| Danial Norjidi |
OUR rainforests can play a pivotal role in providing a wide array of renewable forest goods and services, and with the right partnerships and technology, it can help realise economic diversification.
This was said by Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, while delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) 2016 yesterday.
“The rainforest ecosystem has served as the building blocks of the Asia-Pacific region,” he said. “History can tell that forestry has been the earliest industry that supported the development of nations through utilisation of timber products for infrastructure and related industries. And until now, our rainforests provide the unparalleled support in mitigating climate change, food security and other economic potentials.”
He noted that initiatives in restoring rainforests have started, citing the 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), which reported that the forests of Asia-Pacific region have increased by five million hectares since 2010 and 20 million hectares since 2000. With a total forest area of 723 million hectares, the Asia-Pacific forests represent 18 per cent of the global forests, he said.
“According to the FRA report, these positive developments can be attributed to the increase in protected areas, forest plantations and improving quality of forest management in the region.”
He added, however, that despite the increase in the region’s forest, FRA 2015 still noted that deforestation and forest degradation remain an important challenge in many countries. He shared that identified drivers of deforestation and forest deforestation include agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, forest product extraction and forest fires.
The minister went on to note that the summit aims to identify practical actions to reduce forest loss while, at the same time, balancing the development aspirations of the Asia-Pacific nations.
“There is a need for us to refocus our economic activities that would complement our initiatives in rainforest conservation,” he highlighted. “As such, new opportunities shall be identified for private and public sector investments and partnerships.
“We are in the 21st Century, where technological developments are at our finger tips. We should promote efficient utilisation of forest resources through appropriate technologies and at the same time encourage the production of forest value-added products.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, delivering his keynote speech
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, launching the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 2016
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali during a tour of the exhibition. – PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
“Our rainforests are rich and have the capabilities to provide a wide array of forest goods and services that would cater to economic diversification,” he added. “With the right partnership, technology and renewable forest resources, we can never go wrong.”
He noted that the APRS 2016 will focus discussions on sustainable financing, opportunities and partnerships, sustainable landscape management, policy frameworks and green economies.
He described these themes as “interesting and very timely”, as they are aligned with the current thrust of the Brunei Government for the forestry sector.
“At the national level, we are continuously optimising the benefits of our rainforests which occupy more than half of the country’s land area,” he said. “Our economic diversification initiatives include the forestry sector with focus on forest industry, non-timber forest products, biological prospecting, carbon trading and efficiency in forest product processing and utilisation.”
“At present, we are reviewing our national forestry strategies to promote our own forest-based downstream industries,” he shared. “We intend to improve the forestry industry environment to encourage further private investments on technologies and new machineries to increase our efficiency and manufacture of value-added forest products.”
He said that aside from environmental attributes, Brunei’s forests also have great economic potential.
“The high biodiversity index of Brunei forests is an indication of the variety of non-timber forest products that are yet to be discovered. The exploration and research of these new and indigenous forest products are jointly conducted by the government and the academic sectors. Forests are renewable resources and with the proper conservative technologies, it can provide endless goods and services to our society.”
The forest economic diversification initiative is also in line with strategies provided for by Brunei’s Vision 2035, he noted, sharing that, specifically, the plan highlights the continuing efforts to conserve the country’s remarkable biodiversity, rainforests and natural habitats as part of our environmental strategy. It also stresses the development of forest resources, conservation and protection, and ecotourism as the main focus of the forestry sector.
“Almost half of Brunei’s total land area is part of the National Forest Estate, and as part of our commitment to further the integrity of our environment, we intend to increase our forest estate to 55 per cent of Brunei’s land area,” he said. “With this reality and assumed responsibilities, our forestry sector will be welcoming partners from the government and private sectors in the sustainable management of our forest and forest resources.”
He said that, as such, the entrepreneurial and creative minds of the private sectors in developing forest-based industry.
“We will be pleased to cooperate in the conducting of research and expeditions to understand further our diverse forest and learn new products that are significant to our modern societies,” said the minister. “We also believe in the capabilities of our rainforests to sequester carbon as we open our windows to further study our forests in reducing greenhouse gases.”
He highlighted that, with all these development strategies in the forestry sector, the government remains vigilant against the identified drivers of deforestation, and has as such controlled agricultural expansion and regulated forest conversion for agricultural purposes, with the cutting of forests for agriculture development stopped.
“Instead, we are focusing our agricultural initiatives on efficiency of production, thereby increasing the projected yield per hectare. We encourage investments on agricultural technology development and high technology farm practices including vertical farming.
“Likewise, our existing regulations on forest product extraction must observe sustainability and promotes natural regeneration of forest resources. We have strengthened our forest law enforcement activities through the establishment of multi-agency participation from the police force, military, district authorities and Forestry Department.”
The post Rainforests play pivotal role in economic diversification appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.