Discovery Bauxite will be supporting the Climate Change mitigation focus on Labour Day with the planting of 5,000 trees by employees, community residents and students in the company’s mining areas in St Ann.

The company, in a statement, said the Labour Day project will be in addition to the 125,000 trees which it has planted as a special contribution to the national drive since 2022.

Vice President & Country Manager Delroy Dell, said Discovery Bauxite will also be conducting tree-planting with other projects, including improvements and additions to the children’s playground at the Nine Miles Cedella Marley Basic School, electrical lighting replacements for the Prickly Pole Primary School, painting of the Waltham Abbey Primary School, and the re-tiling of the Discovery Bay Post Office.

The tree-planting project is being supported by Chief Conservator of Forests, Ainsley Henry who has described the initiative as “mining finding common ground with forestry.”

The Forestry Department has been the main provider of fruit and lumber trees for the bauxite company’s programme, while community residents have also spoken in favour of tree-planting as contributing tofood security through the thousands of trees planted

Dell has pledged the company’s commitment to continue to actively participate in the government’s initiative.

“Our tree-planting exercise is an ongoing partnership over 70 years that includes the protection of forest reserves, heritage sites, protection of water tables, and restoration of mined out lands for agriculture, community use, and for housing,” he said.

“We know that trees count too, and thousands of them growing on arable lands under our care are making an important contribution to ecology and sustainability in Jamaica,” he added.