The vital role of forests in sustaining life on Earth is being highlighted today – International Day of the Forest.

And, to observe the day, the Forestry Services collaborated with Students at the Sandy Bay Secondary School to create a Backyard Garden and highlight the importance and benefits of Agro-Forestry.

Senior Forestry Supervisor with the Forestry Services, Cosmus McCleod says the day is focusing attention on the importance of the forest as it relates to sustainable livelihoods.

"For 2025 the International Day of Forest focus on forest and food, this basically look at what forest provide, we know that the forest provides a rich variety of food sources including fruits, nuts, seeds, mushrooms, honey and wild meat. Sometimes we tend to overlook the importance of the forest, it is more significant to the indigenous people because the indigenous people depends solely on the forest for their livelihood and for their main food source."

McCloud is urging individuals to use the day to reflect on the significance of the forest.

"So as we celebrate International Day of the Forest we ought to be reminded of important role that the forest plays and ameliorating climate in creating favorable climatic conditions, so we cannot over emphasized the importance of the forest to our livelihood, to our well-being for food, clothing and shelter, habitat for wildlife and a place where persons can go and find spiritual healing, they can detox mentally and the aesthetics and the tourism benefits also cannot be over emphasized"

SOURCE: National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC Radio)