Prime Minister urges a tree for every newborn as national tree fair opens

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman opened the World Environment Day and Environment Fair 2026 and the National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair 2026 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka on Thursday, 9 July 2026. In his opening speech he urged people to celebrate the birth of every child by planting a tree, and said environmental protection and tree planting must become a social movement rather than a formality. This year's theme was "Let's beautify the country through tree plantation; Bangladesh first".

According to Jagonews24, the Prime Minister opened his speech with a verse of the Holy Quran: "He is the One who created for you all that is on the earth." Rivers, trees, insects, and wild and domestic animals all benefit people, he said, but caring for them is people's responsibility if they are to keep benefiting. He described the relationship between human society and ecosystems as deep and inseparable.

Tree planting must become a daily habit rather than an annual ritual, he said. Calling on families to plant a tree whenever a child is born, he said, as quoted by the state news agency BSS: "Let every newborn grow alongside a tree, allowing a nationwide social movement for afforestation to flourish." Students and young people could lead the way in building a "green settlement", he added. He cited green volunteerism in educational institutions, a Climate Youth Fellowship and an Environment Start-up Fund.

The government has taken up a programme to plant 25 crore (250 million) trees over five years, the Prime Minister said. Prothom Alo and BSS reported that a special cell had been set up under the Prime Minister's Office to run it, with targets of about 3.5 lakh new green jobs and 10,000 nursery entrepreneurs. Jagonews24 reported that the planting would be monitored with GIS, remote sensing, a National Tree Database and drones.

Planting alone is not enough, he cautioned: which species suit which soil, environment and climate must be decided through research. "Species such as eucalyptus and acacia grow rapidly, but further research is needed to determine whether they are truly beneficial," BSS quoted him as saying. Akashmoni (Acacia auriculiformis) is a fast-growing tree native to Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. He urged priority for native medicinal, bamboo, timber, fruit, cash-crop and endangered species, and said making sure planted saplings survive matters even more than planting new ones, alongside protecting existing trees and biodiversity.

Without protecting rivers, agriculture, food security and water security cannot be ensured, the Prime Minister said. The government has begun a programme to dig and re-excavate 20,000 kilometres of rivers and canals across the country, which he said would give farmers year-round irrigation and help tackle the impact of climate change. Cyclones, floods, drought, heatwaves, erosion and salinity were challenging farming, he noted.

On waste, he said the government had begun work to cut plastic waste, with initiatives for organic fertiliser production, waste-to-energy and the "reduce, reuse, recycle (3R)" principles. Population growth, unplanned urbanisation, the filling of wetlands and deforestation have put biodiversity under threat, he said, and he urged people not to be cruel to wildlife, dogs or cats.

At the event the Prime Minister presented the National Environment Award 2025, the National Award for Wildlife Conservation 2026 and the National Award for Tree Plantation 2025, and handed social forestry beneficiaries their dividend cheques. He then planted one sapling each of olive, jarul and neem on the conference centre grounds and visited the fair stalls. Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo and State Minister Sheikh Faridul Islam were present.

Prothom Alo reported that the month-long national tree fair in Dhaka had 120 stalls, while tree fairs were running for 15 days in seven divisional cities, seven days in 56 district headquarters and three days in 29 upazilas. World Environment Day, led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), has been held every year on 5 June since 1973, according to the United Nations.

Photo: Balaram Mahalder / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Prothom Alo (BSS), BSS, UNB, The Business Standard, United Nations, Wikipedia