International Day of Forests celebrated in Couva

To mark International Day of Forests on Sunday, several organisations joined with members of the Exchange Farmers Association in Couva and planted a total of 500 trees, including moringa and jamoon.

Organisers launched Let’s Plant a Mini-Forest on World Forest Day, a sustainable agricultural carbon-sink project.

The NGO Carbon Zero Institute of Trinidad and Tobago (CZITT), hosted the event with the farmers and Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance TT (Cariphil) on Sunday off Waterloo Road in Couva.

Former president Anthony Carmona, who is the patron of CZITT, attended the event, as well as CZITT’s founder and chairman Donald Baldeosingh.

Also attending were High Commissioner of Jamaica  Arthur H.W. Williams, CEO of Bridge Foundation Anthea McLaughlin and HSE manager of Nu-Iron Unlimited Damien Glasgow.

President of the association Rajkumar Rampersa, spoke on behalf of farmers, saying they were pleased with the initiative.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly proclaimed March 21 the International Day of Forests. The UN’s website says this day is marked to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests.

On this day, countries worldwide are encouraged to undertake local, national, and international efforts to organise forests and trees, such as tree-planting campaigns.