THE Government of Jamaica has acquired a tree relocation device valued at $76 million, which will make it possible to preserve mature trees when executing major infrastructure projects.

The heavy-duty machine, with a specialised tree spade, is designed to help reduce tree loss, preserve biodiversity, and support sustainable development and resilience.

It is the first of its kind in the Caribbean and will enable the Forestry Department to safely and efficiently dig up, relocate and replant some of the mature trees that development activities would have otherwise destroyed.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, who commissioned the device at the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday, said the equipment will ensure that “as we pursue the built environment, as we pursue the widening of our roads for our economic development and efficiency, we can also act as good stewards of our natural assets, our natural environment”.

“We can use technology to resolve this conflict that would emerge ever so often as we widen existing roads that we can move the trees and replant them and they have a 90 per cent success rate of surviving,” he pointed out.

Holness said that the road network is also a corridor for trees.

“All the roads that we’re going to be doing now, we’re going to ensure that we have… a cooling effect of trees being planted along our corridors. Now that cooling effect is good from an environmental standpoint,” he added.

The prime minister noted that while the equipment will reside at the Forestry Department, it will be used for tree relocation activities across the island.

Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Department and Conservator of Forests, Ainsley Henry, welcomed the device, noting that rather than simply cutting down trees, “we now have the capability to move them, to save them, to keep them growing, especially in our urban areas where they are needed the most”.

Recognising that Jamaica is experiencing an unprecedented construction boom, with housing developments, infrastructure projects and road expansions, Henry said it is accepted that this sort of rapid development and progress comes with environmental risks.

“This tree-relocation device, therefore, comes to us at an opportune time as we seek to minimise these environmental pressures and reduce these impacts. Tree relocation is a step towards bridging the gap between grey infrastructure and green infrastructure, between development and conservation.

“It allows us to achieve our national aspirations and meet our growth targets while still honouring our commitments to environmental stewardship, inclusive and sustainable development,” he said.

Henry said that with this piece of specialised equipment, Jamaica “is taking tangible steps towards reducing the loss of mature, climate-resilient trees, supporting urban greening and beautification, promoting biodiversity within developed spaces, strengthening our forest cover in a sustainable way, enhancing the liveability of our urban areas and improving the health and well-being of our citizens”.