Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has stressed the importance of planting trees, recalling how Bangladesh planted neem trees in Saudi Arabia in the time of the late President Ziaur Rahman. Everyone must plant more trees to protect the environment, keep the climate in balance and build a liveable country for future generations, he said.

He was speaking at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital on the afternoon of Monday, 29 June, while launching a tree-planting programme in more than 29,000 secondary-level educational institutions across the country.

The Prime Minister's wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, and Mahdi Amin, spokesman of the Prime Minister's Office and adviser, were present.

After opening the programme, the Prime Minister planted a neem sapling and recalled the history of neem planting on the plain of Arafat in Saudi Arabia.

"Today we planted a neem tree," he said. "You now see countless neem trees on the plain of Arafat. But 40 to 50 years ago there were no trees there, only empty desert."

In 1978, he said, President Ziaur Rahman visited the plain of Arafat while performing Umrah and noticed there were no trees. After talks with the Saudi authorities, an initiative was taken to send one lakh neem saplings from Bangladesh.

Grafts were later made from those saplings and hundreds of thousands of neem trees were planted, the Prime Minister said. Neem trees now shade large areas of Arafat, and many people in Saudi Arabia know them as the "Zia tree", he said.

Addressing students, he said: "I want you to plant at least one tree every year for as long as you live. When the tree grows, it will feel like your own friend." He also asked teachers to encourage students to plant trees.

The monsoon has begun but the expected rain is not falling, he said. Forty to 45 years ago it rained for a week at a stretch in the rainy season; that rain has fallen off sharply, and one of the main reasons is the indiscriminate felling of trees.

With fewer trees, the natural balance is being lost and the environment is steadily getting hotter, he said, urging everyone to plant at least one tree every monsoon. The more trees the country has, the cooler the environment will be, and a cooler environment will make our lives more comfortable, he added.

Officials said the initiative will play an important role in meeting the target, announced in the government's election manifesto, of planting 25 crore saplings in five years. The greening drive has also been launched as part of the "One Child, One Tree" programme, which aims to involve every child in planting at least one tree each year.

According to the Ministry of Education, a plan has been made to plant a total of five crore trees in the country's schools, colleges and madrasas over the next five years. The aim is to make campuses greener and build environmental awareness and a conservation mindset among students.

Officials hope the programme will help tackle the adverse effects of climate change, protect the environmental balance and build a green Bangladesh for the next generation.

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