BIBD goes green at Badas Reserve

BIBD's Managing Director Javed Ahmad planting one of the Agathis Bornensis trees at the Badas Forest Reserve
BANK Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad (BIBD) yesterday planted the first 1,000 of 9,500 Agathis Bornensis saplings that it donated in a ceremony at the Badas Forest Reserve in Seria, in an effort to restore the fire ravaged greenery.

During the event, the guest of honour, Pengiran Anak Khairul Khalil Pengiran Syed Hj Jaafari, planted the 30,000th tree for the Badas 50,000 Trees Project at a plot reserved exclusively for BIBD at the site.Also present to lend their support were Chairman of BIBD, Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar, Director of BIBD, Hj Bahrin Abdullah and the Acting Managing Director of BIBD, Javed Ahmad.

Tree buyers who are students from Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College (Maktab Duli), staff of Serikandi Group of Companies and members of the Brunei Association of Hotels also planted their trees at the ceremony. The 150 tree buyers and BIBD staff were greeted by ISB Executive Principal, David Taylor, at the site who then briefed them on the reforestation initiative and supervised the tree-planters. It took them about one hour to plant all 1,000 trees. At the ceremony, BIBD also gave away special badges that read "Proud Owner of A Tree" to tree-planters who purchased trees through the bank. BIBD through its Corporate Social Responsibility's (CSR) initiatives, has successfully exceeded its target to raise funds from the public to purchase 4,000 trees in support of the International School Brunei's (ISB) Million Trees Project.

"The main objective of the bank's strong commitment to the Badas Trees Project and its pledge to match up 4,000 trees was to encourage bank employees and the public to conserve the environment," said Hjh Nurul Akmar Hj Md Jaafar, the Head of BIBD's CSR. She added that the effort was in line with the teaching of Islam which encourages people to plant tree.She hoped that more people will come forward with such move in an aim to conserve the environment for the benefits of today's and the next generations.

In total, BIBD has successfully raised BND47,500 worth of trees for the project. BIBD started its aggressive campaign end of July 2009 as the facilitator for the public to buy trees and it reached its target of 4,000 trees collected from the public at the end of September 2009.

"Today's ceremony is a success on our part, and we hope it's going to be one of many more to come," said BIBD's CSR Treasurer Rafiuddin Ghazali.

He added: "This is an eye-opener for everyone. Hopefully from today's event, we are able to motivate and inspire the public to participate in activities to protect the environment."

BIBD Corporate Communications Manager Sonia Kaur and Guest of Honour Pg Anak Khairul Khalil

"Activities such as this should be promoted and encouraged further especially towards the younger generations.

"It's not just tree planting, but also energy-saving and recycling, are among others that should be instilled in everyone in order to make the world a better place to live in," Pengiran Anak Khairul Khalil told The Brunei Times.

"A job well done to BIBD and hopefully other organisations will follow suit and organise similar activities to preserve the environment," he added.

Endorsed by Heart of Borneo National Council and coordinated by ISB and the Forestry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, the project aims at planting 50,000 Agathis Bornensis trees by end of the month.