From Forest to Faucets: Connecting the dots with Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee (LFMC)

What role do forests play in securing our water? In this bonus episode of Resilience...Naturally!, we speak with the Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee (LFMC) about how community-led forest conservation helps protect watersheds, improve water quality, and strengthen resilience to climate change. Discover how local action is connecting forests to faucets and why healthy ecosystems are essential for a more water-secure and sustainable future.

Produced by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica with funding support from Global Affairs Canada.

This podcast was recorded at Harry J Studio, Kingston, Jamaica. 

Producer: Reneiquca Walker-McKnight 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Resilient Naturally Podcast. In today's episode, we will explore the relationship between forest conservation and water management by focusing on their interconnectivity and impact on human well-being. Forests do so much more than provide habitat for wildlife. They help regulate the water cycle, protect watersheds, reduce soil erosion, and ensure a reliable supply of clean water for households, agriculture, and industry. This discussion, we will examine how community members can organize themselves to support and protect forest cover, explain why healthy watersheds are critical to water security and the environmental and social benefits that come from conserving these ecosystems.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Listeners, we want to have a conversation now about forest management. So our forests are a very valuable asset, a very valuable aspect of our lives. We're talking with uh community members who are part of the local forest management committee. We're gonna hear about how community members, residents of an area, are organized to help to manage and to support and to protect the forest cover. So we're gonna hear a little bit more from our guests, um, Ms. Melissa Matheson, who is secretary, and Mr. Otis Hibbert, who is the treasurer, both of whom are longstanding active members of the Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yes, it's my pleasure to be here. And thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

So, first of all, how how long has your uh committee been in place?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Um, it has been in place ever since 2012.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

And the committee, just again for our listeners' um awareness, the committee collaborates closely with what government agency?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Forestry. We are very close with forestry. We were created by forestry.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

So the forestry department um has created these local forest management committees, and the listeners, you know, they're all across the island. Um and so again now for listeners, where is constitution here?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Constitution is in the upper St. Angel Basin, and our region is known as if you go on Google Map, it's a trumpetry region.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

And it's it's a trumpet tree region because it's mostly a forest of trumpet trees.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Very good. It's known for its for the different parties of trumpet tree, and it is in blue mountain region, also.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Is there something special about the trumpet tree that we should know?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Very good, yes. It's the trumpet tree. You know, you know, first time when you used to have the maroon and them used to blow the arms, yes, yeah, it has a hole in it. If you cut out that hole and it makes a very loud sound, that's one. Oh two, is that it is good for its medicinal properties. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

So so that there are yeah, so that you know it trees help us in so many different ways. There's so many different benefits to having a tree, to having trees and having f enough trees to make a forest area. Miss Magnuson, what do you what would you say to listeners is the importance of the community's role in forest management?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

All right, so uh the Constitution Hill Community is a rural community, small rural community in East Rural St. Andrew, as was stated by our treasurer, Mr. Hibbert, a part of it, the forest is a part of our community. So we are surrounded or we live near to the forest. If a community can accept the forest as their own and that it benefits them, it makes life better. Because the forestry department by itself as an entity, they are outside of the community. So in this case, they are in Kingston, we are here. If there's a fire in the forest, by the time the fire department and the relevant authorities from Kingston or whichever region from the government agencies are to come, the damage would have already been done. And if it is that someone is doing practicing things that will cause deforestation, by the time they are to get here, then the damage is already done. If the community can own the process and recognize that this forest belongs to us, it's not just it's not a government thing, it is ours. So we need to protect it, it gives it greater value, greater meaning, and that was a part of it because our LFMC, we saw the forest as a means of livelihood, sustainable livelihood. And before the LF, before we had this body, the community and the forest, we were, for want of a better word, working together and living together. So the trees were there, community members were taking care of the forest because they realized that if the forest is destroyed, we have no land, we are going to be having problems with water and all of these other things. So we recognize that we need to protect the forest. So in any area, if the members of the community that live closest to it, that live in it recognize that this belongs to us, we need to protect it, it gives the other stakeholders, it makes it a lot easier and it helps with its sustainability.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Mr. Hubert, in terms of the watershed and water management, why is it so important to protect the forest and to manage the forest in a sustainable way? How does it connect to our water sources and resources?

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Before the LFMC, there was the forests and us. But what the LFMBC has done is that coordinate persons that were farming in the forest, how to use best practices to preserve the trees, knowing how important our tree is to prevent landslide and even um autodisposer for garbage. Because you know, first everybody just threw garbage in our gullies anywhere and so forth, but now with best practice, we don't do that anymore. You understand? And that now prevents land slippage. And when we do prevent land slippage, you know, and we plant more trees. We have um other projects that has gone by before that we had plant back trees in the forest so that um we can preserve the forest, knowing that these trees and the tree covers had so much to do with um the water, not having water for us to drink.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

One of the things is definitely member education, ensure that the community members know the benefits of the forest, and we have partnered with the forestry department in having workshops where all members of the community are involved, are encouraged, and they're we help them to understand why it is important for you to take care of the trees. The trees, in and of themselves, act as a filtration system for the water. Another thing to note with our community, we get water directly from the forest. So we have our own collection area here. So we it's important for them to protect the watershed. So we'll say to them, listen, the usage of pesticides in the forest is a no-no because it will seep into our water system, it will affect us, the community members, affect our children. There is a school in the area, so they know of that importance in terms of the trees and the type of uh crops that you plant in the area, they are aware. So a lot of it is membership education, and when we have these workshops, they are invited and they partnership with the school in the community so the younger generation knows about the benefits. We had an agroforestry field school, farmer field school, where persons were taught proper ways to farm and how to plant different crops, so it's not just getting up and you're going to plant. You realize that we need to have a particular distance between trees because you do not want the root system intertwining. So that kind of education helped what is best to plant at home. So there are persons, so even apart from working in the forest, persons had the opportunity to have farms at their homes. So they got fruit trees. We found out what are some of the fruit trees that you want. They brought it to their property because, in addition to that, you don't just want trees in the forest, you also want trees around your home. So those were some of the things that we did. And the farmer field school was one of the things that really got community members involved and engaged, and they saw where they could benefit financially as well.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

And so when we talk about community, we're talking about different groups of people. People uh differ by age, by gender. Uh, some persons might be living with disabilities. Mr. Hibbert, how does how are you finding it uh involving the different groups? How are they responding to being active owners of the forest and protectors of the forest?

SPEAKER_00 10:53

What we do is first, as as our secret said, we reach out to the persons of the of the school in the community, but it is um uh um a primary and infant school. So what we do, we don't we do have a JAS group in the community also, and that is consistent of um uh a lot of elderly persons. When we do uh um things like workshop, we do have incentives for ladies because we want to encourage that more.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

And Miss Mathison, we we we know that older members of the community have knowledge that is valuable knowledge that maybe the younger persons in the community don't have. Are you able to tap into and involve older community members in the activities?

SPEAKER_02 11:46

There's a particular group, the Jamaica Agricultural Society. We work in close relations with them, and they have a lot of the older farmers. So a lot of the older people gravitate towards the group because they know the benefits of the farm. One of the challenges we had was to get the young people to come in, and one of the things we had to do, we did a hike, a trick. You know, young people know they are into this healthy living and everybody wants to be fit. So we say, you know, maybe the farming aspect of it, going to the forest is not so attractive. What can we do to draw them? So we had like a tour. We did a trek in the forest, and we are trying to when they went in and they were there, those are some of the things that really pull them into the group. Uh, for the younger ones, we are working with the school to get that membership education because after the older ones go, it's the younger ones that are going to grow up. And a lot of these children know they are into technology, they're not read, they don't really want to go into nature. So when we go into the schools and we have our little workshops, when they have their tree planting sessions, and we will have a tree planting day, the students are involved and they also get that benefit of the forest as well.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

And so, if uh listeners, if persons listening want to come up and do the trick and um perhaps have you do workshops with their group, um with how can is that something you do and how can they make contact with the Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee?

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Well, most of what we do and have been doing, it's internal. And usually if it is that we are needed on a wider scope, they would come contact us through the forestry department or development officer is Mr. Jerome Crichton, or he could they could reach out directly to our treasurer or our president, our president is Mr. Walter Welch, he's not here, but usually if it is that they need some stakeholder engagement, it would come from the forestry department to us, and then our team would be a part of our wider team.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Is there anything we we haven't mentioned that you want to especially mention, especially now in terms of the role of forest management in in sustainable water supply and water management?

SPEAKER_02 14:21

The forest reserve is very important, and we know that even with urbanization, a lot of things when you have more houses that are being built, it affects the natural habitat of our animals or insects. And so the forest is not just about some trees and looking at a land space, but definitely we need to protect it because one, it provides water, shelter, and also the protection of the land to prevent soil erosion and flooding, a lot of which has been taking place. So we recognize well from this side that the forest is really a good part of the environment and something we need to protect as a part of our community. And if we can get buy-in from stakeholders in the different regions, that's one of the best things. Because when community members can see the benefits of the forest to them, when as Jamaicans we can see the benefits of the forest to us, it won't be just one group but everyone policing to ensure that our watershed areas are protected because you want to ensure that you have clean water for your children, for yourselves, and the persons that we have to interact with on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

And on that note, we thank you so very, very much uh for sharing with us about the Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee, established since 2012, listeners. And so committee communities are all across the island in collaboration with the Forestry Department. And as you've heard from our guests, Otis Hibbert, who is Treasurer, and Melissa Matheson, who is the secretary of the Constitution Hill Local Forest Management Committee. We thank you so very much for joining us for this segment of the podcast. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Thanks for our good news.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

You can keep up with the Resilience Naturally Podcast and everything in the JUs Project and the EFJ are doing by following the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica on social media. On Facebook and LinkedIn, just search for the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica and on Instagram. It's v underscore EFJ. And visit our website at www.efj.org.jm. Until next time, I am Shavonia Williams.