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This year’s
celebration of National Wood and Water Day will be commemorated on
Saturday, October 6, 2007. In order to facilitate the participation
of schools and civic society, this year’s main event and tree
planting activities will commence from Thursday, October 4.
Activities have been slated for the parishes of Kingston and St.
Andrew, Portland, St. Catherine and Westmoreland, as well as for a
number of schools. These schools include: Gordon Town Primary and
Junior High, Jessie Ripoll Primary, Kingston College, St. Catherine
High, St. Hugh’s Preparatory, Stella Maris Preparatory, and Wolmer’s
Boys’ School.
The Day’s
focal event will be spearheaded by the Integrated Watersheds and
Coastal Zone Management Branch of the National Environment and
Planning Agency (NEPA), and will be held in Negril, Westmoreland at
the Negril Community Centre. The event will be held under the theme:
“A Sustainable Environment for a better future”. There, NEPA in
collaboration with various stakeholders will host a workshop on
general watershed management. The workshop is intended to increase
awareness among Jamaican’s on how they can play their part in
protecting Jamaica’s land, wood and water.
In
Manchioneal, Portland, the focus will be a tree planting event at
the Muirton Boys Home, where presentations and field training
exercises will be conducted on the importance of trees. Participants
will also be instructed on the correct method for planting and
caring for trees. It is expected that approximately 150 trees will
be planted at the event.
Partners for
the 2007 National Wood and Water Day are the Forestry Department and
the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), who have lent
their support to the national event over the years. This year,
approximately 300 trees are expected to be planted throughout
Jamaica’s 26 Watershed Management Units (WMU) where activities will
be held. A Watershed is an area of land that collects rainwater and
drains it into gullies, marshes, streams and rivers.
National
Wood and Water Day is celebrated in Jamaica each year on the first
Saturday in October and is commemorated in observation of the need
to save and protect these precious natural resources. National Wood
and Water day is the only event on the environmental calendar that
originated in Jamaica.
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