Government goes green, targets planting 70mn tree saplings a year

The government aims to plant 70 million tree saplings over the next year as part of a broader plan to plant 250 million trees nationwide over the next five years, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has said.

The target was announced on Thursday while presenting the national budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year in parliament.

In his budget speech, Khosru said the five-year afforestation initiative would create about 350,000 direct and indirect "green jobs" across the country.

Under the plan for fiscal year 2026-27, the government aims to plant: 42.89 million saplings in block plantations covering 25,960 hectares; 3.72 million saplings along 3,727 kilometres of strip plantations; 17.77 million saplings in mangrove plantations spanning 4,000 hectares; and 5.6 million saplings through homestead forestry initiatives.

The government has also finalised a plan to plant 10 million trees under the "One Child, One Tree" scheme, through which students of government primary schools will plant trees at their homes or in nearby areas, he said.

"The government's goal is to build a liveable Bangladesh for future generations," the minister said, adding that a range of programmes was being implemented to achieve that objective.

As part of efforts to address climate change, the government also plans to bring 50 percent of coastal mangrove forests under carbon trading schemes and implement a "Circular Future Model" for waste management, the minister said.

The Circular Future Model is a sustainable economic and environmental framework designed to support a waste-free and more livable world in future.

It is based on the principles of a circular economy, which seeks to minimise waste and maximise the reuse of resources.