Under Bangladesh's education system, students graduate after a four-year honours course and a one-year master's. But there is one country in the world where graduating requires planting trees. The Philippines has made a law to protect the environment under which a student must plant at least ten trees to complete graduation, and only then receive the certificate.

The Philippines has passed the unusual law to plant 17 crore 5 lakh trees a year. In 2019 the South-East Asian country introduced the Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act, under which a student must plant at least ten trees to pass secondary and higher secondary level.

The trees can be planted in any suitable place, in particular forests, mangroves and protected areas, around homes, civil and military reservations, urban areas, inactive and abandoned mine sites and other suitable land. The trees must suit the local environment.

The bill was introduced by the country's representative Gary Alejano. In a note to the bill he wrote that when we talk about ensuring a balanced and healthy ecosystem for students, there is no reason they should not contribute to it. Through it, 17 crore 5 lakh trees would be planted a year.

Under the new law, the country's education department will implement the students' tree planting, while the environment and agriculture departments will be responsible for tending the trees, supplying seeds and choosing sites.

Research shows that about 12 million students finish primary school, 5 million secondary and 5 million higher secondary in the Philippines every year. If the law is properly carried out, 175 million new trees can be planted a year, and in this way 525 billion trees within a single generation. Even if only 10 per cent of the trees survive, the report says, that would exceed 525 million.

In this way the country's young people will be able to tackle climate change and help create a green environment for the generation after them. The Philippines is made up of 7,641 islands in South-East Asia. At one time forests across the islands were cleared for various structures, and the heavy felling caused environmental problems. That is why the initiative was taken.

The report cites Forbes.

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