THE Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT), particularly through the Brunei Darussalam Heart of Borneo (HoB) Centre, is playing host to the 2nd meeting of the Heart of Borneo Technical Committee on Joint Projects and Activities.
The meeting runs from August 1-3 at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism. Permanent Secretary at the MPRT Dr Haji Abdul Manaf bin Haji Metussin attended as the guest of honour.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of Brunei Darussalam HoB Centre is chairing the meeting, which involves the participation of delegations from member states of Heart of Borneo Indonesia and Malaysia.
The technical committee was formed following the trilateral 9th HoB meeting in Sandakan, Sabah in 2015. Its main task is to evaluate, advice and aid the HoB trilateral meetings in taking into consideration any joint programme/project/activity under the HoB initiative proposed by HoB member states and other parties with vested interest.
The objective of the HoB initiative, programme/project/activity jointly run by member states is towards sustainable and orderly conservation and management of forest biodiversity and natural resources found on Borneo island.
Although joint programme/project/activity run under the HoB are typically geared more towards the principles of conservation, it also works towards supporting social economic growth of member states.
The HoB initiative is about conserving forestry resources and biological diversity across borders between Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The initiative declaration was signed by the three nations on February 12, 2007. Through the declaration, all three nations voluntarily agreed to work together in ensuring the management of forestry resources and conservation of protected forest network and produce. Land use in areas identified as being under the management of the HoB initiative will continually be managed effectively.
Through the initiative, it is hoped that societal wellbeing on the island of Borneo – which depends on forestry resources and biodiversity for livelihood – can be enhanced, while at the same time lessening forest clearing activities, degradation of forest and others connected to extinction of biodiversity and affecting ecosystem.
The initiative also supports efforts towards reducing climate change effect and other related environmental issues.
The HoB initiative covers 22 million hectares, involving areas still seeing growth of natural tropical rainforest that is rich with biological diversity, across highlands in all three member states of the HoB – Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia – up till foothills and lowlands of surrounding areas.
To support the implementation of the initiative, Brunei Darussalam has identified 58 per cent of the Sultanate’s 346,000 hectares as managed areas under the HoB initiative.
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