Staff Reporter

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has urged every citizen of Bangladesh to plant at least one tree a year.  He said, if everyone plants one tree, at least 10 crore trees are planted in a year.  Besides, the government also plants about eight crore trees every year.  The Environment Minister said, responding to the call of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, everyone should plant more and more trees to create a healthy environment for the present and the future.
The environment minister said these things in the speech of the chief guest at the closing and prize distribution ceremony of the tree fair organized at the forest department on Sunday.
The Environment Minister said that a total of 29 lakh 2 thousand 6 hundred 14 saplings were sold at the National Tree Fair held from June 5 to July 12 at the field in Sherbangla city this year with a total selling price of Tk 14 crore 81 lakh 69 thousand. This year the total number of saplings sold at the National Tree Fair and the selling price is higher than any previous year.  The minister said, private nurseries in 104 stalls, government institutions in 8 stalls and other institutions in 8 stalls participated in this year’s National Tree Fair.
He said tree fairs are being organized every year and crores of trees are being planted to build green cover for human survival.  This year too, apart from the national tree fair held in the capital, tree fairs have been organized in 7 divisional cities and 56 district cities and 2 upazila headquarters. He asked forest officials to arrange tree fair in all the upazilas from next year. The minister said that by the year 2030, forestry activities are being conducted with the aim of increasing the amount of forest land to 16 percent of the total land and the tree cover of the country to 25 percent.  Responding to the call of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Environment Minister urged everyone to plant more and more trees to create a healthy environment for the present and the future.
Deputy Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Habibun Nahar, Additional Secretary (Administration) Iqbal Abdullah Harun, Chairman of Bangladesh Forest Industry Development Corporation Nasir Uddin Ahmed and others were present at the closing ceremony held under the chairmanship of Md. Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forest Department.  Md. Moinuddin Khan, Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest Department, gave the welcome speech.
Winners of ‘Prime Minister’s National Award for Plantation 2021’, winners of Essay and Painting Competition organized on the occasion of National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair 2023;  Prizes were distributed among the stall owners of the tree fair.