VZCZCXYZ0013
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBD #0156/01 1520609
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADC81E0B MSI1495 538)
O 010609Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3824
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

UNCLAS BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000156 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y/ADDED INFO ADDRESSEE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP, EAP/PD, AND OES 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL BX
SUBJECT: BRUNEI MOVING FORWARD ON HEART OF BORNEO 
 
REF: KUALA LUMPUR 380 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) The Government of Brunei is pushing forward with projects 
under the Heart of Borneo (HoB) initiative that it hopes will 
establish Brunei as a leader of this rainforest protection project. 
This month Brunei will receive the first-ever ASEAN peer review of 
its forest management practices and next month Brunei will host a 
key technical meeting of the HoB partners at which Brunei will lay 
out implementation objectives and advance itself as the site for the 
HoB secretariat.  The GoB welcomes USG support, including our 
proposed tri-lateral IV project (co-developed by AmEmbassies Kuala 
Lumpur and Jakarta).  END SUMMARY. 
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HoB Boundaries Set 
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¶2. (SBU) The GoB has engaged WWF's HoB driving force Dato Mikaail 
Kavanagh to help finalize its Strategic Framework.  The plan 
currently includes 58 percent of Brunei's total territory under the 
HoB framework.  Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources 
Dato Hamdillah Abdul Wahab told us recently that Brunei 
intentionally maximized HoB territory along its border with Malaysia 
in order to leverage the HoB process to get Malaysia to take 
stronger action against illegal loggers who routinely cross the 
border into Brunei for high value trees like sandal wood. 
 
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Forestry Plan to Get ASEAN Peer Review 
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¶3. (SBU) The GoB has invited representatives from Cambodia and the 
Philippines to participate in Brunei's discussion of its new 
National Forestry Plan.  Scheduled for June 20-21, this review will 
be the first conducted under a new ASEAN peer review process.  Dato 
Hamdillah told us that he hopes that by opening itself first to peer 
review, the GoB will encourage greater transparency by Indonesia 
(and Malaysia) on forest management policy and practice.  The 
Director of the Forestry Department, Saidin Salleh, told us May 23 
that one of Brunei's greatest challenges is that the Forestry 
Department has only partial jurisdiction over Brunei's forest 
reserves.  The Ministry of Defense also has the authority to use any 
part of Brunei's territory.  The ASEAN peer review will help push 
Brunei to coordinate internally forest use and management among all 
interested agencies. 
 
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HoB Agenda and Next Steps 
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¶4. (SBU) Brunei will host the next trilateral coordination meeting 
July 18-19 to prepare a report on HoB status and next steps to the 
BIMP-EAGA Secretariat.  Saidin Salleh said Brunei was pushing to 
complete its HoB Strategic and Implementation plans to establish its 
credentials and position itself better to lobby for the HoB 
Secretariat to be located in Brunei.  Dato Hamdillah confided to 
 
SIPDIS 
Ambassador that he hopes to secure a grant of BDOLS 203,000 (approx 
USD 132,000) from Brunei Shell Petroleum to support the preparation 
and initial execution of Brunei's HOB implementation plan. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Saidin said the GoB has four strategic objectives it will 
work under the HoB initiative.  The first is to encourage all 
parties to adopt selective logging practices and stop clear 
cutting/burning land clearing practices for plantations.  Saidin 
commented that Indonesia would have fewer flash floods if it 
practiced inter-planting as it developed palm-oil plantations to 
leave more natural vegetation in place to hold back soil and absorb 
rainfall.  Second, the GoB wanted to see better budget support for 
replanting and conservation efforts.  He noted that his department 
was able to secure better budget support in the last year in part 
from the high profile the HoB initiative has gained in Brunei. 
Third, Brunei wanted to develop joint promotional materials for the 
HoB protected areas to encourage eco-tourism.  Dato Hamdillah had 
previously told us that while Brunei had developed the "Green Heart 
of Borneo" as an ecotourism brand before the HoB initiative was 
started, he welcomed the help HoB had given Brunei in marketing 
itself for ecotourism.  Finally, Brunei would like to see all three 
HoB partners conduct joint research expeditions into the HoB area to 
gain better baseline data on the state of the region and to set the 
stage for more joint activities. 
 
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Comment: USG Support Welcome 
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¶6. (SBU) GoB officials have told us on numerous occasions that they 
welcome USG support for the HoB initiative.  Dato Hamdillah told us 
that given how stretched his small Forestry Department is, the seed 
money we had given WWF was critical in getting substantive work 
started on Brunei's strategic plan.  Hamdillah welcomed a proposed 
HoB International Visitor program to bring key implementation level 
officials from Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia to the U.S. to study 
cross-border national park and natural resource management 
practices.  Post has worked closely with our colleagues in 
AmEmbassies Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta to develop a program for this 
 
IV and identify the people who need to overcome national biases and 
learn to work together to make the HoB initiative a success. 
Sustained USG support of HoB will keep this initiative moving 
forward and help burnish our environmental credentials among the 
three Muslim-majority nations covered by the HoB. 
 
 
SKODON