Bangladesh plans to raise this year's tree-planting target from five crore (50 million) trees to between five and a half and six crore (55 to 60 million), and to keep planting all year rather than in a single season, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said on Friday evening (9 October) during a visit to the Banshbari colony in Mymensingh city.
The minister said the focus is on trees suited to the country's soil and weather: fruit, timber, medicinal and ornamental species. Where eucalyptus is being replaced, other trees are being planted in its place. There are also plans to raise seedlings of locally suited and economically important trees in each area and plant them there.
Eucalyptus is familiar to farmers. Because it grows fast, the imported tree was once planted widely on field ridges, roadsides and homesteads. A shift back to local species, combined with plans to raise fruit-tree seedlings locally, could matter to nursery owners and homestead gardeners as well.
Mintoo said it was important to keep places where people live clean, to plant trees and to strengthen people's attachment to their environment, and that people in every area should be encouraged to look after their surroundings.
Residents of the Banshbari colony have kept their small lane and its surroundings clean and planted it with trees and flowers. The minister said the Prime Minister had sent him a photograph of the colony, and that he plans to share it with the officials in charge of other cities so that people in other neighbourhoods can be encouraged to do the same.
Mymensingh Sadar MP Abu Wahab Akanda Wahid, Muktagachha MP Mohammad Zakir Hossain, Mymensingh City Corporation administrator Md Rukunojjaman and divisional forest officer Kazi Muhammad Nurul Karim were present during the visit.
Details of how the larger target will be carried out district by district, and where the seedlings will come from, have not yet been announced. The Daily Observer reported the visit from Mymensingh.
Photo: Robbieross123 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); an illustrative picture of a sapling being planted
Source: The Daily Observer
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