Adib Noor
SPHIERE Sdn Bhd Managing Director Haji Ahmad Najib bin Haji Mohidin reminded the public about the importance of harmonising technology and nature as well as the urgency to take immediate action as the climate change crisis is reaching its critical point.
He said this during a tree planting event to mark the launch of the Atmosphiere mobile application organised by SPHIERE in association with Shell LiveWIRE Brunei.
The mobile application was conceived from a joint effort between Shell LiveWIRE Brunei, the Forestry Department, the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation and the Brunei Climate Change Secretariat (BCCS) and was developed by SPHIERE.
Permanent Secretary (Planning, Land Use and Environment) at the Ministry of Development Dr Nor Imtihan binti Haji Abdul Razak officiated the launch of the app.
Atmosphiere is a personal carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission calculator provided by the BCCS which follows the global standard from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Through the app, the public can subscribe to a tree planting service and directly contribute to afforestation and forest cover in the Sultanate, all via their mobile devices.
In addition, users can volunteer to plant the trees as the strategy’s aim is also to integrate the public and the private sector as part of the solution to ensure a successful reforestation programme. At the same time, the application monitors the users’ CO2e emissions as a reference to promote sustainable lifestyle.
The application aims to further support the implementation of Brunei Darussalam National Climate Change Policy’s (BNCCP) Strategy 2 which is to plant 500,000 trees by 2035 to reduce the country’s CO2e emission and to become a Carbon Sink country again. Historically, Brunei’s forests have the capacity to absorb all the carbon emissions – which makes Brunei a carbon-negative country. However, as of 2020, due to the increase in energy consumption from the industry, Brunei is no longer at a net carbon sink. Through planting more trees, the aim is to increase the country’s carbon sink and this is one of the 10 key strategies under the BNCCP to solve the climate change crisis.
The launch was followed by the tree planting activity at a location provided by the Forestry Department. Volunteers were guided in the process of tree planting and had the opportunity to experience and contribute first-hand to planting the forest trees. One hundred and five trees were planted during the event and another 915 pledged trees to be planted, totalling to 1,020.
In the coming years, it was shared that Atmosphiere plans to improve and add more features for the user’s convenience and most importantly, Atmosphiere will aim to support the BNCCP Strategy 2: Forest cover’s objective of planting 500,000 trees by 2035.
Also present during the event were Seventy-Two Company committee members of the Atmosphiere app as well as representatives from 22 companies that pledged trees to be planted at the Berakas Forest Reserve.
