300,000 seedlings to be planted to help with Melissa forestry recovery and long-term resilience

The Forestry Department will replant some 300,000 seedlings between January and June 2026, under phase one of its new RE-LEAF initiative (Reforestation, Ecological Enhancement and Landscape Framework).

The programme, which will serve as the national operational framework for post-Hurricane Melissa forest recovery and long-term resilience building, was announced by Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

He informed that of the 300,000 seedlings to be planted, more than 170,000 will be directed to priority watersheds and some 50,000 within urban and peri-urban areas.

Importantly, no less than 30,000 will be fruit trees, ensuring that ecological restoration goes hand in hand with food security, livelihoods, and community resilience, he said.

Samuda informed that a United States-based non-profit led by Jamaicans, has already provided a US$50,000 grant to supply approximately 12,000 fruit trees this year.

“These will be complemented by our own production from our national nurseries to supply, at no cost, species such as breadfruit, ackee, mango, avocado, and jackfruit,” he said.

To support the scale of intervention, the Forestry Department is advancing plans for expanded nursery capacity in western Jamaica, with sites under assessment in St James, St Elizabeth, and Westmoreland.

This will increase national seedling production by at least 20 per cent per annum and significantly improve rehabilitation and reforestation efforts in the most impacted regions, the Minister said.

He informed that Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness, made provision for the expansion of the Forestry Department’s nursery capacity to strengthen Jamaica’s reforestation and climate resilience agenda in his 2025 Budget presentation.

“All of [this] will anchor not only our expanded agroforestry strategy but also our commitment to climate resilience through the National Tree Planting Initiative Phase two (NTPI2), which was originally intended to plant some three million trees over five years but now is being rescoped and redesigned to do so much more,” he pointed out.

The NTPI2 will be fully integrated into the RE-LEAF framework and will serve as a cornerstone of long-term forest recovery strategy.

Samuda said that the Government is committing to planting an additional three million trees under the initiative.

The official launch of NTPI2 will take place between January 29 and February 2, 2026, with targeted planting activities across forest reserves, private lands, mangrove ecosystems, and urban centres, from Lowe River in Trelawny to Croydon Estate and Kew Park in St James, to Parottee in St Elizabeth.

It will also include communities such as Black River in St Elizabeth and Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

“These locations are not merely symbolic. They are strategic, representing the integrated approach this Government is taking, linking forests to water, sustainable land husbandry, climate resilience to food security, national policy and most importantly community action,” Samuda said.

He added that through RE-LEAF and NTPI2, expanded nursery capacity, community partnerships, and volunteer mobilisation, “we are rebuilding stronger, smarter, and more resilient forest landscapes”.

“In the new financial year, the Forestry Department will focus on the implementation of the National Mangrove and Swamp Management Plan and work closely with key stakeholders on the restoration of the island’s mangrove forests. This will complement implementation of the National Ecosystem Restoration Plan being led by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA),” Samuda said.

The Government will also prioritise mainstreaming ecosystem-based and nature-based solutions in recovery planning.

“In this regard, forests and wetlands will be among the core risk-reduction measures in Melissa-affected watersheds and coastal zones, explicitly valuing ecosystem services in economic analyses and national climate adaptation strategies, implemented through multi-stakeholder partnerships and long-term stewardship,” Samuda stated.

- JIS News

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