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Bandar Seri Begawan
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The five finalists to compete for
this year's 11th Princess Rashidah
Young Nature Scientist Award (PRYNSA)
were revealed yesterday in a
ceremony held at the Ministry of
Industry and Primary Resources.
The finalists, which were selected
from 19 projects overall, were Chung
Ching Middle School, Seria for their
project entitled "Nepenthes
Bicalcarata: A research and study on
the habitat, adaptation, physical
characteristic and mutualistic
association of carnivorous pitcher
plant with ants in the Andualu
Forest Reserve; Pehin Datu Seri
Maharaja secondary school, Mentiri
for their project called "Leaf
Litter Fauna"; Menglait Secondary
school for "A comparative study of
litter Fauna between Kerangas forest
and Acacia mangium forested areas";
Sayyidina Umar Al Khattab secondary
school for their project named "An
Assessment of stream qualities in
Mukim Lumapas using
Macroinvertebrates as bioindicators",
and PDS Secondary school for their
project "The Ecological effects of
surface fire on trees and grass and
their regeneration in the tropical
forest of Brunei".
Each of the five finalists was
presented with $1,000 by the guest
of honour, Awang Hj Mohd Sufri Bin
Hj Sulaiman, head of the HSE and
security from Brunei Shell
Petroleum, to fund their research.
Prior to the announcement of the
finalists,Awang Haji Saidin bin
Salleh, the Director of Forestry,'
said in his opening remarks that
"with the destruction of forest as
the cause of climate change and
realising the importance of natural
resources in the development of
social and economic progress, the
Department of Forestry will continue
to practice the policy of forest
conservation".
"To inculcate the spirit of care for
the forest to the younger generation
is one of the pillars or strategy
relating to the policy on
conservation for our environment.
Other strategies also include
practising a system of control
logging, practising a system of
selective logging, restoring and
replanting of forests in logging
areas, creation of forest
plantations, restoring an area after
forest fires, updating the forestry
rules and regulations and to promote
economic activities that will give
minimal impact to the environment
like eco-tourism and others," he
said. |