To mark World Environment Day, Mission Green Bangladesh planted trees around schools, colleges, madrasas and mosques in various districts and upazilas of Bangladesh.

The organisers said that as part of the day-long programme, trees were planted at 53 places across the country, along with human chains and events to raise awareness of the role of trees in maintaining natural balance and preventing land erosion. A signature campaign on a "pledge to plant trees" was also held.

The programme was supported by Healthy Living, Change Initiative, JCI Dhaka Metro, RDRC and Brand and Visual.

Mission Green Bangladesh convener Ahsan Rony said: "We tried to hold this programme across Bangladesh to raise awareness and to show people how to plant and care for trees properly in the monsoon. The participation and support of local organisations and volunteers in the 53 tree-planting programmes was incomparable. Mission Green Bangladesh will bring even bigger environmental events in future, and tree planting will continue in all 64 districts."

Mission Green Bangladesh project director, agriculturist Abul Bashar Miraj, said that to be saved from environmental pollution we must return to the green shade of trees. To restore ease to the country's economy and people's lives, everyone should plant at least two trees every year.

M Zakir Hossain Khan, chief executive of Change Initiative, a partner in the programme, and an international environment and climate policy analyst, said a mature tree provides oxygen for four people a day and takes in the carbon dioxide of six to eight people. "Yet since 2010 we have been losing forest at an average rate of about 2.5 per cent, and cities are turning into heat islands," he said.

RDRC chief Mohammad Ezaz said more than 11 lakh trees are being cut down in the country every year. Alongside protests across the country, trees must be planted, and Mission Green Bangladesh is a great effort in this regard.

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