Youth call for better balance between development and green spaces

A group of youngsters is calling for a better approach to development, taking into account the value of trees to the environment, especially in semi-urban areas, which are aggressively being cleared for various construction projects.

Akkeem Polack, vice-president of Jamaica Millennium Vision for Youth, warns that failure to halt construction on prime farmlands, for example, will ultimately lead to a ruined environment.

Pointing to the outskirts of Spanish Town, he said what was once the home to thousands of acres of trees and sugar cane is now a concrete jungle.

Along the Old Harbour corridor are miles of starter units and semi-gated communities, much to the group’s chagrin.

“You see that all the cane lands are gone and they are building loads of housing, and while nothing is wrong per se, I think there should be balance,” Polack said yesterday as he took part in National Tree Planting Day activities at Homestead Primary in St Catherine.

“We should take into account the physical development of other parishes outside of the Corporate Area, Portmore, and Spanish Town triangle, so more trees can be planted in an effort to save our future,” he added.

First-year University of the West Indies student Aundreen Leslie believes something is “intrinsically wrong” when arable lands are cleared of vegetation and trees to facilitate construction of any sort.

Balance must be found

She said that green spaces, including farmlands, contribute to a high level of oxygen in the atmosphere that benefits life, and that replacing them with miles of concrete could negatively affect the changing climate and quality of life.

“Taking good lands and turning them into housing schemes cannot be good. And yes, people need proper housing, but a balance must be found and not at the expense of greenery,” Leslie said.

“If we continue like this, in a couple of years, that Vision 2030 that we all want to see will not be possible,” she said, calling on more Jamaicans to take National Tree Planting Day seriously.

Observed under the theme ‘Healthy Trees, Healthy You; Plant a Tree Today’ this year, National Tree Planting Day is an initiative of a number of state agencies, including the Forestry Department and the National Environment and Planning Agency. It is aimed at restoring Jamaica’s primary forest cover that has dwindled over time.

St Catherine South Central Member of Parliament Dr Andrew Wheatley and Homestead Primary School Principal Sophia Deer were also out planting trees with the group.

They said that the initiative is a positive reminder of the need for more green spaces to help alleviate inactivity and poor social underpinnings of youth in the Old Capital, where tree-planting exercises were also undertaken in Horizon Park, Sydenham Gardens and Innswood.

“This is great. Planting trees is actually giving back to the future and so we are pleased to be partnering with this group. This is so as to spread the level of awareness of the value of trees in our neighbourhoods,” Wheatley said.

He said the lack of dedicated green spaces is something that could be addressed at the government level and that each parish should have at least one Emancipation Park-style green area.

“While we have built out a number of football fields and netball courts to raise the level of physical activity within the communities, and even though the new building codes mandate green spaces, much more is needed for a dedicated area – even in Spanish Town proper,” said the member of parliament.

paul.clarke@gleanerjm.com