Rasidah HAB Brunei Direct 6 Jul 09;
Bandar Seri Begawan - It is important that an environmental impact assessment be made into law to deal with projects that are likely to have a substantial effect on the environment, said an ecologist.
"This would ensure that development projects can be designed to realise their full benefits, whilst at the same time avoiding costly mistakes," said Dr Jonathan Davies, lead project executant of the Rehabilitation of Peat Swamp Forest project under the Heart of Borneo (HoB) initiative.
The HoB is an inter-government project supported by WWF (Worldwide Fund) which was officially launched in April 2006. With the sum port from the three Bornean governments - Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia - the initiative aims to preserve one of the most important centres of biological diversity in the world. It includes some 220,000 sq hats of equatorial forests and numerous wildlife species.
Dr Davies told The Brand Times that an important action for the conservation of high value ecosystems in Brunei would be to establish a more extensive network of protected areas.
"Although there have been many sensible recommendations for protected areas, only a few areas have been gazetted at present," he said in an email inter view," Likewise, the HoB supports the gazettement of the Belait Peat Swamp Forest Reserve, which would help ensure that the largest area of peatlands in Brunei would be conserved for the valuable services it provides and that sustainable forestry practices on the intact peatlands could benefit the nation he added.
He said the Rehabilitation Peat Swamp Forest project is concerned with rehabilitating degraded peat lands and conserving intact peatlands.
"The main reason for this it to reduce the risk of fire and haze during dry periods, reduce carbon emissions from degraded peatlands and to maintain the carbon-sequestering ability of the in tact peat lands," he added.
He said that this was seen as a first phase of a long-term project, which amen to create awareness on the importance and economic value of Brunei's peatlands and recognise the need for rehabilitation and conservation.
He further added that the first phase of the project is aimed to increase the capacity for peatlands management among relevant, agencies and to garner support for the rehabilitation of peatlands.
"We hope to get support and implement hydrological restoration and re-vegetation before the end of this project in September 2010," he said, adding that the important agency in this next phase of implementation will be Wetlands International-Indonesia, which rhas extensive practical experience in peatland rehabilitation in Central Kalimantan.
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They will also be working with agencies of other HoB countries file Malaysia and Indonesia. "We will be cooperating with agencies in Sarawak on the management of peatlands shared between Brunei and Miri and Limbang divisions of Sarawak, Malaysia," he added. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
