Earth Today | 700 seedlings and counting

THE JAMAICA National (JN) Group has distributed 700 seedlings to its members, in support of the island’s national tree-planting initiative.

The mixture of fruit and ornamental tree seedlings were distributed as part of a pre-Labour Day activity undertaken at five of its branches islandwide, in line with the theme for Labour Day 2023, ‘Plant a Tree for Life: Promoting Climate Change Mitigation, Food Security and Road Safety’.

“We did a similar initiative last year and this year was a continuation of that promise to support the national thrust to plant three million trees, which is being spearheaded by the Forestry Department,” noted Kimberly Gardner, marketing relations officer.

“It also coincides with our own initiative to ensure that the environment is one that is safe and that there is sustainability by ensuring that we plant as many trees as we can,” she added.

According to Gardner, the initiative forms part of the JN Group’s Environmental Sustainability Programme, which is being done through the JN Foundation.

The programme is geared at supporting environmental awareness practices in Jamaica by focusing on key areas of deforestation, waste management, water conservation and energy efficiency.

Among the beneficiaries were JN Bank branches in Portmore and Spanish Town in St Catherine; Half-Way Tree in St Andrew; May Pen in Clarendon and the JN General Insurance office on King Street in downtown Kingston.

Gardner noted that an agronomist from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority had also been on site at the Half-Way Tree location to provide customers with information on how to care for the trees with which they had been gifted.

“What we have found is that there are numerous tree-planting activities each year but not a lot of support in terms of plant care. So, we thought that having an agronomist on site to share information with our customers would be beneficial,” Gardner said.

The agronomist also gave tips on how to create a backyard garden.

JN members, meanwhile, were pleased with the effort.

“This initiative undertaken by The Jamaica National Group is good. Everybody should be planting as this is good for the environment,” said JN member, Gareth Fairweather.

Gardner added that the initiative will be sustained.

“We look forward to executing more initiatives like these as we emphasise the importance of tree planting and supporting a healthy environment,” she said.