Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has urged forest officers to devote themselves to achieving the government's goals for conserving forests and biodiversity.

He said the public must be involved in tackling the risks of climate change and improving the environment as a whole. Young forest officers must dedicate themselves to conserving forests, wildlife and biodiversity through modern technology and creativity.

He was speaking as chief guest on Tuesday, 21 December, at the closing ceremony of a two-month 'orientation course' at the Forest Academy in Chattogram for assistant conservators of forests appointed to the 38th BCS (Forest) cadre.

The environment minister said that to achieve the development goals (SDGs), they must work with commitment towards the targets of raising forest cover to 16 per cent of the country's total land through extensive afforestation by 2030, and raising tree cover to 24 per cent by 2025.

He stressed building themselves into skilled human resources to meet the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and working with determination to implement government policy to prevent forest degradation and deforestation.

The minister expressed hope that the knowledge the newly appointed assistant conservators gained through the course would raise their professional skills in forest management and help them, as modern forest managers, play an effective role in protecting forest resources and meeting the many challenges of the forestry sector.

He said the new assistant conservators must join the march of 'Digital Bangladesh' by ensuring the use of information technology in modern forest management, and play an important role in implementing government policies and programmes to tackle climate change risks by applying their talent, knowledge and skills.

The ceremony was chaired by Chief Conservator of Forests Md Amir Hosain Chowdhury of the Forest Department. Special guests included Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, additional secretary (development) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Md Moinuddin Khan, deputy chief conservator of forests (education and training wing) of the Forest Department; and Md Sanaulla Patwari, director of the Forest Academy, Chattogram.

At the end of the ceremony the minister handed certificates to the 21 newly appointed assistant conservators of forests and crests to those who placed on the merit list.

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