THE National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is calling on individuals to desist from the unsustainable harvesting of pimento plants and the bitterwood tree.

Three species that are endemic to Jamaica — the Pimenta Obscura, Pimenta Jamaicensis, and Pimenta richardii — can be found in select parts of the country, while the native plant, Pimenta dioica, can be found in all 14 parishes.

Overexploitation, unsustainable harvesting, and poor management practices have led to decreased population size in Bitterwood trees,” Anderson pointed out.

“Jamaica is one of the largest exporters of bitterwood globally, and this raises a major concern for the country, as there has been no scientific research conducted to determine the effect that unregulated harvesting of bitterwood has had on the population size.

With a management plan in place for the harvesting of bitterwood and the development of a local extraction industry, Jamaica would see numerous economic benefits, such as an increase in employment, increased foreign exchange earnings, and agro-industrial expansion,” Anderson said.