The government is developing a specialized 'Tree Monitoring App' as a core digital tool to oversee the survival, growth and overall accountability of saplings planted under its nationwide afforestation initiatives, specifically highlighting the flagship 'One Child, One Tree' programme.
This technological initiative is formally outlined in the National Budget Speech for Fiscal Year 2026-27 (FY27) and the accompanying Bangladesh Climate Budget Report 2026-27.
It functions as a key component of the broader National Green Mission, which is aimed at driving large-scale environmental conservation and bolstering climate resilience across the country.
According to official budget and climate policy documents, the primary objective of developing the app is to modernize afforestation activities while embedding greater transparency and accountability.
It achieves this through continuous digital surveillance and systematic maintenance of trees planted nationwide.
The tracking system is specifically designed to monitor the ongoing status of saplings and ensure proper maintenance post-plantation.
This directly addresses the traditional challenges associated with auditing large-scale tree plantation drives, particularly those executed at the individual household level under the "One Child, One Tree" initiative.
The 'One Child, One Tree' programme itself aims to facilitate the planting of one crore (10 million) trees by directly engaging students from government primary schools.
Under this scheme, saplings are distributed to students to be planted at their homes and homesteads, serving as a nationwide effort to cultivate environmental responsibility among the younger generation.
To maximize the accuracy of this tracking, the 'Tree Monitoring App' will operate in direct integration with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) data collection frameworks.
This integration will enable the Department of Forests to maintain precise digital mapping and comprehensive record-keeping of all newly afforested zones.
The application is expected to play a crucial role in securing high sapling survival rates in areas where manual, in-person oversight is difficult or limited, especially across highly dispersed plantation sites in both rural and urban sectors.
The overarching National Green Mission, which provides the framework for these programmes, has set an ambitious target to plant 25 crore (250 million) trees over the next five years.
This massive campaign is designed to restore degraded forest lands, maintain the country's ecological balance, and significantly enhance carbon sequestration.
Beyond its purely environmental goals, the broader afforestation strategy is built to deliver economic benefits, including the creation of approximately 350,000 green jobs through both direct and indirect employment opportunities.
Furthermore, the budget documents reveal that the government plans to bring 50 percent of the nation's coastal mangrove forests under established carbon trading mechanisms, a move intended to generate new revenue streams while simultaneously supporting robust environmental conservation.
The state's afforestation strategy places a heavy priority on planting mangrove species in coastal char areas, restoring native "Shal" forests in hilly and central regions, and strictly conserving endangered forest species to safeguard national biodiversity.
This comprehensive policy also encompasses context-specific plantation strategies tailored for marginal lands situated along roads, major highways, embankments, riverbanks, and canal banks.
These efforts will run alongside expanded urban forestry and agro-forestry initiatives designed to maximize green cover.
In a related regulatory move linked to environmental and resource management, the FY27 budget proposes the imposition of a 15 percent VAT on the import of trees and aromatic tree extracts.
Ultimately, the "Tree Monitoring App" is positioned as the central digital instrument driving the National Green Mission.
By backing large-scale afforestation and ensuring total transparency during implementation, the platform is geared to contribute significantly to Bangladesh’s long-term vision of a climate-resilient and environmentally balanced future.
