Young people in Jhenaidah have held an unusual tree-planting programme, aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of climate change, protecting the balance of nature and making the area more attractive.

The local Kumrabaria Volunteer and Youth Development Organisation organised the programme at 10am on Friday, 21 August, in Kumrabaria village in Sadar upazila.

It was opened by Rahaj Uddin Molla, retired headteacher of the local Raku Government Primary School. National award-winning environmental activist and tree lover Zahir Raihan attended as special guest, along with the organisation's president Ripon Hossain and journalist Shahjahan Nabin, among others.

Environmental activist Zahir Raihan said trees are the earth's blanket, and the young people's initiative to plant trees to protect the environmental balance was praiseworthy.

Chief guest Rahaj Uddin Molla said young people are the country's future, and that others should learn from such initiatives and carry out similar ones across the country for the good of society.

The organisers said that, in line with the government's tree-planting programme, more than 200 betel nut saplings were planted on both sides of the road in the first phase. Saplings of different species will be planted beside roads in other areas in stages, they said.

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