This is the second MOU to be signed between the two entities under a strategic partnership aimed at preserving and enhancing Jamaica’s agro forestry. The new MOU reflects an expanded scope in comparison to the first MOU and will facilitate the continuation of work which started six years ago under which Jamalco and the Forestry Department embarked on a strategic partnership to significantly increase Jamaica’s forest cover.
Unlike the first MOU which was focused on restoration activities in Jamalco’s mining areas, the new MOU will cover all of the company’s operating areas in the port, refinery and mines. Both entities will coordinate pre and post mining activities to protect and replace forest cover. The programme is also geared at offering new opportunities for cooperation with community stakeholders in agriculture and education.
Speaking at the recent MOU signing ceremony, CEO of the Forestry Department Marilyn Headley described the initiative as one of the Forestry Department’s most valuable ongoing private sector partnerships. She noted that as the department moves to become an executive agency, it will be seeking to forge similar partnerships with other business interests.
Managing Director of Jamalco Jerome Maxwell, said the new MOU is another index of the bauxite/alumina company’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. He stressed that the programme was one of several Jamalco initiatives aimed at not just restoring what existed in host communities before mining but to make it better. “Now that the scope has been expanded to include all our facilities, there is an opportunity for all areas to be enhanced. We can do more than we did the last time” he added.
Jamalco’s Leighton Jones, who was instrumental in the development of the MOU, said the immediate areas of cooperation between Jamalco and the Forestry Department will include educational projects, the commissioning of research to ensure preservation of the mangroves along the port corridor at Rocky Point and continuation of the programme to enhance forest reserves in Jamalco’s mining areas.
The programme which is an offshoot of Alcoa’s global Tree Planting Programme is expected to stabilise and eventually increase Jamaica’s forest cover from the current 30%, restore the disturbed eco-system associated with mining and, as a consequence, reduce green house gases.
