By Charminae George
In a ceremony held just a few feet away from its lush plant nursery yesterday, the Department of Environment (DoE) officially declared Arbour Month 2023 open.
This year’s theme, ‘Sustaining our roots, cultivating our future, let’s get ready’, falls within the department’s overarching theme of, ‘Ride the climate wave’.
The month of activities which features workshops and educational tours also began yesterday and will lead up to the highly anticipated Arbour Day Plant Fair & Climate Fest on November 24 where 10,000 plants will be distributed.
In her opening remarks, Ambassador Diann Black-Layne told attendees that the simple act of planting trees is a step towards reducing the impacts of climate change.
“Persons, children in school … construction workers [are] affected by this heat. All of that is being caused by climate change which can be mitigated to some extent by just planting trees,” she said.
Environment Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph, who presented the Arbour Day address, highlighted the importance of planting more trees to increase food supply and safeguard the environment.
He also spoke of plans to establish a facility where plastic items will be repurposed and sold locally.
“The plastics that we now send to Mexico in order for them to process will be processed in Antigua and Barbuda. What we’ll do, we’ll make chairs, we’ll make tables from the discarded plastics in Antigua,” Sir Molwyn stated.
According to Janiel Simon, the department’s Nursery Manager, an Agriculture Science workshop on November 14 will provide hands-on experience to approximately 90 students on nursery techniques including plant propagation.
On November 15, a gift of fruit trees will be presented to Cabinet and other officials. This will be followed by a Facebook live presentation on horticulture on November 17 and an electric vehicle roadshow on November 18.
Then, on November 24, a variety of plants prepared by schools across the country, in collaboration with the department, will be distributed during the Plant Fair & Climate Fest.
Though the time period for celebrations differs across the world, Arbour Day festivities aim to highlight the importance of planting and preserving trees.
Arbour Day was first celebrated on April 10 1872 in the United States, after journalist Julius Sterling Morton proposed a day for planting trees earlier that year, according to www.history.com.
