Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has called on the government and ordinary people to work together to meet the target of planting 25 crore trees to protect the environmental balance. Planting trees is not enough, he said; people must develop a love for trees and take responsibility for keeping them alive.

He was speaking as chief guest at the opening of a tree-planting campaign and tree fair at Laldighi ground in Chattogram on Tuesday afternoon (11 August), organised by the Chattogram North Forest Division with the support of the district administration.

The minister said tree planting is nothing new in Bangladesh; people learn its importance from childhood. But planting 25 crore trees at once is a huge undertaking, and ordinary people as well as the government must be involved.

Once a target is set, he said, it is essential to monitor regularly how far it is being achieved. Chattogram too has set a target of planting a large number of trees.

Because it is now the rainy season, newly planted trees easily get water, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said. But when the dry season comes, arrangements must be made for regular care, watering and protection. If the right trees are not chosen and cared for on time, the main purpose of planting will be defeated, so people must take responsibility for saving trees as well as planting them.

Citing Thailand, he said a culture has grown up there of planting a tree when a child is born, which creates an emotional bond between the child and the tree. If tree planting could become a similar social and family custom in Bangladesh, people's sense of responsibility towards trees would grow.

He said people's lives and livelihoods are directly tied to the environment. Trees, rivers and canals, animals and birds, insects and biodiversity together create the balance of nature, and no development that harms the environment can be sustainable in the long run.

Noting that rapid development and industrialisation in many countries had harmed the environment, the minister said those countries later had to spend huge sums to deal with the damage. China and other countries have taken wide-ranging steps to clean rivers, canals and water bodies and restore the environment alongside industrialisation, and Bangladesh must learn from these experiences.

Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Mia presided. Special guests included State Minister for Land and Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin, Chattogram-9 MP Mohammad Abu Sufian, Chattogram Range DIG Abdul Quddus Chowdhury, Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasan Md Shawkat Ali and Chattogram region Conservator of Forests Mihir Kumar Dey.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.