A "Tree Monitoring App" is being developed to ensure the survival, growth and accountability of saplings planted under the government's nationwide tree planting programme, especially the "One Child, One Tree" scheme.

The initiative is mentioned in the FY27 national budget speech for 2026-27 and the Bangladesh Climate Budget Report 2026-27, prepared as part of the National Green Mission to strengthen environmental protection and climate resilience.

According to the budget and climate policy documents, the app will make tree planting more modern, transparent and accountable through continuous digital monitoring and care of trees planted across the country. It will track the current state of saplings and ensure proper care after planting, which is especially important for the large number of trees planted at homes and homesteads under One Child, One Tree.

To make monitoring more precise, the app will be integrated with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based data collection, allowing digital maps and a database of areas afforested under the Forest Department. It is expected to play a central role in places that are hard to supervise directly.

• One Child, One Tree aims to plant 10 million trees at the homes of government primary school students.
• The National Green Mission targets 250 million trees over five years to restore degraded forests, protect ecological balance and increase carbon absorption, creating about 350,000 direct and indirect green jobs.
• There are plans to bring 50 percent of coastal mangrove forests under a carbon trading system.
• The programme emphasises mangroves on coastal chars, restoration of sal forests in the hills and central region, and conservation of endangered forest species, as well as planting on roadsides, embankments, riverbanks and canal banks, urban forestry and agroforestry.

The budget also proposes a 15 percent VAT on imports of trees and aromatic plant extracts.

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