Desk Report:
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, MP, inaugurated the World Environment Day and Environment Fair 2026 and the National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair 2026 with the theme of ‘Beautify the country with tree plantation, Bangladesh first’.
Speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony organized at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center in the capital on Thursday (July 9, 2026) morning, the Prime Minister said that when a child is born into the world, the birth of every life can be celebrated by planting a tree. She said, “Let a tree also grow along with a newborn. Let the social movement of greening move forward in this way.”
The Prime Minister said that as new tree plantation is important, it is also very important to ensure that the planted trees are growing safely. At the same time, she emphasized the importance of conserving trees that have been around for a long time as part of the local ecosystem and protecting biodiversity.
Highlighting the impact of climate change, the Prime Minister said that this is no longer a future threat, but an everyday reality. Development and prosperity must be ensured in harmony with nature, rather than seeing development and environment as competitors.
Urging the countrymen, she said that the responsible behavior of every citizen is the basis for building a clean and green Bangladesh. To build a healthy, safe and livable Bangladesh for future generations, everyone must play a role in tree plantation, environmental conservation and biodiversity protection.
At the event, the Prime Minister presented the National Environment Medal 2025, the National Award for Wildlife Conservation 2026 and the National Award for Tree Plantation 2025. She also distributed dividend checks among the beneficiaries of social forestry.
Later, the Prime Minister planted olive, jarul and neem tree saplings as a memorial at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center premises. Then, she visited various stalls of the Tree Fair and Environment Fair organized at the Old Trade Fair grounds.
It was informed at the event that a large-scale program of planting 250 million trees has been taken up in the next five years to build a green, climate-resilient and environmentally friendly Bangladesh. The goal of implementing this program is not just a government initiative, but a national movement.
A special cell has been formed under the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor the activities of the tree plantation program. This program will monitor afforestation activities digitally using GIS, remote sensing, National Tree Database and drone technology.
According to the government’s plan, this initiative will create more than 3.5 lakh new ‘green jobs’ in the country’s economy and 10,000 new nursery entrepreneurs will be developed.
It is worth noting that in addition to the month-long National Tree Fair and Environment Fair in Dhaka, 15-day tree fairs have been organized in 7 divisional headquarters of the country, 7-day tree fairs in 56 district headquarters and 3-day tree fairs in 29 upazilas.
It was also mentioned at the event that in the continuation of the tree plantation movement in Bangladesh, martyred President Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam transformed tree plantation into a national movement and formulated the first National Forest Policy in 1979. Later, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia launched the National Tree Fair in 1994 and expanded the activities of participatory social forestry. In that continuation, the current government is working to build a sustainable Bangladesh by combining technology and nature.
