BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

 

BRUNEI will join some 7,000 groups from 194 countries in the global Green Wave campaign on May 22 by planting trees to highlight the importance of biodiversity, said a senior forestry officer yesterday.

In an email to The Brunei Times, Linda Ibrahim said that year 2010 is a special year because the United Nations General Assembly has declared it the International Year of Biodiversity and May 22 is the international day for biodiversity.

 

The Green Wave Initiative themed “Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation” will be jointly organised by the Forestry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) with HSBC.

 

“The main purpose of the day is to raise awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues,” said Linda.

The tree planting on May 22 will be done exactly at 10am with all the participating countries. Asean member countries that previously participated include Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

“A total of 44 secondary schools across the nation will be participating in the planting activity. They will be briefed by both the Forestry Department and HSBC on May 15 at MIPR,” she said.

 

Other organisations will also join this activity simultaneously at various places, including Oil and Gas Discovery Centre (OGDC) in Seria, BSP and Land Transport driving, evaluation and licensing facility in Sg Akar.

 

The trees will be supplied by the Forestry Department while the KN Nursery Sdn Bhd will supply the bio-mix soil conditioner to the participating schools, she added.

 

The Green Wave campaign enables children and youth to make a difference, one school, one tree, one step at a time and through their involvement hopefully would raise awareness about biodiversity, and the need to reduce its loss all around the world.