Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday proposed allocating Tk2,144 crore for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for fiscal year 2025-26, which is Tk821 crore higher than the allocation in the revised budget for FY 2024-25.
Of the total amount, Tk764 crore were proposed to allocate for operational and Taka 1,380 crore for development purposes.
The finance adviser announced the proposed budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, amounting to Tk7,89,999 crore, in a televised.
In his speech, Salehuddin said: “Bangladesh ranks among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.”
He added: “To combat the negative impacts of climate change, the Climate Change Trust Fund is undertaking activities such as prevention of air, water and soil pollution, waste management and environment development, mitigation of climate change, assessment of the impact of health protection, enhancing women's adaptation capacity, coastal ecosystem assessment, capacity building of media to achieve climate resilience.”
The finance adviser further said that under the time-bound reform plan, initiatives have already been taken to introduce a digital monitoring system of all approved projects of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, which will be implemented by December 2025.
He proposed to allocate Tk100 crore in the next fiscal year to take necessary actions considering the depth and seriousness of climate change risks.
“A Multisectoral Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management in Bangladesh has been formulated to reduce the production of plastic waste,” Salehuddin said.
He added: “In light of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2021, a notification has already been issued identifying 17 products as single-use plastics and initiatives have been taken to control the use of single-use plastic.”
“The National Award for Tree Plantation Policy (Amendment)-2025 and National Award Policy for Wildlife Conservation-2025 have been formulated,” Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said in his speech.
“The total forest area in the country is only 15.58%. To increase the amount of forest in the country, 1,303 acres of forest land have been reclaimed, and afforestation has been done and as part of the forest restoration, the allocation of 720 acres of land by various agencies has been cancelled,” he added.