Bangladesh Chhatra League will plant five lakh saplings over the next 10 days to help counter the severe heatwave caused by climate change and to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The organisation's central president Saddam Hossain confirmed this on Saturday (20 April).

In a statement, the Chhatra League president said an extreme heatwave was sweeping the country and seriously affecting people's normal lives. Considering the situation, the government has temporarily closed educational institutions to protect students, issued a heat alert for the public and given other necessary instructions, he said.

He said Bangladesh Chhatra League, an organisation that led the independence struggle and was bathed in the blood of martyrs, has stood by the country and its people in every need, without hesitation or fear, and ahead of all others. Tree planting is one of the ways out of any crisis caused by climate change, he said. Chhatra League holds a tree-planting programme regularly every year, and has planned to plant one crore trees around Environment Day 2024 in a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

For the programme to plant more than five lakh trees in 10 days, Chhatra League president Saddam Hossain and general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan have given leaders and activists seven instructions:

• The programme must be completed between 21 and 30 April.
• Trees must be planted properly at suitable sites with the necessary guidance and help from agriculture experts and the government's agriculture department.
• As it is the dry season, the trees must be watered regularly.
• The planted trees must be cared for.
• Each upazila unit will plant 1,000 trees and each educational institution unit 500.
• Tree planting must be used to raise awareness among students at upazila level and in educational institutions.
• Photos and videos of the planting must be publicised on social media.

All leaders, activists and other organisational units of Bangladesh Chhatra League have also been instructed to carry out tree-planting programmes on their own initiative.

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