On this year’s World Environment Day, Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), announced an ambitious pledge: 250 to 300 million trees planted nationwide over the next five years.

Far from the usual parade of environmental soundbites, this proposal–framed as part of a National Green Recovery Plan–deserves attention for the transformative potential it carries.

At a time when Bangladesh faces a confluence of climate vulnerability, urban suffocation, and public health strain, the promise of large-scale afforestation is essential. Rising heat, worsening air quality, erratic rainfall, and land degradation are no longer future threats. They are daily realities for millions.

Tree planting is often dismissed as simplistic, or worse, cosmetic. But that ignores the science and the stakes. Trees are among the most cost-effective tools we have for national resilience.

They sequester carbon, filter toxic air, cool overheated cities, reduce flood risks, and provide critical habitat. From the Sundarbans shielding the coast to a lone banyan tree offering shade in a dusty village square, the value of green cover in Bangladesh cannot be overstated.

In urban hubs like Dhaka and Chattogram–where millions choke on hazardous air and live without access to green space–the case is even clearer.

Bangladesh has some of the highest levels of PM2.5 pollution in the world, with devastating consequences for public health. According to the World Health Organization, green infrastructure not only curbs pollution but also mitigates heat, improves water retention, and supports psychological well-being.

Anyone who has moved from the traffic-choked fumes of Kawran Bazar to the shaded calm of Zia Udyan can attest to the difference that green cover makes–not just environmentally, but emotionally.

A nationwide tree-planting campaign thus would take pressure off the country’s overstretched healthcare system. Airborne pollutants are key contributors to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh.

Strategic urban greening could help lower hospital visits, reduce healthcare costs, and even increase life expectancy.

Multiple dimensions

But there’s a broader socio-economic dimension too.

Trees create jobs. In a country where youth unemployment is high, a national greening effort could boost employment across sectors–from nursery cultivation and urban forestry to rural agroforestry and ecosystem management.

Integrating trees into agricultural landscapes enhances soil fertility, stabilizes yields, and improves long-term food security—all of which are critical as climate volatility increases.

Of course, such a plan will require political will, administrative coordination, and transparency in implementation–qualities often lacking in Bangladesh’s climate policy landscape. But this is one pledge that cuts across partisan lines.

That being said, it is also true that ambition alone won’t plant 300 million trees. To avoid becoming yet another grand political gesture lost in bureaucratic fog, the initiative must be grounded in science, strategy, and serious planning.

The real question isn’t just how many trees Bangladesh can plant–but what kinds, where, and for what purpose.

The country’s ecological diversity–from the saline coastal belts to the flood-prone deltaic plains, from the drought-prone northwest to the fragile hill tracts–demands a nuanced approach.

Native species, adapted to local conditions and supportive of regional biodiversity, must be prioritized. These trees live longer, require less maintenance, and do more for the environment than quick-fix exotics that often collapse under pressure or crowd out local flora.

A balanced mix of species–medicinal, fruit-bearing, canopy-forming, and deep-rooting–is critical to building ecological resilience and avoiding monoculture disasters.

Equally important is where these trees go. Urban boulevards, schoolyards, canal banks, rooftops, and roadside verges are often overlooked but carry enormous greening potential.

In cities already gasping under heat stress and choking on air pollution, the integration of micro-forests and green roofs in dense neighborhoods isn’t just desirable–it’s urgent.

In rural and coastal areas, degraded lands, riverbanks, and homesteads offer opportunities for agroforestry, mangrove restoration, and slope stabilization. Each zone demands a different solution, not a one-size-fits-all planting drive.

Green promises need smart policy

Bangladesh would do well to learn from cities that have successfully embedded green infrastructure into their urban planning.

Singapore’s “Green Plot Ratio” and Barcelona’s “Green Space Factor” are more than slogans–they are enforceable metrics tied to development approvals. Inclusionary zoning policies in cities like Medellín mandate green elements in private developments, linking urban growth with environmental accountability.

Bangladesh’s own Detailed Area Plans (DAPs) must evolve to include similar tools–requiring minimum green coverage, incentivizing rooftop vegetation, and embedding nature into zoning codes.

Beyond planting, trees must be valued. Digital tools like GIS-based canopy assessments and i-Tree Eco software, used widely in cities across the West, quantify the economic value of urban forests–from reducing healthcare costs to boosting property values and absorbing carbon.

These metrics can shift the conversation from symbolism to investment, making trees not just a moral cause, but a financial one.

If Bangladesh is serious about greening its future, then the shift must be from campaign to capacity, from counting saplings to cultivating systems. Planting 300 million trees is a challenge worth pursuing. But only if we do it right.

We have to understand that turning this vision into reality will require far more than a few ceremonial planting drives and glossy posters. It demands cross-ministerial coordination, a binding implementation framework, and sustained community ownership.

Civil society organizations, school networks, corporate stakeholders, and local governments must be mobilized to make tree planting a continuous, climate-smart investment–not a seasonal stunt.

Equally, technical expertise cannot be sidelined. Arborists, horticulturists, urban planners, landscape architects–these professionals must be at the center of any serious nationwide greening effort. Without them, the risk is not just failure, but damage: poorly chosen species, haphazard planting, or wasted resources.

The World Health Organization has already made the stakes clear: “The environmental crisis is now so severe as to be a global health emergency.” In such a moment, we have to realize that a genuine green recovery for Bangladesh is no longer a matter of policy preference–it is a matter of national survival.

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Dr. Faysal Kabir Shuvo is an Australian based data professional and urban planner. He writes on environmental and urban planning, Bangladesh politics