APPROXIMATELY 200 trees will be planted and distributed by six junior and youth UNICEF (Jamaica) Climate Action Advocates to mark Earth Day which was celebrated last Saturday.

The trees will be planted in schools and communities in four parishes over the next two weeks by youth advocates Ryan Martell Jr and Dejanae Fagan; along with junior advocates Paige Watson, Jaeden Davis, Taneilyah Roye, and Adjani Reid, with help from families and friends. The advocates hail from Kingston, St Andrew, Clarendon, and Manchester.

Ten-year old Jaeden Davis, a student at Hope Valley Experimental in St Andrew, is one of the junior UNICEF Climate Action Advocates. Two of the trees were planted at his school last week, and he said that climate change is severely affecting his football dreams.

“I play football all the time but due to climate change we are experiencing a severe drought, which means that there is not enough water to use. The field we used to play on was full of grass and we had to cut it at least every month but now, the field is just dry, dusty, and full of stones,” he explained.

“This often makes us sick and sometimes we get injured during training or playing games,” Jaeden shared.