By Mr Mahmud Hj Yussof, Deputy Director of Forestry, Brunei

1. WETLAND FORESTS IN
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM:
The Endangered
Ecosystems
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WETLAND
FORESTS
22-23 MARCH 2012
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

2. TROPICAL PEATLAND WORLDWIDE
ASEAN (estimated):
Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn
in: Cambodia – 50 ha
Indonesia – 21 M ha
Lao PDR – 20K ha
South America; Malaysia – 2.5 M ha
Myanmar – 3.5K ha
Africa;
The Philippines – 11K ha
India, Singapore – 1 ha
Vietnam – 36K ha
Papua New Guinea; and Brunei – 100K ha
Southeast Asia (about 30M ha /
60% of the world area)
Source: APFP

3. 2008 - MODIS 250m
• Peat Swamp ….90,884 ha (19%)
• (17% of total land area)
• Freshwater ….12,668 ha (3%)
• (2% of total land area)
• Mangrove ….18,418 ha (4%)
• (3% of total land area)

5. HoB in Brunei Darussalam

6. HoB in Brunei Darussalam
58%
[1.5% of HoB]
Forest types:-
•Montane
•Mixed
Dipterocarp
•Peat Swamp
•Old Secondary
Forest Forest land uses:-
57.7%
•Production HoB]
•Secondary/shrub [1.5% of
s/Bush •Protection (water
resources)
Land Status:-
•Conservation
•Forest Reserve
•Agriculture (Other
•State Land development projects)
•Private land •Villages

7. Estimated Number Of Tree Species in Brunei Darussalam according to their forest types and
habitats (Ashton 2003)
Forest Type Estimated No. of Species Percentage Borneo
endemism
Sea shore 25 0
Mangrove 33 0
Back-
Back-mangrove, bank of brackish rivers 50 5
White water and rocky river banks 200 35
Rivers of the plains, alluvium river banks 200 15
Floodplains (freshwater swamp forest, empran) 600 25
PSF 200 25
Kerangas 300 50
MDF, sandy, sandy clay soils 1200 50
MDF, clay soils 900 35
Upper dipterocarp forest 600 40
Lower montane forest 500 45
Upper montane forest 100 50
Wetland forests = 1383 of 4908 (30%)

8. ORK
EW
AM
FR
Y
OL
IC Land status
P
L&
E GA Forest Act Forest reserve
L
Wildlife Act Stateland
Land Code By sectoral - agriculture , museum etc..
TCP Master Plan (private land)
EIA
NFP 1989

9. Peatland Degradation:
30% PSF to Agriculture
30% PSF to logged / degraded over
3M ha – burnt
ASEAN - 12 M ha cleared On-
On-going threats (Brunei):
- Global warming / increase in ambient
temp. – increase rate of decomposition
- Frequent Forest fires
- Poor natural regeneration
- Improper conversion
- Infrastructural Development
- Loss of water logged
- Sand mining

10. ON-GOING TREND OF CONVERSION : -
Change in forest ecosystem
Change in vegetation composition /
plant communities
Change in forest genetic /erosion
Reduce / loss of biodiversity / species diversity
Reduce conservation & ecotourism values
Prone to frequent fires
Prone to artificial calamities
Loss of carbon stock / peat
High associated cost – economic damage, health
of people
Loss of wildland & Culture

11. O
NE
B OR
OF
RT
HEA
NEI
B RU Under sustainable forestry management
Institutionalization of the status Vital Roles:
Projects
Economic – plants, fish, ecotourism
Ecological & Environmental
– reduce flood peak, maintain base flows
in rivers, water supply
Ethnic - source of livelihood
Food security - repository of
food

12. 58%
[1.5% of HoB]

13. Conservation forests
LS Ecotourism paradise
IA
NT Botanical paradise (wildlife)
TE
PO Research and Education
Environmental asset

14. Prominent biodiversity hotspots

15. Substantial Reductions in Carbon Annual Reductions in Global
Loss from Improved Forest Management Carbon Emissions that Would Result from
at Scales of a Hectare of Malaysian Adoption of Improved Tropical Forest
Forest Management Practices
Francis E. Putz*, Pieter A. Zuidema, Michelle A. Pinard, Rene G. A. Boot, Jeffrey A. Sayer, Douglas Sheil, Plinio Sist, Elias,
Jerome K. Vanclay, 2008

16. 1990 2000 2005 2010 Tonnes Per ha
(million tonnes) (million tonnes) (million tonnes) (million tonnes) (2010)
Brunei 81 76 74 72 188
Darussalam
Cambodia 609 537 495 464 46
Indonesia 16335 15182 14299 13017 138
Lao PDR 1186 1133 1106 1074 68
Malaysia 2822 3558 3362 3212 157
Myanmar 2040 1814 1734 1654 52
Philippines 641 655 660 663 87
Singapore
Thailand 908 881 877 880 46
Vietnam 778 927 960 992 72
Carbon stock in living forest biomass (FA02010)

17. Conclusion
Wetland forests in the brink of extinction
Need multi-sectoral efforts to protect and conserve the ecological island
Need to align the policies and promote more adaptive development
growth
Establish market for environmental services of the wetland forests
e.g. PPP – polluters pays principle / carbon trading mechanism

18. WETLAND FORESTS OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
GATEWAY TO NEW DISCOVERIES
GETAWAY PARADISE
ONE OF THE PILARS OF THE ECONOMIC
GROWTH