Kuala Belait - Hundreds of students, officials and private individuals walked the jungles of Badas Forest Reserve yesterday to plant the last remaining 15,000 trees for the Heart of Borneo (HoB) project.

Leading the troops to their plot of land was the executive principal of International School Brunei (ISB) David Taylor who was on hand to plant the 49,999th tree, and save the last one for a scheduled planting later in January 2010.

Also present was British High Commissioner, Rob Fenn who came with his family to plant an additional 286 trees for the British High Commissions in Brunei, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

In an interview, High Commissioner, Fenn said that offsetting is the way of compensating for the emissions produced with an equivalent carbon saving.

"In this way it lessens the impact of consumers' actions," he added, noting that even though it does not actually reduce the emissions thus contributing to climate change.

The High Commissioner said that climate change is such a big challenge that it can make us feel helpless and although planting trees to "offset" carbon emissions is no substitute for reducing those emissions, it is an antidote for that feeling of helplessness.

He commended ISB on their "Million Trees Project" especially since they are getting children involved in the physical act of saving the planet.

"Here in Brunei, I sense a growing awareness that individual people can make a difference and dawning excitement that this individual country could yet make the biggest difference of all," he said.

Fenn added that by good stewardship of Brunei's pristine rainforest and by attracting global attention, resources and expertise to the HoB, Brunei could be a place where the world makes its breakthrough in the search for a low carbon economy."

David Taylor meanwhile, commended the many companies and individual parties whom have contributed and took the time out of their weekend schedules to come and help them plant trees at Badas.

He said, "It was a joy to see so many families and children come out to plant trees in our rainforest," adding that the project was a wonderful way of teaching children about the importance of saving the environment. Taylor explained that since the beginning of the project, they not only managed to plant trees but also plant the idea and knowledge on environment among the little children