Green strategy puts clean air first

Pollution prevention and stronger environmental monitoring will be key priorities under a five-year government plan that also targets planting 25 crore trees, restoring degraded forests, expanding mangroves and creating green jobs.

Outlined in the FY2026-27 budget document, the programme seeks to combine nature-based climate adaptation with stronger environmental governance, digital monitoring and new financing mechanisms, including carbon trading.

The plan comes as Bangladesh faces rising temperatures, coastal salinity, extreme weather and severe air pollution.

The World Bank says Bangladesh’s average maximum temperature rose by about 1.1 degrees Celsius between 1980 and 2023, while the heat index increased by 4.5 degrees Celsius.

Extreme heat in 2024 was estimated to have caused around 250 million lost workdays and cost the economy up to $1.78 billion, or about 0.4 per cent of GDP.

The government estimates that the planned environmental initiatives could generate around 3.5 lakh green jobs, directly and indirectly.

For FY2026-27, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has set a target of planting 4.28 crore saplings over 25,960 hectares through block plantations.

Another 3.27 crore saplings will be planted along 3,727 kilometres under strip plantations, while 1.77 crore will cover 4,000 hectares under mangrove plantations.

A further 56 lakh saplings are planned under homestead afforestation.

Together, the four programmes account for nearly 9.9 crore saplings in one fiscal year, or almost 40 per cent of the five-year target of 25 crore trees.

Afforestation will focus on marginal land along roads, highways, embankments, riverbanks and canals, while government forests, degraded sal forests in Chattogram, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet, and forests in central Bangladesh will undergo restoration.

The government has also finalised an action plan under the “One Child, One Tree Programme” to facilitate planting 1 crore trees at the homes and homesteads of government primary-school students.

The programme includes restoring 4,500 hectares of encroached forest land and expanding protected areas by another 300 hectares.

GPS- and GIS-based information on afforestation sites will be maintained, while a Tree Monitoring App is being developed for digital surveillance and maintenance.

A project launched by the Bangladesh Forest Department and IUCN Bangladesh in January 2026 will update the country’s Faunal Red List, covering 2,200 wildlife species, including marine species. Bangladesh launched its first Plant Red List in 2024, assessing 1,000 species.

The government plans to bring 50 per cent of coastal mangrove forests under carbon-trading mechanisms and is pursuing 11 new carbon-trading projects under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Bangladesh has established institutional arrangements for an Article 6 carbon market, including a designated national authority and readiness roadmap.

A national carbon-market framework is also being developed, with emphasis on transparency and accountability.

The plan gives priority to climate-resilient agriculture, particularly in southern Bangladesh, where salinity and water stress increasingly threaten farming.

Canals adjacent to rivers will be excavated to reduce soil salinity and improve freshwater availability.

The government also plans to support new crop varieties, organic agriculture, safer fertiliser use and salinity-tolerant farming.

Coastal resilience measures will include safe water supplies, sustainable embankments, riverbank protection and cyclone shelters.

The World Bank has identified salinity intrusion, water stress and temperature changes as major threats to Bangladesh’s agriculture.

Under a proposed “Circular Future Model”, waste will increasingly be treated as a resource through energy generation, organic fertiliser production and plastic recycling.

The government aims to reduce plastic waste by 30 per cent over five years under the 3R policy – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Seventeen single-use plastic items have already been identified and banned, while new guidelines are planned for environmentally sound e-waste management.

Air pollution control will remain a major focus. The government will continue monitoring air quality through 15 Continuous Air Monitoring Stations and 16 Compact Continuous Air Monitoring Stations.

Ten modern Vehicle Inspection Centres will be established, alongside plans for electric bus services.

Continuous online stack-emission monitoring will also be introduced for major polluting industries, including power plants.

The World Bank estimates that air pollution was linked to more than 159,000 premature deaths in Bangladesh in 2019, with related health costs equivalent to about 8.3 per cent of GDP.

National annual average PM2.5 concentrations stood at 60-100 micrograms per cubic metre, compared with around 90-100 micrograms in Dhaka – well above the WHO guideline.

A $290 million Bangladesh Clean Air Project approved by the World Bank in 2025 is supporting air-quality monitoring, industrial emissions controls and vehicle-emissions management, including plans for 400 zero-emission electric buses.

The programme’s impact will depend on effective enforcement, sustained tree survival and forest restoration, and whether environmental investments translate into cleaner air, healthier ecosystems and greater climate resilience.