A nationwide fair programme will combine afforestation, digital monitoring and pollution enforcement, with officials highlighting plans for 250 million trees, green jobs and new waste and lead policies.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will inaugurate World Environment Day and Environment Fair 2026 and the National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair 2026 on July 9 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said today.
The minister made the announcement at a press conference held at the conference room of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change at the Bangladesh Secretariat, ahead of the two national events.
Mintoo said this year’s theme for the National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair has been set as “Adorn the country through tree plantation, Bangladesh first for all.”
Recalling the historical context of Bangladesh’s environmental and afforestation movements, the minister said late president Ziaur Rahman, whom he described as the architect of modern Bangladesh, first turned tree plantation into a state-led movement and formulated the country’s first national forest policy in 1979.
He said late prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia began the historic journey of the national tree fair in 1994 and opened a new horizon for participatory social forestry.
Mintoo said the current government is working to build a sustainable Bangladesh through a combination of technology and nature, continuing that legacy.
Alongside the environment fair and month-long national tree fair in Dhaka, 15-day tree fairs will be held in seven divisional headquarters, seven-day fairs in 56 district headquarters and three-day fairs in 29 upazilas, he said.
A total of 120 stalls will be set up at the national tree fair in Dhaka.
The minister said a special cell has been formed by the Prime Minister’s Office to help implement a major plan to plant 250 million trees over five years.
Under the programme, afforestation will be monitored digitally using GIS, remote sensing, a national tree database and drone technology, he said.
He said the initiative would create more than 350,000 new green jobs in the national economy and help develop 10,000 new nursery entrepreneurs.
Highlighting the government’s firm position against environmental pollution, Mintoo said enforcement actions were carried out against 1,525 establishments from January to June this year, with fines amounting to Tk 233.4 million imposed.
He said more than 581 acres of encroached forest land had been recovered over the past four months.
The minister also said the Extended Producer Responsibility Guidelines 2026 for plastic waste management and a draft national strategy on lead pollution control, prepared with support from UNICEF, had been finalised.
A question-and-answer session with journalists was held after the press conference. Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, MP, and State Minister Sheikh Faridul Islam, MP, responded to questions from reporters.
Special Assistant on Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Saimum Parvez, acting secretary of the ministry Dr Fahmida Khanam, additional secretaries, the director general of the Department of Environment, the chief conservator of forests, senior officials of the ministry and related agencies and journalists from print, electronic and online media were present.
