Christian youths plant trees to help environment in Bangladesh
SAVAR (BANGLADESH), JULY 17 (UCAN) -- Christian youths are busy planting trees in several districts across Bangladesh in a drive to help alleviate the country's ecological problems.
"The government can't bring about major changes to address environmental problems alone. Ordinary people have to play a vital role," said 22-year-old Bobby Pereira.
Pereira was one of 42 participants at the "Youth and Students Responding to Protect the Environment" workshop organized by the Ecumenical Asia Pacific Students and Youth Network (EASY NET) last month.
EASY NET comprises six Christian organisations -- the National Christian Conference of Bangladesh (NCCB), the Student Christian Movement (SCM), the Bangladesh Catholic Students Movement (BCSM), Young Christian Students (YCS), the National Alliance of YMCA, and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA).
It was established in 2001 with the vision of building grassroots ecumenism.
Pereira, an activist from the BCSM, is now involved in the tree planting program in Dhaka's Gazipur area.
During the workshop, EASY NET came up with a scheme to plant at least 6,000 trees before the onset of the rainy season at the end of July. The project is designed to raise public awareness of the lack of forestation caused by the clearing of trees for housing, cultivation and illegal logging.
At present only 16 percent of Bangladesh is covered by forest, well short of the 25 percent which environmentalists say is essential to help protect the country from natural disasters such flooding, drought and soil erosion.
Swapan Baroi, 32, a Catholic officer from the YMCA, who attended the workshop, has planted about 400 trees in the southern Gopalgonj district with the help of his organization.
"Besides this, on behalf of the YMCA I distributed 360 saplings to 120 students at a primary school in the area," Baroi told UCA News.
Bipul Alite Gonsalves, co-ordinator of the workshop, said: "The response for the tree plantation from Christian youths has surpassed our expectations. No doubt, youths can make a difference with their enthusiasm."
