In celebration of Earth Day 2009, the Bahamas Ministry of the Environment organized a ?Million Trees Program.? The Bahamas Government has agreed to plant a million trees throughout The Bahamas by December 31, 2009. As part of this effort, the Ministry invited U.S. Charg? d?Affaires, a.i. Timothy Zuniga-Brown, as well as other members of the diplomatic community, to plant trees on Wednesday, April 22 to celebrate Earth Day and to assist in the Million Trees Program.

To mark the event, the Charg? planted a Brasiletto Tree, which is indigenous to The Bahamas. On hand for the event were representatives from The Ministry of the Environment, the Nature Conservancy, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) and the National Coastal Awareness Committee.

The U.S. Embassy selected the site at the intersection of Blake Road and West Bay Street for the tree planting. It was at that site in1962 that U.S. President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan planted a tree as a goodwill gesture commemorating a meeting by the two leaders held in Nassau.

Photo: U.S. Charg? d?Affaires a.i. Timothy Zuniga-Brown planting the Brasiletto tree flanked by representatives from local environmental organizations.