Staff Reporter:
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said that although the National Tree Fair 2026 has formally ended, the responsibility to plant and care for trees and build a greener Bangladesh has not. Rather, the main work begins now.
“Every sapling collected from the fair must be planted properly and cared for regularly.
If people from all sections of society, including families, educational institutions, and youth and young people’s organizations, come forward collectively, the target of increasing the country’s tree cover to 27 percent by 2035 can be achieved ahead of schedule,” he said.
The minister made the remarks while addressing the closing ceremony of the National Tree Fair 2026 at the Haimanti Auditorium of the Forest Bhaban in Agargaon in the capital yesterday.
Mintoo said this year’s National Tree Fair was not merely an event for buying and selling saplings; ra-ther, it had evolved into a national movement involving public participation to protect the environmental balance, promote greening and address the challenges of climate change. Organized under the theme “Let us decorate the country with tree planting, Bangladesh first,” this year’s fair achieved greater success than expected, he added.
He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurated the National Tree Planting Campaign and National Tree Fair 2026 on July 9, 2026. The government’s activities for environmental and forest conservation are not limited to announcements; they have already entered the implementation stage, he added.
The minister said that, in line with the government’s election pledge, a program has been undertaken to plant 25 crore saplings across the country over the next five years and create new green jobs. Under the program, work to plant five crore saplings in the first year is underway, of which the Forest Department will plant 3.5 crore saplings.
