make a big difference,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Forestry Department said measures to halt deforestation – including collaboration with private landowners – have been reaping success.

“We work with private landowners to reforest their lands under our Private Forestry Programme, or to declare their lands with forest cover as a forest reserve or forest management area to encourage the conservation and sustainable management of these forest lands,” Richards explained.

The agency is also on track to meet the target to plant three million trees through its National Tree Planting Initiative, launched by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2019.

“The end of the three years is close, and we have planted or distributed more than 2.3 million trees as of February 7, 2023,” Richards said.