Rainforests play an important role in maintaining the earth’s well-being and with more than half of Brunei covered with rainforest, Brunei saw a need for forest management and to hold a three-day summit. The Asia Pacific Rainforest Conference, which was attended by more than 300 stakeholders including world-class experts, and participants from public and private organizations as well as non-governmental organizations from the Asia Pacific Region convened.
A lot of the community livelihood in the Asia Pacific region is derived from the rainforests and over the years it has boosted their economic development but had dire effect to the rainforests, which is a huge challenge. The three-day conference tackled issues such as actions to reduce forest loss, act on climate change and adapting to the climate changes while also balancing the development aspiration of the region. It was also agreed during the conference that private and public roles in maintaining sustainable forests and landscape are critical issues.
Progresif supported the conference as we have always valued the environment because this is what we are going to leave for the future generations to live in, and any actions taken to manage its well being is vital just like the saying “the seeds that we sow today determine the kind of fruit we’ll reap tomorrow”.
The summit took place from 3rd to 5th August last year and was hosted by the Government of Brunei Darussalam and supported by the Australian Government as the coordinating partner and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) as the science and engagement partner.