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Home | Green challenges to students to become ambassadors of public gardens
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Floyd Green, is urging students to become ambassadors of public gardens by sharing their knowledge on the need to protect Jamaica’s biodiversity at school and in their communities.
“We want our students to be ambassadors, we want our teachers to be leading groups of students on hikes into some of our public gardens, so that they can appreciate that these spaces are critical for our very existence,” Minister Green said.
These gardens, Minister Green said, contain a large number of endemic plants leading to Jamaica being ranked number 5 among islands with endemic flora worldwide.
Noting that preserving our biodiversity is important as it ensures the natural sustainability of all life on earth, the agriculture minister said that it was important to work towards “protecting this rich and enviable biodiversity by finding ways to co-exist without harming one another”.
These comments were made at the virtual staging of the Public Gardens Division’s 3rd Horticultural and Botanical Seminar held on February 26 at Hope Gardens in St. Andrew.
Pointing out that 80 per cent of what the island consumes is plant based and it in turn produces 90 per cent of the oxygen that the people breathe, he stated that public gardens have to be a priority area, given the importance of biodiversity to human survival.
In that regard, the Ministry is undertaking work to upgrade the public gardens at the Castleton Botanical Gardens in St. Mary; Bath Botanical Gardens in St. Thomas; and the Cinchona Botanical Gardens in St. Andrew.
Works include increasing the number of exotic plants and fruit trees, and also constructing a bird sanctuary and a butterfly garden at Castleton Gardens. .
“We have to revive, resuscitate (and) enhance our public gardens,” Minister Green emphasised.
The agriculture minister also had high praises for participants in the debate competition, a main feature of the day’s activities, where Wolmer’s Boys emerged champions while Oberlin High and Papine High schools were second and third-place winners, respectively.
