The hearT of borneo

March 2011 Newsletter

Newsletter – March 2011

Heart o Borneo

More than 600 Indonesian governmentand business leaders joined former USVice President and Nobel Laureate, AlGore and WWF-Indonesia’s CEO, DrEfransjah, at a gala dinner in early Januaryin Jakarta.

The event celebrated the United Naon’sInternaonal Year of the Forest and

provided the opportunity to discuss the

role business will play in nding forestsoluons to the future challenges to come

as a result of climate change.HoB used the event to launch a new

iniave called the

Green BusinessNetwork

(GBN). The GBN aims to getbusiness engaged in delivering the

Heart of Borneo Declaraon made by

the governments of Indonesia, Brunei

Al Gore and WWF unite or Forestand Climate conservation

Find our previous newsletters online at:http://ww.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_orests/publications

Al Gore addresses the crowd of 600 leaders from Indonesian business and Government.

( c ) WWF -I nd ones i a/ S ai pul S I A G I A N

Darussalam and Malaysia in 2007, seekingto conserve and sustainably manage the22 million hectares of trans-boundaryforests that stretch across the island of Borneo.WWF-Indonesia’s CEO, Dr Efransjah said,“We know the commitments under the

Heart of Borneo Declaraon cannot be

achieved without the support of theprivate sector. Tonight, we highlight

soluons for involving business in greengrowth and oer them a range of tools to

help them to do that.”

Inuential voice

As one of the world’s most inuenal

voices on the environment and climatechange, Mr Gore delivered an exclusivekeynote address, sharing his vision for therole of forests in a sustainable future.

“The beginning of the U.N. InternaonalYear of the Forests is the perfect meto insgate the impressive collaboraon

that this dinner and the forthcomingB4E gathering between the businesscommunity, government leaders andNGOs, represents,” he said.He went on to outline the huge advantagefor Indonesia to become the regionalleader in the pursuit of a green economywhich is developed in partnership withbusiness. “ A green economy may notbe the easy choice today, but historywill show it is the right choice, morally,economically and environmentally,” hesaid.

"A green economy may not be theeasy choice today, but history willshow that it is the right choice." -Al Gore

The hearT of borneo

March 2011 Newsletter

In the last Newsleer, I foreshadowed

“the beginnings of more successes tocome in 2011” and we started the New

Year with a really big bang!

On January 9

, WWF joined forces withNobel Laureate and former U.S. VicePresident Al Gore and more than 600government and business leaders to

celebrate the United Naons InternaonalYear of the Forests and discuss the roleof business in nding forest soluons

to the challenge of climate change.WWF-Indonesia’s CEO, Dr Efransjahalso took the opportunity to launch the

Business Soluons: Delivering on the HoBDeclaraon

report on behalf of the HoB.

The rst of its kind, this report

collaborated with 84 businesses in theHeart of Borneo to evaluate the current

pracces and potenal for achieving

sustainability within the forestry, palm oiland mining sectors. WWF is keenly awarethat the commitments under the Heart of

Borneo Declaraon cannot be achieved

without the support of the private sector.WWF also launched the Green Business

Network, a business-to-business plaormto support transformaon across key

sectors.Engaging with business and industry isnot always an easy task, yet for WWF’sgoals of the HoB to be achieved, itcannot be avoided. The forestry, palmoil and mining sectors have been and will

connue to be, the engines of economic

growth in the region. Our challenge is

to nd ways to work with these sectors

to catalyze “business as (un)usual”,whereby more sustainable and equitabledevelopment pathways become thenorm.

We have been collaborang withIndonesia’s Naonal Climate Council,Provincial governments and consulngrm, McKinsey to beer understandopportunies and constraints as well aspriorize potenal soluons to achieving

green growth in East and Central

Kalimantan areas of the HoB. We have

also just wrapped up a scoping studywith PriceWaterhouseCoopers, moving

Business as (un) usual

FromAdam Tomasek,Leader, Heart oBorneo Initiative

towards the development of a greeneconomy roadmap for the whole HoB. Inboth cases, it is clear that business andindustry have a major role to play in afuture green economy.

Earlier this month WWF Internaonal’s

Director General Jim Leape spoke tobusiness media in Singapore about theimportance of working with businessand industry. “We need to move now torecognize the fundamental importanceof the natural capital upon which the

enre economy depends, and ensure thatconservaon of that capital is brought

into the heart of public and corporate

decision-making.” He connued, “The way

of the future is now being shown by thecountries and companies that are nowmoving strongly to invest in renewable

energy sources and beer stewardship of forests, sheries, and other resources.”

These words ring very true for the Heart

of Borneo Iniave. The work we are

doing with governments, business and

communies to create a green economy

for the Heart of Borneo is fundamentalto the long-term viability of biodiversity,ecosystems and livelihoods. This changewill not be realized unless we aresuccessful in working together with theprivate sector. We are hopeful that our

eorts in the Heart of Borneo will providepraccal examples of how “business as

(un)usual” can create a green economy.The HoB is encouraging the government of Brunei Darussalamto move forward with plans to establish a Wildlife Department

in the Bornean Naon.During an address to the Brunei Nature Society at Universi

Brunei Darussalam, HoB Special Advisor to Brunei, Dato

Dr Mikaail Kavanagh (pictured), urged the government

to formalize its plans for a department dedicated to themaintenance of wildlife in the dense forests of Brunei, saying

this could help eecvely address wildlife conservaon issues.

"Every country should have the capacity to manage its ownnatural resources,” he said.In the long term, it is hoped that a Wildlife Department could

help nurture local Bruneian experse in the environmental

sector, making Brunei less reliant on foreign experts. "Ithas always been our purpose to have a department looking

aer our wildlife," said the Minister of Industry and PrimaryResources, Pehin Yayha Bakar. "Considering the complexity…of the Heart of Borneo project, which involves ora andfauna…it should be given closermonitoring and protecon by

relevant bodies," he said.It is hoped the budget to establisha Wildlife Department such as thismay be proposed next year. "Such

priories will mainstream the HoB

both economically and socially,” said

Kavanagh. “If resourced adequately,

this could be a major contributor to

the naonal eort to diversify the

economy in the long term," he added.

Brunei connues to play an

instrumental role in the ongoing progress of the Heart of Borneo

Iniave, allocang more than half of the country's land area tothe HoB and rapidly establishing its Naonal HoB Council to guidethe implementaon of a holisc, mul-sectored program.

Brunei’s unique landscape to benet rom establishment o Wildlie Departments

Dato Dr Mikaail Kavanagh

T h e B r unei T i mes

The hearT of borneo

March 2011 Newsletter

January 18

, 2011 saw a third group of four forest concessionaires sign support

agreements with The Borneo Iniave

(TBI) covering a total amount of 897,150ha within the HoB region. This willbring the total area of natural forest onthe way to Forest Stewardship Council

(FSC) cercaon as a result of TBI to

2,308,940 ha.This is a promising development forTBI, which aims to have added a total

of 4 million ha of FSC cered forests in

Photos have emerged from Brunei in theHoB, proving the existence of a rare, blackform of the endangered Bornean Clouded

Leopard. Sciensts made the discovery

through the use of an array of camera

traps, which yielded the rst photographicevidence that there is a melanisc (i.e.

with predominantly black pigment) formof the Clouded Leopard living on Borneo.The camera traps were placed in strategic

locaons around the Sungei Protected

Forest as part of the Sungei Ingei Faunal

Survey Expedion which has the aimof documenng the wildlife for scienceand to provide a basis for conservaonmanagement. As a project of UniversiBrunei Darussalam, the Expedion willdirectly contribute to Brunei’s naonaleorts to conserve the precious landscape

in the Heart of Borneo.

Unl now, only a few unconrmedsighngs have suggested that a melaniscform occurs in the populaon. The

photograph, taken in the survey area in

July 2010, though indisnct, denitely

shows the animal approaching thecamera, uphill at a distance. The Leopard,as can be seen in the enlarged picture

(below), is very dark with paerned

markings, which is a contrast to all otherpictures of Clouded Leopards which showthe usual colour forms.The Sungei Protected Forestis known for its extraordinarilydiverse tree species. Whilethe data are not yet completeor fully analysed, recordsemerging from the FaunalSurvey are showing that this is

reected in a rich diversity of

wild animals. This most recentdiscovery is part of a growingbody of evidence that shows

the signicant conservaon

value of this area in the HoB.

First ever photograph o the rare and endangeredMelanistic Bornean Clouded Leopard

Borneo by 2015. It also suggests that theremay now be a possibility of moving wellbeyond this target both within Indonesiaand elsewhere in the region.TBI was established in 2010 to promoteresponsible management of tropical

rainforests by supporng forestry companies

in their movement towards achieving the

naonal cercate for responsible logging

(Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia or LEI) as

well as the internaonally renowned FSCcercaon.

The Borneo Initiative at top speed as our new orestconcessions sign up to reach FSC certication in 2011

The new photo of the Melanisc clouded leopard

By: J.K. Charles, Ang Bee Biaw, Samhan Nyawa, Simmons Benalai, Dato Dr Mikaail Kavanagh

The usual colour paern of the Clouded Leopard

The Clouded Leopard is endangeredthroughout Borneo and under the Brunei

Wildlife Protecon Act (1984) it is a

protected species. While it is not one of the big cats, it is the largest predator onBorneo, having dagger-like canine teeth

that are the largest of any cat in relaon

to body size.While Brunei is small compared withthe overall size of Borneo, it is knownto include some of the island’s bestpreserved primary forest. It is vital

that ndings such as this photographic

evidence of the Black Clouded Leopardare used to support the case for ongoing

conservaon in this, one of the most

biologically rich areas in the world.

A d i A i z al

J K C h ar l es