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Published : 08 Jul 2026, 05:16 PM
Bangladesh has begun implementing a series of measures aimed at cutting pollution, with Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo saying pollution levels across all sectors will start falling within the next year.
Speaking in the Secretariat on Wednesday, Mintoo said the government had completed planning in several key areas and was now moving ahead with implementation, including stricter monitoring of noise, air and water pollution.
He said a project on noise pollution had recently been completed and authorities would step up enforcement under the new plan.
The minister also said the government would soon move to address water pollution from textile and leather industries, while work to curb air pollution was continuing.
"We expect pollution levels across every sector to start falling within the next year under the government's plan," he said.
Mintoo also criticised the previous interim government, saying it acted without long-term responsibility because it was not an elected administration.
Asked whether the government would shut down brick kilns to reduce air pollution, as the then Muhammad Yunus administration had attempted, he said doing so immediately would halt development projects because alternatives were not yet widely available.
He said compressed blocks and auto bricks were viable alternatives, but production and use had yet to reach a level where conventional brick kilns could be phased out.
"The interim government did what it wanted. We are an elected government with responsibilities and commitments to the people, so we have to deliver," he said.
The minister said the government's five-year plan to plant 250 million trees would be monitored using satellite-based geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, drones and a national digital tree database.
He said the programme would also create around 350,000 green jobs and help establish 10,000 new nursery entrepreneurs by involving rural women and young people in nursery businesses and tree maintenance.
According to Mintoo, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has launched the nationwide tree-planting programme, while a special cell under his office (PMO) has been formed to oversee its implementation.
He said 15 million native saplings would be planted this year in treeless areas, along roads, canals, embankments and coastal regions, alongside new afforestation across 4,800 hectares of recovered forest land.
The Forest Department has already planted 8.332 million saplings, around 17 percent of this year's target, he added.
Mintoo said World Environment Day, the Environment Fair and the National Tree Fair would begin on Jul 9, with the prime minister set to inaugurate the programmes at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka.
Alongside the month-long fair in the capital, tree fairs will be held for 15 days in seven divisional headquarters, seven days in 56 district headquarters and three days in 29 Upazilas.
Mintoo said authorities had carried out enforcement drives against 1,525 establishments between January and June this year, imposing fines of Tk 233.4 million and disconnecting utility services to 112 illegal factories.
He said the government had also adopted a National Air Quality Management Plan, was implementing a partnership project to tackle noise pollution, and had drafted new guidelines on plastic waste management that would be sent for legal approval.
On climate change, he said the government had adopted a whole-of-government approach involving ministries, local government bodies, the private sector, researchers, civil society organisations and development partners.
He added that work was also under way to finalise the master plan for conserving biodiversity on St Martin's Island after incorporating opinions from ministries.
