Staff Reporter:
State Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shaikh Faridul Islam yesterday said the government is working with the goal of saving at least 25 crore trees across the country in the next five years to address climate change risks and maintain environmental balance.
Even if some trees are damaged due to natural disasters or other reasons, a total of 30 crore to 32crore saplings will be planted by replacing those, he said.
The state minister made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a tree plantation program organized at Nayabazar Degree College in Keraniganj upazila yesterday morning.
Faridul Islam said, “We are working with this slogan in mind: ‘We will beautify the country with tree plantation, Bangladesh first’.”
He said the ministry is directly monitoring how many trees are being planted and how those are being properly cared for and maintained.
Recounting his experience of visiting Cox’s Bazar, he said 40 lakh saplings have been planted in a single district – Cox’s Bazar.
“People are planting trees very spontaneously and taking care of those, which is a great hope for us in protecting the environment,” he said.
Recalling the country’s temperature rise due to climate change, the state minister said Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries, so it is important to increase family tree planting to check tem-perature rise and maintain normal rainfall.
Speaking as a special guest at the event, Alhaj Aman Ullah Aman, MP from Dhaka-2, said Prime Minis-ter Tarique Rahman has taken a five-year plan to plant 25 crore trees.
As part of that, five crore trees will be planted this year, he said.
Presided over by Dr Lubna Sharmin, President of Bangladesh Rotary International, the event was attend-ed, among others, by Keraniganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Umar Faruk, Principal of Nayaba-zar Degree College Abdul Malek, Keraniganj Model Upazila BNP Acting President Md. Shamim Hasan, its Joint Secretary Monir Hossain, local political and civil society leaders, teachers and students.
Later, the guests planted saplings there.
