Plant more trees!

WITH the 2017 hurricane season in full effect, the General Manager of the state-owned National Conversation Commission (NCC), Keith Neblett, is encouraging Barbadians to plant more trees to protect the environment.

Neblett is stressing that Barbadians need to become more aware of the importance of trees to the environment, “even more importantly now that we are in the midst of the hurricane season, and on September 22, 1955, we lost so many trees”.

He explained that in addition to trees assisting with food security and the beautification of a country’s physical landscape, they also play an essential role in protecting the environment.

The General Manager was speaking to The Barbados Advocate, following a service at the Silver Sands, Church of God, to mark the beginning of the Commission’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

“Look at what is going on with the weather and Barbadians will see that they need to plant more trees. Look at how the islands hit by Hurricane Irma lost a lot of trees.

“But, without those trees, the damages would have been worst. The trees lost a lot of leaves, but they protected a lot. The roots of a lot of the trees are still there, so a lot of the erosion was really reduced, but the trees took a lot of the brunt from the wind,” he said.

“So you might go to Tortola and Barbuda and St. Maarten and you will see a lot of the trees lost the leaves, but those trees helped to protect the people of those nations,” Neblett added.

As the Commission prepares to hand out over 1 500 trees on Friday, National Arbor Day, Neblett also noted that there is a need for the indiscriminate cutting down of trees on the island to stop. He said it is a popular practice for trees to be removed from areas so that construction can take place.

“When people are building these new structures everybody wants to take out a tree to get a clear opening, but we need to try to minimise this. We want people to plant more trees, not cut them down.

“We are going to distribute trees and we also have trees at NCC that are for sale. With this type of weather that we are getting, it is a good time to remind Barbadians that we should not take trees for granted,” he said.

On September 23, NCC will be hosting a Farmer’s Market which will be opened to the public.
(AH)