The government has set a target of raising tree cover in the country to 25 per cent and forest cover to 16 per cent by 2030, according to Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin.

He gave the information in a written reply to a question from MP Nasrin Jahan Ratna in parliament on Wednesday, 13 September. The session had begun at 4pm with Speaker Shirin Sharmin in the chair.

The minister said that, according to analysis of 2015 satellite images, tree cover in Bangladesh is 22.37 per cent of the country's total area and forest cover 14.1 per cent of its land area. To counter the harmful effects of climate change, reduce emitted and existing carbon, create a coastal green belt, protect lives and property from cyclones, tidal surges and other disasters, and expand forestry, the Forest Department is carrying out block, enrichment, mangrove and homestead plantations under various projects.

For the 2023-24 financial year, targets have been set to create 1,800 hectares of block plantation, 700 km of strip plantation and 3,250 hectares of mangrove plantation. Under the Eighth Five-Year Plan, aiming to increase tree cover by 24 per cent nationwide by 2025, various projects will restore about 7,220 hectares of plain land and sal forest and 1,30,580 hectares of hill forest, and create 500 hectares of agar forest, 15,000 km of strip plantation, 50,000 hectares of mangrove plantation and 2,700 hectares of enrichment and other plantations.

Shahab Uddin said that from 2009-10 to 2022-23, projects and the revenue budget had created 1,27,548 hectares of block plantation, 89,853 hectares of mangrove and 30,252 seedling-km of strip plantation, and 11.21 crore seedlings had been distributed and planted through sales and distribution. To mark Mujib Year, the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the environment ministry distributed one crore tree seedlings free to the public across the country in 2020.

Answering a question from MP Nizam Uddin Hazari, he said the environment ministry had not yet taken any direct programme to protect the country's children from extreme heat. But the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023-2050, prepared by the ministry on behalf of the government, includes research, awareness and other activities to tackle heatwaves, heat stress and heatstroke.

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