Zobayer Ahmed Khan Opu began planting trees in 2008 while studying for his honours degree. Eighteen years on, the saplings and palm seeds he has planted number about 15,000, including fruit, flowering and medicinal trees and some species that are becoming rare.

His interest began as a child watching his maternal grandfather plant trees. At college he gave a sapling to each guest at a reception for blood donors of the volunteer group Badhan. A job in Dhaka did not stop him: he has planted more than 1,500 saplings of shimul, jarul, neem, haritaki, jam, chhatim and arjun along the capital's 300 Feet road.

At Ramdubi on the Dinajpur-Rangpur highway he has planted more than 200 palash, kanchan, shimul and chhatim saplings on both sides of the road, and more than 200 mango trees along the Ramdubi-Birgaon road. In Sylhet he has planted over 500 saplings at a hospital, the court compound, a madrasa and the Doldol tea estate, and more than 200 shimul saplings in Chhatak.

He also sows seeds. Over the past six years he has planted about 6,000 palm seeds beside the Joydebpur-Tangail railway, where palm seedlings are now coming up.

He meets part of the cost from his own income and raises some saplings himself, with his family's support. Planting is not the end of the job, he says; a sapling must be cared for. "As long as I live I will keep planting trees, because trees are people's great friends," he said.

His story shows how one person's steady effort can green a wide area. The report was written by Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman.

Source: Desh Rupantor