Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has called on every citizen of Bangladesh to plant at least one tree a year.
If everyone planted one tree, he said, at least 10 crore trees would be planted each year, on top of the average of eight crore trees the government plants annually. Everyone must plant more trees to build a healthy environment for the present and the future, the minister said.
He was speaking as chief guest at the closing and prize-giving ceremony of the tree fair held at the Forest Department on Sunday (23 July).
Record sales at the national tree fair
The minister said a total of 29,02,614 saplings were sold at this year's national tree fair, held on the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar grounds from 5 June to 12 July, with total sales worth Tk 14 crore 81 lakh 69 thousand. Both the number of saplings sold and their value were higher than in any previous year.
Privately owned nurseries took part in 104 stalls at this year's fair, government institutions in 8 stalls and other organisations in 8 stalls, he said.
Tree fairs are held every year to build the green cover people need to survive, and crores of trees are being planted, the minister said. Besides the national fair in the capital, tree fairs were also held this year in 7 divisional towns, 56 district towns and 2 upazila headquarters.
Forest and tree cover targets for 2030
The minister asked Forest Department officials to hold tree fairs in every upazila next year. He said afforestation work is being carried out with the aim of raising the country's forest land to 16 per cent of its total land area and its tree cover to 25 per cent by 2030.
The closing ceremony was chaired by Chief Conservator of Forests Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury. Special guests included Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Habibun Nahar, the ministry's Additional Secretary (Administration) Iqbal Abdullah Harun and Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation chairman Nasir Uddin Ahmed.
Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests Md Moinuddin Khan gave the welcome address.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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