SOME 16 people representing 1stopbrunei Wildlife Club, Brunei Nature Society, Museums Department, Police Rangers, Green Brunei and Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Research of Universiti Brunei Darussalam attended a field training session held in Ulu Belait recently. During the eight-hour walk in the jungle which began at 3pm, participants surveyed the local wildlife in the region and more specifically kept an eye open for suitable pangolin habitats. The trek was led by Muhammad Shavez, who was accompanied by British conservationist and pangolin expert, Louise Fletcher, who provided information and advice to the other participants. A bird count also took place, with the rare Great Argus being heard twice throughout the journey. Participants included the President of Brunei Nature Society, Professor Ulmar Grafe, who spotted and identified seven different species of frogs,…

THE founder of Green Brunei Khairunnisa Ash’ari has become the first Bruneian to be awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders Award, in recognition of her leadership in the community. A statement by the British High Commission in Brunei said Khairunnisa was one of the 60 young individuals from across the Commonwealth nations to receive the Queen’s Young Leaders Award. Winners of the award will receive training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the United Kingdom during which they will collect their award from Queen Elizabeth II, according to the award’s website. Speaking to The Brunei Times, Khairunnisa said she was nominated online by a friend last August and had to write essays about activities she had done, while also going through a phone interview in November before finding…

PROCEEDS from Asia Inc Forum’s Trash to Treasure campaign was officially presented to three environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) yesterday. The campaign was held as a corporate social responsibility initiative in conjunction with the National Environment Conference (NEC) 2014, which took place earlier this year. It was organised against the backdrop of Brunei producing 1.4kg per capita of trash every day, where 70 per cent of the total waste produced goes directly to Brunei’s six landfills and only two per cent into making compost, while the rest is disposed of in other ways. The rationale behind the campaign is that waste can be reduced by about 80 per cent for the average household or business if effectively recycled. As Asia Inc Forum stated, “Recycling is an essential activity to ensure Brunei…

ASIA Inc Forum (AIF) held a cheque presentation ceremony yesterday at the AIF’s main office to appreciate the hard work of three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that successfully conducted one of the recycling activities this year - The Trash to Treasure Campaign. The gathering during the event had representatives from the Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT), the Beach Bunch and Green Brunei. Also attending during the presentation were representatives from conference partners TOTAL, Butra Heidelberg and Baiduri Bank. According to the Programme Manager of Asia Inc Forum, Nanette Ramos said, “The Trash to Treasure Campaign is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative held in conjunction with this year’s National Environment Conference was a collaboration with JASTRE, Ministry of Development - the main government agency that is involved in Brunei’s waste…