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(Kingston, February 2, 2023)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The JPS Foundation has become the first corporate entity to sign on to the National Environment & Planning Agency\u2019s (NEPA\u2019s) Adopt-a-Mangrove Programme.\u00a0\u00a0The energy Company has adopted the mangroves in the Sturridge Park, Palisadoes-Port Royal Protected Area, situated along the Palisadoes strip, and will invest JMD7M over the next 5 years to restore the mangroves lost due to human interference and pollution from the Kingston Harbour.\u00a0\u00a0The commitment was marked by a tree planting exercise on World Wetlands Day (Feb. 2), with the joint planting of 50 Red Mangrove saplings along the strip.\u00a0\u00a0The involvement comes as part of the outworking of JPS\u2019 core belief in environmental stewardship and sustainability. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Michel Gantois, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JPS, speaking on the occasion, noted that JPS was proud to be a leader in the protection of the livelihood of people in the community, for generations to come.\u00a0\u00a0He also recognized the measures taken so far by the Government of Jamaica to prevent waste material from getting into the Kingston Harbour and negatively impacting the mangroves along the Palisadoes strip.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe hope this is the start of a much larger effort,\u201d he said, hinting at other environmental projects\u00a0to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mr. Peter Knight CD, JP, CEO of NEPA, noted that the JPS\/NEPA collaboration was a signal of a pioneering exercise.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe JPS Foundation is now the leader in pioneering with us,\u201d he affirmed.\u00a0\u00a0Importantly, the NEPA CEO noted that \u201cJamaica is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention, which focusses on the protection, conservation and wise use of wetlands –\u00a0this doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t have developmental activity.\u201d He further pointed out that the Palisadoes\u2013Port Royal Protected Area has been a protected area since 1998, and that now, this new partnership would significantly strengthen the programme\u2019s effectiveness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Gary Barrow, JPS\u2019 Chief Operating Officer, also addressed the group, emphasizing the need to rescue the environment from the degradation it had suffered over the years.\u00a0\u00a0Informing the audience that there was a time when the Palisadoes strip was a popular beach area and when the famous Gun Boat Beach had clear and beautiful waters, the COO implored well-thinking Jamaicans to not only address the immediate crisis, but also to address the systemic issues which have resulted in the present circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cA critical part of this is public education \u2013 starting with the youth and their parents,\u201d he asserted.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe commit to going upstream to ensure there\u2019s an understanding of how our actions impact our environment and our lives,\u201d he stated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Ainsworth Carroll, NEPA\u2019s Director of Planning, Projects, Monitoring, Evaluation and Research, also emphasized the role of the restoration activity, in fulfilling local commitments, namely Jamaica\u2019s Vision 2030.\u00a0\u00a0He further pointed out the critical benefits of mangroves, including: mitigating the effects of climate change by preventing tidal erosion from rising sea levels; protecting our coastline from increasing storm activities; and providing a valuable nursery for many species of fish and other marine species; thereby providing a source of sustainable livelihood for our fisherfolk.\u00a0\u00a0Mangroves also generate oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, serving as the lungs of the earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n —————-\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Kingston, February 2, 2023)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The JPS Foundation has become the first corporate entity to sign on to the National Environment & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4635,525,4276,3308,4634],"class_list":["post-78748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-member-news","tag-environmentalstewardship","tag-jps","tag-mangrove","tag-sustainability","tag-treeplanting"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.svg","month_date":"Feb","day_date":"6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}