The BNP is working extensively to tackle the dangers of climate change, the party's acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said.

Climate change is increasing the risks to people's lives, and there is no alternative to planting trees to face this danger, he said. BNP chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has understood the issue deeply, so the party has taken up a nationwide tree planting programme.

He said this on Wednesday, 2 September, at the inauguration of the nationwide tree planting drive marking the BNP's 48th founding anniversary, held near Bashundhara Convention Centre on the capital's 300 Feet road.

Rizvi said the BNP's 31-point programme and election manifesto set out the risks of climate change and what must be done to tackle them. Earlier, "Vision 2030", announced by Khaleda Zia, also gave importance to the environment and climate change.

To reduce the damage from climate change, he said, the country's wetlands, rivers, canals, khals and beels must be re-excavated and freed of pollution alongside tree planting. Chemicals and toxic substances from industries are polluting the country's water bodies and rivers, and the government is working to protect them.

Rizvi said the government has set a target of planting 25 crore trees in five years. As part of this, about three crore trees have been planted in the past six months, exceeding the target of 2.5 crore.

Trees are the drawing room of the Earth's nature, he said. Just as people decorate their homes, the Earth can be decorated with trees. The healthier the trees grow, the cleaner the environment will be and the purer the oxygen people get.

Neem and krishnachura (flame tree) saplings were planted in the 300 Feet area, he said, adding that neem is an environment-friendly tree.

Recalling the environmental and tree planting initiatives of the BNP's founder, the late President Ziaur Rahman, he said the initiative to plant neem trees at the plain of Arafat in Saudi Arabia was a unique example of environmental awareness.

BNP joint secretary general and Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, joint secretary general Advocate Abdus Salam Azad, Jubo Dal general secretary Nurul Islam Nayan, Dhaka North city BNP member secretary Mostafa Zaman and other leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies were present.

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