Coming soon: Tree tracker app
AS THE Forestry Department looks to popularise tree planting, it is turning to technology to help it captivate a younger set of planters, while boosting its monitoring capacity.
The revelation was made by Chief Executive Officer and Conservator of Forests Ainsley Henry, who said the app is to serve as a useful complement to the entity’s national tree-planting efforts.
“We are in the process of developing the tree tracker app, designed to allow more engagement by the people who are planting the trees, take pics, geo tagged, etc. The app itself will also push to them information to facilitate the care of seedlings, facilitate engagement, and ensure the growth of the seedlings once planted,” he told The Gleaner.
“We are also hoping there will be some uptick, particularly from among the youth (even as) the app is to also allow us to see where we are in terms of the target (for trees planted) and where the trees are,” he added.
The app, work on which is projected to be completed in April, is estimated to cost in the region of US$30,000.00. According to Henry, the final cost, together with the finer details of its offerings are currently being finalised.
His revelation comes on the heels of the Forestry Department’s launch of the #MyTreeLegacy promotion for the ‘Three Million Trees in Three Years’ initiative that kicked off in October 2019. The promotion had its jumpstart on February 11, when 27 seedlings were planted at St Jago High, Henry’s alma mater. The intent is to have that snowball to other schools across the education system, in the effort to help yield three million trees planted by October 2022.
Ultimately, Three Million Trees in Three Years is to see the planting of two million timber/forest seedlings on approximately 3,000 hectares of land, and the remaining one million timber and ornamental seedlings distributed to the public and planted in urban spaces, including parks and along major thoroughfares in towns across the island.
To help them get there, Henry said that in addition to engaging partners, such as Food For The Poor and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, they are also having to ramp up the production of seedlings.
“We are aiming to have 1.5 seedlings produced over the next year and a half,” he said.
“Any tree works, but we are primarily producing timber and ornamentals. A big part of what we are trying to do is to ensure that the trees planted are native species and not just imported ornamentals; and in some instances, endemics as well. Conservation is a part of our mandate, and so that is also important to us,” he added.