Bandar Seri Begawan - A total of 274,000 trees have been planted across Borneo and in Indonesia for International School Brunei's Million Trees Project. Its Executive Principal David Taylor seeks to continue developing and sustaining the idea of caring for the environment among the school's community. Not all of the 274,000 trees were planted by the International School Brunei, some were funded by others for the school's programme, he told The Brunei Times.

"We do not have a target, what we said was we would attempt to be responsible for a million trees in 10 years. We are three or four years into the programme now, we have got a quarter of a million trees, it (will) happen, depending on the circumstances," he said. All the trees are credited to the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign. He said that ISB will visit Sabah in September as they are funding 10,000 trees at Kinabatangan Basin (the Corridor of Life) and working with a non-governmental organisation and World Wildlife Fund in Sabah on the project.

Taylor explained that the project hopes to link up 10 sanctuaries across Kinabatangan to enable the animals to migrate up and down the river. "Right now the sanctuaries are in isolated pockets. This is a project we have been working for five years," he said. He added that they always try to get students involved as much as they can, but the cost of doing it outside of Brunei is a problem. "We hope to be able to take students to Sabah. It is accessible but it is too expensive. We are always looking for tree planting locally. Whatever we can do locally will be great and better for us," he added.

Taylor said that all tree-planting activities are controlled by the government and there are no "real areas of need in Brunei", compared to other countries that chop down trees. "In Brunei, it is quite stable in terms of its forestry. There are pockets of reforestation that needs to be done and we are always looking into ways of tapping into that. Hopefully we can work together with the Forestry Department in terms of finding more projects whether it is in Berakas, Badas or Andulau forest reserves," he added. The principal said that with the Badas project alone, they have over 60 companies and individuals who planted trees under the Million Trees Project, but there is a long list of people who are subscribing to the project in some form or another in Sabah.

He went on to say that the biggest challenge in achieving the objectives of the project was sustainability. "The challenges that we have is maintaining the momentum of what we do. We are a self-confessed green school. How do we maintain the interest for maintaining and developing this thinking?" he said. "It is the sustainability of the sustainability that is the biggest challenge. What we are trying to do is embed in the school and everybody thinking that we need to care for our environment for the next generation." Taylor explained that if everybody is thinking about caring for the environment, then it will not affect the project if someone comes and go.

"When I go in two years' time, it is still embedded in the school, when their teachers who are most involved with it now are no longer here, if the thinking is still here, when new people come to this school, they came in to a culture of sustainability." "Because (this) comes and go. We have seen it before. We experienced it ourselves. We have a very active year, and then it slows down (not so active) and then it peaked again," he added. He further said that he chose to go for the Eco-Schools green flag project because it gives a structure that could involve everybody in the school. Eco-Schools is an international environmental education programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey, providing a framework to help instil the principles into school life.

Currently, the programme is running in 43 countries around the world, involving 27,000 schools, six million students, 400,000 teachers and 4,000 local authorities. "We have chosen this vehicle (Eco-Schools) because with the green flag award, you have to do it every two years. It is an ongoing process, you do not forget about it. You embark on the next set of projects to reassess the project. We want the school be involved more than skin deep," Taylor said. The principal shared that they funded and planted 5,000 indigenous trees at Mudung Abun, the remote mountainous region of the Belaga District in Sarawak in June.

The ISB Eco Action Team drove to the Bakun Dam area of Sarawak to support a village self-help project at Kampong Mudung Abun. This small Kenyah-Badeng community is working towards becoming self-sufficient and their strategy includes the installation of a micro hydro to provide them with off grid, non-polluting electricity. "This project is very close to our heart, which is helping people, helping the forest, helping the people derive their livelihood from the forest. They are also developing a homestay programme and tourism." "This is a wonderful example of what we all should be striving to do. Appreciate the earth and use it in a sustainable way," he added.

Courtesy of The Brunei Times :

The source can be accessed from here

Enter your Pledge