Tree planting initiative revived

The National Tree Planting Project was relaunched Wednesday with the planting of the first of 200 trees at Nature’s Fun Ranch in Bruce Vale, St Andrew.

Minister of Environment Adrian Forde expressed his gratitude with the national project finally getting back on track after a pause on activities because of COVID-19 restrictions.

During the early morning exercise, several members from the National Beautification Project and the National Botanical Gardens planted the 200 trees at the ranch, with Forde revealing that it was Government’s intention to boost the tree planting drive planned for Barbados’ Arbor Day celebrations to be held in September.

Forde said: “We were faced with some serious challenges, unmatched challenges in some recent times with COVID coming to our shores in March 2020. During this period there were a number of shutdowns, there was a situation where our [botanical] nursery had to be shut because we respected the protocols just like anyone else, then we had severe drought, so there were serious challenges that put us back.

“Arbor Day, which is in September – start putting it on your calendars now – there will be something special in Barbados for all Barbadians, where we will be looking to plant over 150 000 trees. So that would therefore put us back on parallel to what our intentions are, in terms of having that one million trees being planted over the next couple years.”

He also added that Barbadians from all walks life will be able to take part in the day as his Ministry continues in its drive to plant a million trees.

“I want to guarantee Barbadians that something special will happen on this national tree planting day, where every Barbadian can become part of greening this country,” said the Environment Minister. “Re-foresting this country, putting this country back on the podium as it relates to a green economic recovery, signifying to the world that little Barbados is the leader as it relates to small island developing states in the greening efforts in this part of the hemisphere.”

Representatives of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Youth Committee were also on hand for the relaunch, with their forum lead for the UNCTAD Youth Forum 2021, Roshanna Trim, saying the Conference was fully supportive of the island’s tree planting exercise, with climate resilience strategies being of utmost importance to small island developing states such as Barbados.

“Barbados has always been a strong and clear voice surrounding climate resilience and sustainable development,” said Trim. “We believe that now is time to highlight food security in the region, how we can produce food for our population to eat, as well as how we ourselves, even though we contribute so little to climate change and the impacts of climate change, how we can start the ball rolling.

“The Million Trees Initiative was one that we believed was fundamental at the core of this, as well as the blue economy. These are some of the things that we will be talking about at the [UNCTAD] forum,” she added.