The role of trees in meeting people's basic needs and keeping nature and the environment in balance is undeniable, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said. Trees play an important part in conserving a sustainable, biodiverse environment, creating carbon sinks, tackling natural disasters caused by climate change, creating jobs and in socio-economic development, she added.

She said this on Monday in a message marking the National Tree Planting Campaign and Tree Fair 2023.

Sheikh Hasina said she was glad the campaign and fair were being held, and considered this year's theme, "Plant trees and care for them, build a country of healthy generations", very apt and timely.

She warmly congratulated this year's winners of the Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation 2022 and the Prime Minister's National Award for Tree Plantation 2021, and the beneficiaries who received dividends from social forestry.

"To manage forests sustainably and increase the country's tree cover, the Awami League government is running social forestry on marginal land including government forest land, and coastal afforestation on newly emerged chars in coastal areas. Along with conserving, developing and expanding forests, it is restoring degraded forests by planting local species suited to each site," she said. In this way, she believes, the country's tree cover can be raised to 25 per cent by 2030. She said the government had adopted the Bangladesh National REDD+ Strategy to stop deforestation and degradation, conserve biodiversity, remove carbon from the atmosphere and cut greenhouse gas emissions from the forest sector.

She said that to cover the country in more green, tree fairs are being held this year at national level and in divisions, districts and upazilas across the country, alongside a three-month tree-planting campaign. The fairs will help people get to know improved species and collect saplings, and the campaign will highlight the importance of planting and encourage people to plant more, she said.

The Prime Minister called on everyone to plant and care for at least one forest, fruit and medicinal sapling each, to build the "Golden Bangladesh" that was the lifelong dream of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and a safe, liveable homeland for future generations. She wished the National Tree Planting Campaign and Tree Fair 2023 every success.

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