Bushra Afreen, chief heat officer of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), has begun her work with a tree-planting programme aimed at keeping the capital's temperature bearable.

She started the planting on Mayor Anisul Huq Road in Tejgaon on 6 June, with DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam present.

DNCC recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) to work together on lowering Dhaka's temperature. Arsht-Rock then appointed Bushra Afreen as chief heat officer for the DNCC area.

At the planting programme she said: "My main target is to bring the temperature down. We have started planting trees in Dhaka city, but everything won't change overnight. These trees will serve our next generation. The more trees we can plant, the safer Dhaka will be."

Outlining other plans, she said some further steps had been taken besides tree planting that had not yet been officially released. "We have various plans, such as cool zones and cooling centres."

She added that the plans would take some time because they are part of long-term planning. "It has been only a month since I was appointed. We are now studying and surveying the issue further. It will take more time to get results."

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