The government will cut down 3,247 trees in Kapasia of Gazipur and Moheshkhali of Cox's Bazar to implement two projects -- building a mini stadium and a jetty.

The weekly cabinet meeting approved the proposal of removing the trees though the cabinet has an earlier decision not to fell trees in reserve forests. The decision taken in January 2016 is supposed to be effective until December 2022, aiming at saving bio-diversity.

According to the cabinet, 1,546 trees on 2.34-acre reserve forest land in Chandpur Union of Kapasia upazila will be cut for building a mini-stadium there. Among them, 1,400 are Akashmoni trees and the others include mango, jackfruit, plum and bamboo.

“The forest was created as part of a social afforestation project,” Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters while briefing the outcome of the meeting.

The youth and sports ministry will have to pay Tk 23,66,096 as compensation to the forest department for chopping down the trees. The forest department will receive 30 percent of the sum, while the rest would be distributed among the tree planters.

The meeting also approved a proposal of cutting down 1,701 trees at a reserve forest in Moheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar on some specific conditions.

About the proposal, the cabinet secretary said the trees of various species would be logged from 191.25 acres of land there taken by Eastern Refinery as lease to implement installation of “Single Point Mooring” of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). The project is aimed at supplying imported crude oil and diesel directly to Eastern Refinery from mother vessels in deep sea.

The BPC will have to deposit Tk 2,400 every year as revenue for each acre of land through signing the fixed demand agreement and pay Tk 1.36 crore as compensation for the loss of forest resources.

Besides, the BPC will have to plant tree saplings five times the number of the trees to be chopped in the next five years.

Besides, the cabinet approved a proposal to rename the Ministry of Environment and Forests as “Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change”.

"The climate change is now a global concern and all are witnessing its adverse impacts. Against this backdrop, the government decided to change the name… following other countries of the world," Shafiul Alam said.

The cabinet also congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy for successful launching of Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite – “Bangabandhu Satellite-1” to the space and also expressed profound shock and grief at the death of noted litterateur and National Professor Mustafa Nurul Islam and lawmaker AKM Maidul Islam.