Lyna Mohammad
The Ministry of Development (MoD), represented by the Brunei Darussalam National Council on Climate Change (BNCCC), will take part in Climate Change Week at the Brunei Mid-Year Conference and Exhibition 2022 (Brunei MYCE 2022) from June 22-26.
The four-day event will cover activities on climate action, themed ‘Towards a Low Carbon and Climate – Resilient Brunei Darussalam’, and aims to “increase the public’s awareness on the issues of climate change, as well as the opportunities that can arise from it”, said Permanent Secretary (Planning, Land Use and Environment) at the MoD Dr Nor Imtihan binti Haji Abdul Razak during a press conference in March.
The Brunei Darussalam National Climate Change Policy (BNCCP) was launched in 2020, outlining 10 key strategies that would shape a low-carbon and climate-resilient future and “the following year was a year of action and we continue to execute each of the key strategies”, Dr Nor Imtihan said.
“One example is the establishment of the Industrial Emissions Committee for Strategy 1. We are working with a whole-of-nation approach to ensure our overall emissions is monitored and reduced and the country’s overall oil and gas economy is not affected.”
Another example is Strategy 2’s ‘Kempen 26,000 pokok (26,000-tree campaign)’. In 2021, BNCCC surpassed the 26,000-tree target by planting 33,507, with more efforts to be made this year to counter existing carbon sinks, said the permanent secretary.
Meanwhile, collaboration with other ministries and companies has also led to the successful launch of Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd’s (BSP) Flagship Solar Project, the Electric Vehicle Pilot programme and the introduction of Green Protocol aimed to eliminate the use of plastic in government premises.
“Brunei Darussalam announced the increased climate ambition of achieving ‘net zero’ by 2050 or earlier at COP26. Even though the country only contributes 0.025 per cent of overall global greenhouse gas emissions, we believe that moving towards net zero is a necessary action, and one that we are committed to achieving.
“It’s still a long road ahead to achieve our goals. It requires strong collaboration with all government agencies, private sector, and the public. We believe Insya Allah, with everyone’s efforts and commitment, we will get there,” she said.
A collaboration between BNCCC’s Brunei Climate Change Secretariat and Universiti Brunei Darussalam, the four-day event will focus on ‘Brunei youth role on climate action’ on day one; ‘Mitigating tomorrow, today’ on day two; ‘Adaptation on the impacts of climate change’ on day three; and ‘Economic opportunities from the transformation of low carbon or net zero’ on day four.
Day one will feature a dialogue session as the main event with the presence of several ministers including the Minister of Development along with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, members of BNCCC and youth.
Youth are essential partners in climate action hence the dialogue will aim to provide a platform for an exchange of views in tackling the uncertainty of the future and to inspire youth to spearhead the resolution for climate action.
‘Mitigating tomorrow, today’ will see the ‘Decarbonisation towards net zero’ conference as the day’s highlight. This conference aims to bring focus to efforts and opportunities for effective reduction of carbon emission through technology and nature at all sectors to head towards a net zero or carbon neutral future in 2050.
Presenters will be made up of local and foreign specialists.
Day three will feature another conference, titled ‘Act now for resilience’ as the main event, with the objectives of raising interests and awareness on risks of climate change impacts towards infrastructure, agrifood and others.
With the objective to put forward opportunities by low carbon sector in the aspect of economic, new businesses, investment, services, specialists and local job activities, the fourth day will see the opening of the Eco-Festival at the Eco-Street (to take place at the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex) in the capital.
Eco-Street will showcase vendors of low-carbon or environmentally friendly products, as well as an exhibition of ‘waste-to-art’.
During the four-day event, an exhibition on climate action will also be held as a continuation of the Energy Week at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas.
The exhibition will display the nation’s climate action efforts from all sectors and stakeholders as well as a Green Job Fair on the side.
While the exhibition serves to raise awareness on climate change as well as the actions and roles that should be played by the public, the Green Job Fair will promote job opportunities in the low carbon or green sectors while recording demand in skills and competitions needed in the future.
The Climate Change Week will conclude with a tree planting activity to offset the carbon footprint from Brunei MYCE 2022 and ensure that the event is carbon neutral, in alignment with the green protocol guidelines.
Overall, the event will emphasise the importance of the whole-of-nation approach, in view of climate action needs the involvement of all sectors and levels of the community and is hoped to raise awareness of all parties on the importance of joint efforts in reducing carbon emission.
