600 trees planted in an hour

A TOTAL of 600 trees were planted at the Badas Forest Reserve in a continuous effort to increase awareness in reducing carbon emissions.

Organised by the British High Commission in collaboration with David Taylor, executive principal of International School Brunei (ISB) "One Million Trees" project, the trees were planted by staff of the High Commission, well-known bloggers and journalists.

A total of eight hectares is allocated for the project, where half of it is included in the Badas Forest reserve area. Designated under the Heart of Borneo, the kerangas (heath) forest is characterised by its sandy soil.

Taylor said the slightly blackish colour of the soil is attributed to pieces of charcoal from a forest fire that happened in 1998. One hour was all that it took to plant 600 trees by a group of 20 people. "Once the trees are planted, we have to maintain it on a regular basis. For the first few weeks, it is important to water them regularly. We have dug a well in the peat swamp forest to supply the water," said Taylor.

The trees planted will replace trees in the burnt areas so that it will become a solid forest again, he said. In addition to agathis borneensir (tulong) which had been planted in the area, the group was given 600 drybalanops rappa (kapur paya) tree saplings to be planted. Introducing another species of trees, he added, will create tree diversity in the area.

He said, "The British High Commission over the last year had presented over $6,000 to the ISB 'One Million Tree' project which is equivalent to 1,200 trees". He added, "We are going to plant all the trees before the British High Commissioner leaves in July. Half of the trees are planted today and the other half next Wednesday morning by the British High Commissioner himself."

"The British High Commission in Phnom Penh, Singapore and Jakarta are also going to plant trees here to offset the carbon footprint of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's birthday celebration," he added.

"Every trees you plant can offset equivalent to about 20kg of Carbon Dioxide per year," he said. Forestry Department, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources have provided all these trees free of charge, he said adding that the expense is in doing the survey, setting it all out and maintenance for two years. With 600 trees planted yesterday, the project has already succeeded in planting 6,000 trees around the Badas forest reserve. The project began last year with the planting of the first 1,000 trees.

Taylor added, 80 members from the Brunei Darussalam Motorcycle Association (Pemoda) will plant 2,600 trees on Monday, and another 1,000 trees will be planted by ISB students on Tuesday.

He also said that the British High Commission and Standard Chartered Bank are funding a study into peat land around the Badas Forest Reserve area "to convince the Public Works Department to block the drainage channel along the pipeline that lowers the water level". He added, "If the water level goes down, the top of the peat land dries up and this makes it prone to fire." The fire can be stopped, he said, by restoring the water level.

He said other schools have also been invited to get involved in the project.

The Brunei Times