With an aim to increase the country’s green cover in line with the current government’s election manifesto, Bangladesh is preparing for a nationwide plantation of 250 million trees across the country in the next five years.
“Currently, we are coordinating with various government agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives; the Road Transport and Highways Division; the Ministry of Education; and the Bangladesh Army to finalize the number of saplings that will be planted by each of them,” said Shaikh Faridul Islam, state minister of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
“The plantation program is a coordinated approach,” he said. “Since the plantation does not require huge amount of funds, we will not spend extra money for the initiative, rather will allocate fund from the regular budget. Here, all government agencies will plant a set number of trees within their own annual budgets.”
“At the same time, we are coordinating with different non-government development agencies working in the country and directing them to plant a specific number of trees at their own cost,” he added.
The government has already formed a task force committee, led by the MoEFCC, to coordinate and monitor the program. The task force is now developing an internet-based application and dashboard where one can see the update of the activities, including the number of trees planted, their statuses, which agency planted them, the species of planted trees, and the area coverage.
Islam said that the plantation program will continue for five years and that khas lands (land owned by the government), river banks, sides of roads, government office premises, deforested areas of forest lands, and newly raised charlands (river islands) are selected for planting the saplings.
Prioritizing the ecological and socioeconomic aspects, the task force committee has already selected regions and accordingly allocated saplings for the plantations. “Of the selected areas, to restore degraded mangrove forest and protect communities from coastal erosion and cyclonic tidal surges, 100 million saplings will be planted in the coastal region comprised of 17 districts,” said Islam, who is also part of the task force committee.
“Fifty million saplings are designated for the degraded hill forests in Chittagong Hill Tracts [CHT] and Sylhet and in Central Bangladesh’s sal [Shorea robusta] forest,” he said. “To create a balance countering air pollution and heat stress, 12.5 million saplings will be planted in urban areas. Besides this, 37.5 million saplings will go to the riverbanks, other wetlands and roadsides. The remaining 37.5 million will be planted in government office premises, including educational institutions and government offices across the country.”
According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, 12.1% of the country’s total area is considered forest land, while the tree coverage is higher at 24.4%.
Tree selection of the plantation plan is being carried out based on ecology and location-specific conditions. All kinds of plants — including timber, fruit-bearing and medicinal — have been included. For example, for the coastal plantation, the government chose keora (Sonneratia apetala), and for hill forests, the priority is garjan (Dipterocarpus turbinatus) and other species whose adaptability is high in the region.
For the last couple of decades, the Forest Department has been planting fast-growing species like eucalyptus and acacia in their deforested lands, mainly under the social forestry scheme. Under the scheme, the locals living in the periphery of the forest land can plant and take care of the plantation, and after a certain period when the trees are mature (commonly 20 years), they cut down the trees and sell them, keeping 40-65% (depending on the region and trees) of the profit while sharing the rest with the government.
However, due to their invasive nature and high water consumption, in 2025, the former government banned eucalyptus and acacia trees from being planted in the country.
“Along with native species, some fast-growing species should be considered since the people involved in such an initiative expect profit within a certain period. In such cases where locals’ livelihood issues are involved, we are thinking about fruit-bearing trees that can ensure their profit in the short term,” Islam said.
In educational institutions and urban areas, selected trees are considered for beautification, such as Krishnachura (Delonix regia), jarul (Lagerstroemia speciosa), sonalu (Cassia fistula), bakul (Mimusops elengi) and Radhachura (Peltophorum pterocarpum).
Farid Uddin Ahmed, a forestry expert and former executive director of the Dhaka-based NGO Arannayk Foundation, told Mongabay, “For the selection of trees for plantation, which goes to the common people and homesteaders, the government should consider fast-growing species so that they can feel interested with a hope to get financial benefits.
“Regarding planting medicinal plants, Bangladesh does not have a large market for them,” he said. “Only a few large pharmaceutical companies like Square Pharmaceuticals and ACME Laboratories Ltd., are producing some of their medicines using resources from medicinal plants, though their raw materials come from their own plants grown agriculturally.”
Bangladesh has been planting trees during the monsoon season every year, which is also encouraged by the official recognition of the World Environment Day on June 5.
However, for the current planned initiative, the volume and nature are exceptionally vast, requiring coordinated efforts.
“We must consider several challenges to implement the massive plantation initiative,” said Khaled Misbahuzzaman, professor of forestry and environmental sciences at Chittagong University. “Firstly, the Forest Department needs a proper assessment of the necessity and type of plants they are going to plant across the country. Secondly, getting good quality saplings will be a challenge since most of the saplings are managed by various private nurseries, whose quality is often found as sub-standard.”
About 435 social forestry nurseries and centers across the country produce 7.5 million saplings on average in the government center each year.
