The Coastal Forest Department has taken an initiative to plant one lakh saplings on the dyke along the Bay of Bengal in Kuakata of Patuakhali to protect it from erosion.

The initiative will be implemented under the Sustainable Forestry and Livelihood (Sufal) project of the forest department.

Saplings of 15 varieties, including jhau (tamarisk), akashmani, arjuna, tamarind, ipil ipil, mahogany, shishu, jarul, and amla, will be planted along 10-kilometre stretch of the dyke from Kuakata Zoo Point to the Nahunpur area over the next 20 days, said sources at forest department in Patuakhali.

Md Haroon-or-Rashid Khan, forest conservator in Barishal, inaugurated the tree plantation programme at Jhauban area of Kuakata beach on Saturday.

Shafiqul Islam, divisional forest officer in Patuakhali, and Abul Kalam Azad, range officer of Mohipur, were present, among others.

"The trees will help sustain the area and sea defence embankment from erosion and protect the coastal area residents from cyclones," said Haroon-or-Rashid Khan.

Meanwhile, Kuakata Municipality has also started planting 10,000 more trees along the dyke on the seashore to restore forest areas destroyed by Cyclone Remal and reduce the risk of natural disasters in the future.

Anwar Hossain Howlader, mayor of Kuakata Municipality, inaugurated the programme on July 5.