Dear Editor,

Jamaica, along with the rest of the world, just participated in one of the most rigorous and most important conferences held in Scotland in recent times.

This had to do with the whole question of climate change and how it will affect the future of the world.

It is true to say that Jamaica’s contribution to this phenomenon is negligible, but the effects are already being felt in changes taking place in and around the island. This is most noticeable around the coastal areas of south St Catherine, Negril, and Alligator Pond, to name a few.

Although climate change has been occurring over the history of the world, it is now most significant because this change is largely influenced by human activities which create carbon dioxide and other gases and deforestation, along with poor mining and agricultural practices, which increase temperature, thus accelerating the change.

Jamaica’s deforestation started when Christopher Columbus started chopping down the trees to repair his ships and what he praised as the land of wood and water started its decline.

As the population increased and economic activities grew, the demand for lumber also grew. That’s fine, but the problem is that the trees were not replaced.

If young ones are not born or created the world would soon be as barren as the moon. Every time I see a truckload of yam sticks or wood for the jerk pork fire, I think, “There go our trees again”, because these young saplings are not replaced.

Many of the lumber trees I knew as a boy are either extinct or nearly so. We are told in science class that forests play a major role in water control. Portland used to have rain at least 300 days for the year, rivers never dried. Not so anymore. I never forgot a talk by a former manager of the Frome Sugar Estate many years ago on the steps he took to rescue a dying Cabarita River.

One can only hope that the tree-planting campaign of the Forestry Department will bear fruit.

Whenever I see the muddy colours of rivers in spate after heavy rains, I also wonder about food security of future generations because of the loss of soil. I recall a song we used to sing in primary school many years ago about muddy waters taking away our precious soil and how we could stop that from happening.

In addition to those environmentally friendly strategies already being practised, I recommend the following:

• Revive passenger rail in order to cut down on the pollution from road traffic

• Employ proper farming practices, especially on hillsides

• Increase rainwater harvesting, such as building ponds, tanks, etc

• Improve garbage disposal practices to prevent non-biodegradable plastics from entering the rivers and seas, thus killing the mangroves and other wildlife

• Bird shooting should to be permitted every two years instead of annually.

If we are to preserve our environment and play our part in the thrust to thwart global warming, we must ensure that our population is armed with information. This we can achieve by making environmental studies a compulsory subject in school.

We must all play our part.

Trevor Samuels

Public Relations Officer

National Consumers’ League

natcomle@cwjamaica.com