Trees are people's friends and benefit us in many ways. We get food, clothing, shelter, oxygen, medicine and more from trees; their benefits are endless. There is no alternative to plants for the survival of the animal world. It is because of trees that the earth is still fit to live on.

Yet day after day we are cutting trees and threatening the environment. Building homes, corporate offices and roads is harming it. Trees are also abused by tearing leaves, breaking branches and hammering nails into them. Nail holes let bacteria and micro-organisms in, making the tree rot quickly and disrupting its uptake of food and water.

One study found that a tree that lives for 50 years saves Tk 10 lakh by protecting the environment from air pollution, provides life-giving oxygen worth Tk 5 lakh, saves Tk 5 lakh by creating conditions for rain, saves Tk 5 lakh by preventing soil erosion and improving fertility, saves Tk 5 lakh by giving food and shelter to animals living in it, supplies furniture, firewood and fruit worth Tk 5 lakh, and saves another Tk 40,000 by feeding various animals. The financial benefit of one tree thus comes to Tk 35 lakh 40 thousand.

Areas with more trees suffer less damage from floods and storms; trees protect people from natural disasters as they would their own children. If rooftops can be made a little green, city temperatures will be comparatively lower, and rooftop gardens help keep indoor temperatures normal.

One vegetable plant can supply oxygen for three people for three months. Cities lack open space, so rooftop gardens should cover at least 25% of a house. Beyond the environmental benefits, rooftop gardens can pay: many have succeeded with them both as a hobby and commercially. By growing vegetables on the roof of a house of two and a half kathas, it is possible to meet a family's needs and earn Tk 50,000 a year.

A country needs at least 25% of its land under forest, and Bangladesh has much less. Without enough forest, global warming keeps rising and the country is turning into desert. Carbon dioxide in the living world has increased, and harmful chlorofluorocarbons, methane and nitrous oxide have increased many times over. The ozone layer is cracking. With acid rain and rising temperatures, Antarctic ice is melting and sea levels are rising.

With fewer trees, the weather has changed too: excessive heat in the hot season, and in the cold season sometimes excessive cold or heat. Farm output has also fallen. There is no alternative to planting trees to save the environment and nature. Students at schools, colleges and universities should be encouraged to plant trees, and alongside tree fairs there could be tree-planting festivals, which school, college and university authorities could help organise.

There is no alternative to tree planting to cope with the adverse effects of climate change and keep pace with the needs of the population. Everyone, in government, the private sector and as individuals, should come forward to plant trees. Trees are essential to making the earth liveable.

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