The Government’s National Tree Planting Programme has received significant support from Discovery Bauxite, with a total of 136,000 trees planted by the company’s employees and local residents across St Ann.
Employees continued their ongoing efforts to continue tree planting throughout the mine area throughout 2023, despite periods of severe drought and the long-term effects of COVID-19 that slowed the program, according to vice president and country manager Deroy Dell.
Dell said Discovery Bauxite adopted the initiative as part of its land reclamation and restoration program, which has seen thousands of trees planted in bauxite areas over the years, following a national rollout in October 2019.
“Our primary tree planting efforts have been ongoing partnerships for over 70 years, including forest reserves, cultural heritage protection, groundwater level protection and restoration of mined land for agriculture, community use and residential use,” Dell said.
Deloy Dell (left), vice president and country manager for Discovery Bauxite, leads an employee tree planting effort.
The company’s mining superintendent, Albert Henry, who said Discovery Bauxite’s target was to plant 200,000 trees by 2023 in terms of the national plan, stood by his remarks.
“The extended drought has delayed our plans, but our employees are proud of their position as the number one tree planter in the private sector and we hope to continue planting and surpass that number this year,” Henry said.
He noted that on Labor Day 2022, 100 employees and 150 local residents planted a record 15,000 trees, including ackee, cedar, mahoye, Spanish elm, apple, pimento, mahogany and jackfruit, across three locations on the reclaimed land.
Discovery Bauxite also participated in World Environment Day activities on Monday, June 5th last year, when 25 employees visited seven primary schools within its operation area to share the value of environmental protection through tree planting and a plastic bottle collection race among the schools.
The Forest Service has primarily supplied fruit and timber trees to the bauxite company’s programs.
The ministry’s chief executive, Ainsley Henry, described the company’s contribution as “finding the common ground between mining and forestry” and said the work was fully aligned with the nation’s commitment to support national development in climate adaptation, reforestation and establishing green spaces.
