As this newspaper has repeatedly argued, trees are crucial to life as we know it. And we dare to believe that no reasonable person would argue to the contrary.

Therefore Water, Environment, and Climate Change Minister Matthew Samuda is likely to have all hands on deck as the Government moves to implement a massive forest rehabilitation/tree planting programme following Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica late October.

Residents of Jamaica’s southern coastal areas, in particular, probably recall extreme depression, post-Hurricane Beryl which affected some parishes in July 2024. If anything, that sense of dread doubled up for those who experienced Melissa just under three months ago.

As was the case after Beryl, people found no hope in looking to the hills after Melissa’s rampage. Trees felled, broken, those left standing devoid of leaves, coloured our proud mountains an ugly brown, adding to despair.

Yet, as is the case with humans, mother nature’s response to adversity is never to surrender. All across the areas worst hit by Melissa hills hopelessly brown just weeks ago are turning green again, helped no end by unseasonal rains in December and January.

To the credit of the Government, it says it won’t simply wait for nature to take its course. Having done assessments post-Melissa, the Forestry Department has determined, according to Mr Samuda, that the storm “carved a corridor of destruction [to forests] across Jamaica with southern, western, central, and parts of northern parishes bearing the brunt of the damage. In several forests — particularly those on steep terrain and shallow soil — damage levels reached between 76 and 100 per cent”.

The rest of us need not be rocket scientists to recognise that in some areas the impact of Beryl in July 2024 made Melissa’s wrecking ball even more devastating.

We note Mr Samuda’s warning that loss of forest cover has left hillsides exposed, increasing the risk of flooding and landslides, as well as weakening watersheds, which are heavily dependent on tree cover.

We applaud plans as part of the Government’s forest rehab programme to prioritise severely damaged areas, key watersheds, and communities most at risk. We are told that in the first phase of the rehab programme — January to June this year — 300,000 seedlings are to be planted, including 30,000 fruit trees.

That last, Mr Samuda reportedly said, is intended to link environmental recovery to food security and livelihoods. Tree species identified, including breadfruit, ackee, mango, avocado, jackfruit, fit the bill we think.

We are pleased that the Forestry Department plans to upscale nursery operations to support the tree planting effort, including additional nurseries in western Jamaica.

At bottom line, as Opposition spokesman on environment and climate change Mr Omar Newell told Parliament, reforestation is critical to long-term environmental protection and climate resilience.

The more trees, the better, we believe. Yet, even as Government and Opposition agree on a most important, life-giving project, it is absolutely crucial that communities and residents at all levels are intrinsically involved.

For, as anyone in deep rural Jamaica will readily testify, many a well-meaning tree planting project have ended up ruined — destroyed by roaming goats, cows, and such.