Robin Lim Lumsden, Contributor

A section of the garden at the Richmond Hill Inn. Fruit and palm trees were ravaged by an aggressive Hurricane Gilbert years ago, but the river and fountain carved in the shape of Jamaica still remains with a footbridge to cross over and enjoy the running water and rubber tree.

Envision yourself sitting under the shade of an otaheite apple tree. A cool breeze caresses your face and a blanket of fuchsia petals lie at your feet. As you bite into a succulent and juicy apple, the fragrance of the blossoms fills your nostrils. Above you are twittering birds also eating the fruit, and bees humming in the canopy. You are transported to a heavenly place, a place where the worries and cares of your daily life momentarily evaporate.

Contrast this to the cogent lyrics of Bob Marley's song, Concrete Jungle:

"No chains around my feet, but I'm not free. I know I'm bound here in captivity; darkness has covered my life and has changed my day into night. Where is the LOVE to be found? Won't someone help me? In this concrete jungle."

As the words of the song evoke, in the absence of natural beauty and green spaces there is often the absence of love, peace, harmony and freedom. Nature and greenery can help to free our spirit from the confines of grim urban settings and are, arguably, prerequisites to our pursuit of happiness.

Nature and natural beauty are not only liberating, they are also our human rights. The right to clean air and clean water are part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is no wonder that the absence of trees and greenery, together with overcrowding, the lack of basic amenities and opportunities, as exists in many of our urban communities, engender antisocial, violent and aggressive behaviour. Creating a cleaner and greener environment by creating parks and planting trees should be an important objective in trying to reduce the escalating rate of crime in Kingston's overcrowded, concrete ghettos.

On a global level, understanding the connection between trees and peace and prosperity means understanding the effects of deforestation on global warming. According to Edward Harris of The Associated Press , "U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation ago. 50,000 square miles of tropical forest are being cleared every 12 months." In its latest 'State of the World's Forests' report the U.N. body says, "Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 32 million acres a year."

Leader in deforestation

Harris further states "Africa is now a leader in deforestation. Almost one per cent of African forests are cleared each year. In 2000-2005, Africa lost 10 million acres a year, up from 9 million a decade earlier." Deforestation causes desertification, which leads to drought, famine and starvation, like that being experienced in the Sudan.

Deforestation also accounts for 20 per cent of man-made, greenhouse gas emissions, second to fossil fuel emissions from electricity and heat, and together they contribute to global warming. "If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," warned more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others at the climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, late last year. The pernicious effects of global warming: severe weather patterns, melting ice caps and rising sea levels, if unabated, threaten to wipe out the habitats of populations living in low-lying areas around the world. People living in these areas and in Third World countries will be the most affected, as they are the most vulnerable. This was brought home to us in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

Not only is global warming putting life on our planet in peril, but we are continuing to see an escalating and unsustainable trend of global competition for all of the earth's scarce, natural resources: Oil, water, lumber and food. The world's current human population of six billion is predicted to grow to nine billion by the year 2050. Increased population causes the diminution of each natural resource and they are all interconnected in a vicious cycle.

For example, increased population means the cutting down of more forests, which will lead to the loss of more of our watersheds and an increase in greenhouse emissions and more warming of the earth's atmosphere. Getting nations and their governments to agree and act to curb population growth, invest in clean and renewabl forms of energy, and to preserve the earth's natural resources, however, is perhaps the greatest challenge facing us in the 21st century.

Re-greening the earth is an important step in reversing this lethal trend, because healthy forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Planting trees is also an integral initiative to achieving the larger goal of preserving life of this planet. Jamaica has a very high rate of deforestation. We continue to denude our hillsides, cutting down our rain forests for cultivation, firewood, mining and housing at an alarming rate.

Public outcry

Just recently, the plan to mine bauxite in one of Jamaica's natural forest reserves and heritage sites, the Cockpit Country, was narrowly averted, largely due to the advocacy work of environmentalist groups and public outcry. This would have destroyed the ecological balance of a national, ecological treasure. This issue was yet another wake-up call for Jamaica to better manage our finite environmental resources and ecological destiny.

Each individual can play an important role in stopping this lethal, global trend of deforestation. Dr Wangari Maathai is a woman from Kenya, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for doing just that. She started the Green Belt Movement in her native Kenya. Her courage, vision and individual initiative to re-green her native Kenya, in the face of political opposition, corruption and persecution, has had an important impact throughout the African continent and the world and is worth emulating here in Jamaica.

The symbiotic relationship between trees and the earth and the importance of trees to our environment reminds us that nothing is accidental in the universe, we are all connected. Trees also provide us with an important metaphor of parenting, reciprocity and patience; like children, they need love and care to survive, and if we care for our tiny seedlings, in time they will grow into large trees, which will protect us against disasters and provide us with fruits, both tangible and intangible, for years to come.

I believe that trees also bear witness to the value we humans place on life itself. In a metaphysical way they store our memories, history and intelligence because they are living, breathing, and feeling creatures, whose very existence determines the health of life on this planet earth. They are reminders of the sanctity of life. I hope this essay inspires you to plant a tree regularly and nurture it to maturity. I plant trees regularly because I believe in so doing. I leave a noble legacy, of preserving our planet and aspiring to feed generations to come, with both the 'fruits' of my labour, and that of the trees I plant.

Robin Lumsden is a freelance writer and a bee farmer in the Blue Mountains. Email: limlums@cwjamaica.com