As we are observing 55th World Earth Day with the theme ‘Our Power, Our Planet,’ it is time to reflect on the innumerable blessings that our planet has bestowed upon us through offering air, water, food, shade, shelter, and life itself. In our quest for everyday comfort and limitless development, we have already deforested vast greenery, polluted our air with carbon, and warmed the planet at an alarming rate.
Bangladesh, like many other environmentally vulnerable nations, now feels the burning reality of climate change due to rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, frequent floods, and vanishing biodiversity. However, this World Earth Day could be an opportunity to commit to paying the debt we owe to our ailing Earth. The gentle whispers of the approaching monsoon in Bangladesh carry this promise, a promise to be part of green activism, not just in words but in action.
The rainy season is ideal for planting tree saplings because the moist soil fosters new roots, the rainfall lessens the need for artificial watering, and nature itself contributes to the growth of a greener future. We have lost too many trees to urbanization, development, and neglect. The Global Forest Resources Assessment reveals that forests cover only 11 percent of Bangladesh’s total land area. Moreover, data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expresses that Bangladesh has one of the lowest per capita forest areas in the world, with just 0.015 hectares per person, compared to the global average of 0.60 hectares. Meanwhile, global reports by the World Resources Institute show that the Earth lost over 11.7 million hectares of tree cover in tropical regions in 2023 alone.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) unequivocally states that human activities are the primary driver of climate change, with land-use change, including deforestation, being a significant contributor. What can we do? Start simple. If each capable person plants one tree, we create a ripple effect of change. Inspired by Jadav Payeng (Forest Man of India), who single-handedly transformed a barren sandbar into a 550-hectare forest over decades, and Abdul Samad Sheikh (Forest Man of Bangladesh) who has planted over 17,500 trees, inspiring his community and beyond, we see the power of individual dedication to forestation. We can celebrate a newborn by planting five trees, a gift that will grow alongside them, cleaning the air, cooling the surroundings, and bearing fruit. Let the event become a family tradition and a community celebration.
Our urban life often distances us from the soil. But even in our modern lives, nature offers opportunities. When we eat fruits like mangoes, jackfruits, or blackberries in the summer, we should not spoil their seeds. Rather, we can dry and store them and carry them when we travel or walk by a field, roadside, or hills. We can toss the seeds in the soil, and the wet soil naturally will do the rest.
We can create joyful learning experiences for our children by involving them in tree-planting activities both at home and in school. By letting them dig, plant, and care for saplings as part of play and education, we instill in them a lifelong love for nature and a sense of responsibility for the environment.
Alongside individual efforts, it is essential that government authorities initiate well-planned and high-quality plantation projects, particularly targeting areas that lack sufficient greenery. The rainy season offers an ideal opportunity to scale up such initiatives through innovative methods like aerial seeding, a technique where seeds can be dispersed from the air using helicopters to accelerate reforestation, especially in remote or hard-to-reach areas. Some promising steps had been taken in the past, where seed balls were distributed aerially over remote coastal and hilly regions to restore greenery in degraded landscapes. However, these initiatives need to become more frequent, strategic, and widespread.
Maintenance of the greenery should also be prioritized in policies and actions, as indifference to monitoring often leads to deforestation again. In my early age, I witnessed how the coastal mangrove forests of ‘Keora’ trees at my locality in Sitakunda were relentlessly decimated by forest pirates, as no significant action was taken against them by the concerned forest authorities.
We have taken much from the Earth. Now, it’s time to pay back our debt to the earth through sowing seeds and roots and, obviously, with goodwill. Look at Bhutan, a carbon-negative neighbouring country of Bangladesh, which constitutionally mandates that a minimum of 60 percent of the country’s land will remain forest at all times. The people in Bhutan are deeply aware of their ecological responsibilities. Citizens participate in tree-planting campaigns as a form of national pride and as a spiritual practice. If Bhutan can do it, why not Bangladesh? Let this rainy season take us to the lush greenery!
Writer: Jewel Das
Assistant Professor, Journalism and Media Studies, Port City International University
& Environment Activist.
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