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The government has launched an ambitious plan to plant and maintain 250 million trees across the country over the next five years, using advanced technologies to monitor the location and survival of every tree.
The programme will use satellite imagery, GIS, remote sensing, drones and a national tree database. It is also expected to create around 350,000 green jobs and help establish 10,000 new nursery entrepreneurs.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo announced the initiative at a press conference at the Secretariat on Wednesday ahead of World Environment Day, Environment Fair-2026 and the National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair-2026.
He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will inaugurate the events on Thursday at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center.
The theme of this year’s campaign is: “Let’s Beautify the Country Through Tree Plantation, Bangladesh First.”
Mintoo said a month-long tree fair will be held in Dhaka, while similar fairs will take place for 15 days in seven divisional cities, seven days in 56 district headquarters and three days in 29 upazilas. The national tree fair in the capital will feature 120 stalls.
The Forest Department is planting 15 million native saplings this year in treeless areas, along roads, canals, embankments and coastal belts. It is also carrying out afforestation on 4,800 hectares of forest land reclaimed from illegal encroachment.
More than 8.33 million saplings have already been planted under this year’s programme.
The minister said the afforestation drive is being transformed into a Smart Forestry programme. Data on every planted tree will be stored in a digital database, while drones will monitor plantations in remote chars, coastal areas and forests.
Highlighting environmental enforcement, Mintoo said authorities took action against 1,525 establishments for violating environmental laws between January and June this year. During the period, Tk 233.4 million in fines was imposed and utility connections to 112 illegal factories were disconnected.
In the past four months, 220 mobile court drives were conducted, resulting in 486 cases. Authorities collected more than Tk 43.1 million in fines, demolished the chimneys of 73 illegal brick kilns and disconnected electricity to 49 others.
The minister said more than 581 acres of encroached forest land had been recovered during the same period. To reduce human-wildlife conflict around the Sundarbans, the government installed 34 kilometres of eco-friendly rope fencing.
He added that 35 anti-wildlife trafficking drives rescued 557 wild animals over the past four months.
Mintoo said four monitoring teams are working at the Secretariat to curb the use of single-use plastics and banned polythene bags. He also said the government, with support from UNICEF, has finalized the draft Lead-Free Bangladesh Strategy 2026-2035 and is preparing new guidelines introducing extended producer responsibility for plastic waste management.
Calling tree plantation an investment in the country’s future, the minister urged every citizen to plant at least one tree and take responsibility for its care, saying public participation is essential for the programme’s success.
