Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin has said everyone's cooperation is needed to improve the country's environment overall. The government is working, with public cooperation, to raise tree-covered land to 24 percent by 2030 through social and coastal afforestation.

He said World Environment Day and the Environment Fair 2022 will be held on 5 June, together with the month-long National Tree Planting Campaign and Tree Fair 2022, to raise public awareness of environmental conservation and tree planting.

The minister was speaking as chair of a preparatory meeting on Wednesday (16 March) in the conference room of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The minister said everyone must work from their own position to stop illegal hill cutting and the use of polythene and plastic, and to plant more trees. Individuals and organisations that have made notable contributions to the environment and tree planting will receive the National Environment Award, the Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation and the Prime Minister's National Award for Tree Plantation at the fair's opening ceremony.

Present were Deputy Minister Begum Habibun Nahar; Secretary Md Mostafa Kamal; Additional Secretary (Administration) Iqbal Abdullah Harun; Additional Secretary (Environment) Md Moniruzzaman; Additional Secretary (Environmental Pollution Control Wing) Keya Khan; Director General of the Department of Environment Md Abdul Hamid; Chief Conservator of Forests Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury; and senior officials of various ministries, departments and agencies.

The opening ceremony will be held on 5 June at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, with the month-long tree fair on the adjacent ground. The Department of Environment and the Forest Department have taken up extensive programmes for the occasion. Besides publicity in print, electronic and social media, environmental messages will be sent to mobile phones, and environment-friendly publicity materials will be placed at important locations, structures and roads in the capital to highlight conservation and encourage tree planting.

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