Bangladesh plans to plant 250 million saplings in five years, create green jobs and expand nursery entrepreneurship as tree planting gains wider public participation.
Bangladesh’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo on Sunday urged people to continue planting and caring for trees after the National Tree Fair 2026 ended, saying the main work of building a greener Bangladesh starts now.
“Although the National Tree Fair 2026 has officially ended, the responsibility for planting and caring for trees and building a green Bangladesh has not ended. Rather, the main work starts now,” Mintoo, a member of parliament, said at the closing ceremony of the month-long fair in the capital Dhaka.
He urged people to properly plant and regularly care for every sapling purchased from the fair. With the participation of families, educational institutions, youth and young people’s organisations and people from all sections of society, the target of increasing the country’s tree cover to 27 percent by 2035 could be achieved ahead of schedule, he said.
Mintoo made the remarks as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the National Tree Fair 2026 at the Haimanti Auditorium of the Forest Bhaban in Agargaon, Dhaka.
He said this year’s fair was not simply an event for buying and selling saplings but had become a national movement involving the public in protecting environmental balance, expanding greenery and addressing the challenges of climate change.
The fair was held under the theme “Let us decorate the country with tree planting, Bangladesh first” and achieved greater success than expected, he said.
Mintoo said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurated the National Tree Planting Campaign and National Tree Fair 2026 on July 9, 2026. Government efforts to protect Bangladesh’s environment and forests were not limited to announcements and had already entered the implementation stage, he said.
Under the government’s election commitments, a programme has been adopted to plant 250 million saplings across the country over the next five years and create new green jobs. The first-year programme, involving the planting of 50 million saplings, is under way, with the Forest Department set to plant 35 million of them, the minister said.
The programme aims to create more than 350,000 direct and indirect green jobs, with priority given to young people, women and rural communities, he said.
The government also plans to create 10,000 new nursery entrepreneurs across the country, generating employment opportunities for about 250,000 people, Mintoo said.
A total of 74 nurseries took part in this year’s National Tree Fair. During the month-long event, visitors from different parts of the country bought about 1.6 million tree saplings, with total sales of around 160 million taka, according to the minister.
The scale of sapling sales and financial transactions showed that environmental awareness among ordinary people in Bangladesh was increasing and that the potential of the nursery sector and tree-based economy was expanding rapidly, he said.
Mintoo said the participation of small entrepreneurs, young people and the general public was creating a strong foundation for a green economy in Bangladesh.
Urging people to properly plant and care for saplings collected from the fair, the minister said planting trees alone was not enough and that their survival had to be ensured. He stressed the need to protect every planted sapling and provide it with regular care.
Kazi Rawnakul Islam Tipu, managing director of the Bangladesh Climate Trust, attended the ceremony as a special guest. The event was chaired by Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury, chief conservator of forests.
In his remarks, Chowdhury said the number of awards would be increased in future to involve more people in tree planting. He urged the current generation to become more closely connected with trees.
During the ceremony, awards and certificates were presented to individuals and institutions that secured second and third places in the National Tree Planting Awards 2025, individuals recognised for special contributions to wildlife and biodiversity conservation, winners of essay writing, drawing and tree identification competitions organised for the National Tree Planting Campaign and Tree Fair 2026 and selected stall owners at the National Tree Fair 2026.
Officials and employees of the Forest Department and relevant government departments and agencies, nursery and stall owners, stakeholders in the environment and forestry sectors, representatives of civil society and journalists from print and electronic media attended the event.
