Nazrul Islam Khan, the prime minister's political adviser and a member of BNP's Standing Committee, on Thursday said 43 percent of the tree plantation target set for 2026 under the government's five-year, 25-crore tree plantation programme has already been achieved.

"A total of 5,14,88,930 saplings were planned to be planted across various ministries, divisions and agencies in 2026, of which nearly 43 percent had already been planted so far," Nazrul made the remarks while addressing the 4th meeting of the cell formed to implement the government's election pledge of planting 25 crore trees in five years.

The meeting was held at the conference room of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, where Nazrul currently oversees the cell's activities.

He said ministries and agencies lagging behind in achieving their targets have been instructed to accelerate plantation activities by making full use of the current monsoon season.

The programme must be turned into a nationwide social movement, Nazrul said, stressing the need to involve women, the younger generation, students and rural communities from all sections of society.

He said concerned institutions must act responsibly to ensure that native tree species suited to local soil, climate and biodiversity are planted at appropriate locations, while also ensuring the survival rate of the saplings.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said that beyond planting saplings, ensuring regular post-plantation care, protection and effective monitoring is essential to make the government's election pledge of planting 25 crore trees in five years a success.

He called for enhancing the capacity of both public and private nurseries and stressed prioritising native species by following the "right tree, right place" policy.

The minister urged encouraging people to plant economically beneficial trees such as coconut, palm, date palm and betel nut, and suggested planned plantation on government khas land, roads, railways, riverbanks, chars and coastal areas.

He also emphasised involving students, scouts, the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC), Rovers, youth organisations, voluntary bodies, the private sector, industrial establishments and NGOs in the programme.

State Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shaikh Faridul Islam said two crore trees will be planted in coastal areas between December and January, which would help achieve this year's target by next January.

He said an integrated monitoring system will be developed to oversee the care, protection, replanting where necessary, and survival rate of the planted saplings.

Saimum Parvez, special assistant to the prime minister on environment, forest and climate change affairs, said effective action plans must be formulated to create more than three and a half lakh green jobs through the participation of women, youth and rural communities in the plantation drive, alongside developing new nursery entrepreneurs across the country.

The meeting also discussed progress on developing a "Tree Monitoring App" to digitally record the GPS-based location, species, plantation date, geo-tagged photographs and care details of every planted tree.

The app is designed to display the survival rate of trees, replacement plantation data, district- and institution-wise progress, and real-time reports on a national dashboard.