Newsletter – Special Issue May 2010 Heart of Borneo New species report breaks new ground in trilateral government negotiations WWF’s new report Borneo’s New World: for the pygmy elephant, orangutan, Newly Discovered Species in the Heart of rhinoceros and clouded leopard. A world of th Borneo took centre stage at the 4 Heart This was the first time a report of this diversity of Borneo (HoB) Trilateral government nature had been launched at a trilateral meeting in Brunei on Earth Day, 22 April. event and was evidence of the three A frOG with no lungs, The report details 123 new species governments’ willingness to work with a ‘ninja’ slug firing love discovered since the February 2007 partners such as WWF to achieve a darts at its mate, and joint declaration by Brunei Darussalam, common conservation vision for the HoB. the world’s longest insect were among Indonesia and Malaysia to conserve HoB leader Adam Tomasek said at the 2 new species featured in WWF’s HoB 220,000 km of irreplaceable tropical launch that the significance of the Initiative’s new species report. rainforest, designated the ‘Heart of Borneo’. publication was not just that 123 new Brunei Darussalam’s Minister of Industry & species had been discovered in the The discoveries were all made in the Primary Resources, the Honourable Pehin Heart of Borneo, but the huge step Heart of Borneo and are the latest Dato Yahya, launched the report and for biodiversity conservation the three testament to its amazing biodiversity. in a press statement paid tribute to the governments made when they signed the At the local and national level, the three dedicated scientists who spent countless HoB Declaration. governments have mapped out a course hours in challenging conditions to uncover of conservation and management of the Below: Brunei Darussalam’s Minister of Industry the HoB’s staggering biodiversity. & Primary Resources, the Honourable Pehin Dato HoB around five pillars of protected area, “These amazing new findings highlight the Yahya, second from left, with Mahmud Yussof, Deputy trans-boundary and sustainable natural importance of our efforts to implement Director of Forests and HoB leader Adam Tomasek resource management, eco-tourism and and Dato Hj Hamdillah, Deputy Minister of Industry & capacity building. the HoB Declaration’s bold vision,” he Primary Resources (MIPR). Photo: Brunei MIPR. said of the region, which is better known WWF is supporting these efforts in all three countries, working very closely with government agencies to turn the paper declaration into tangible on-ground action, district by district, region by region, to fulfil the conservation promise of the Heart of Borneo Declaration. The rate of discovery since the foundation of the HoB in 2007 is more than three new species per month, signalling in biodiversity terms the global relevance of turning the HoB vision into reality. More photographs: page 6 Welcome to delegates WWF’s Heart of Borneo Initiative, WWF-Malaysia and WWF-Indonesia welcome all delegates to the Annual Conference, held not quite in the Heart of Borneo, but you can certainly see it from here! We hope your stay will be informative, productive and we look forward to sharing the splendours of the HoB with some of you on the field trip to Danum Valley. THE HEART OF BORNEO May 2010 Newsletter 1 WWF Indonesia HoB Leader’s Statement CEO appointed Dr Efransjah has recently been appointed Chief Executive Officer of WWF Indonesia. From Adam Tomasek A committed approach His last position was as Regional A year ago, the We are working closely with Network Coordinator for South-East and East Asia Network gathered offices to deliver a series of strategic for the Centre for International Forestry in Copenhagen for commitments to reduce footprint, increase Research in Indonesia. the 2009 Annual funding and leverage policy support, He was earlier assigned as the senior Conference. This through what we call the ‘HoB Challenge’. adviser external relations at CIFOR month we convene We will launch the initial commitments Director General Office, in charge of the for the 2010 Annual at this year’s Annual Conference and be Liaison Office with the host-country and Conference in Kota seeking further commitments during the the Coordinator of Secretariat of Asia Kinabalu, Sabah, course of the Conference. Using a multi- Forest Partnership (AFP). Malaysia. Although partner Roadshow approach over the Before joining CIFOR in mid-September worlds apart, there is a similarity between next 12-18 months, we hope to highlight 2008, Dr Efransjah was the UNDP Chief the two conferences. these commitments around the globe Technical Adviser in charge of a large Last year, the Network stared down the and provide tangible opportunities to GEF project (Global Environment looming challenge of UNFCCC-COP15, overcome the HoB’s biggest challenges. Facility) working on the conservation of using WWF’s Annual Conference to build biodiversity in wetland ecosystems (2002- momentum and consolidate approaches. Regional support 2008) in the states of Pahang, Sarawak I was impressed by the way in which the The conditions for HoB success have been and Sabah, Malaysia. Network rallied together to fight, and strengthened over the past year. He previously served as the Projects continues to do so this year under new At the recently concluded 2010 ASEAN Manager (Asia and Pacific region) at the circumstances. Summit, the HoB was noted as a priority International Tropical Timber Organization This year’s Annual Conference is on the regional initiative during the Finance (ITTO) in Yokohama, Japan (1993-2002). doorstep of the Heart of Borneo (and Coral Ministers’ meeting. This is a clear sign He started his earlier career with the Triangle). Therefore, I believe this is the year that HoB’s natural capital is important to Indonesian Ministry of Forestry (1981- to consolidate attention and seek Network regional economic development. 1992). commitments to address biodiversity Similarly, just last month the 4th HoB Dr Efransjah brings a wealth of experience and footprint issues in Southeast Asia, Trilateral government meeting concluded related to the HoB. He graduated from including the Heart of Borneo. where the governments of Brunei, Bogor Agricultural University, and Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to advance completed his Master and Doctoral Towards a green economy forest carbon work and development degrees in Sciences du Bois, at the For the past year the HoB team has been of sustainable financing mechanisms. Universite de Nancy I, France. building a platform to put the HoB on Following the Trilateral, Brunei hosted He is married with one child. the path toward a green economy. We a regional workshop on both Heart of are bringing in new players under a Borneo and Coral Triangle, which produced strategic partnership approach, including recommendations on trans-boundary governments, private sector actors, as resource management, addressing climate well as donors, researchers, marketing and change, and developing green economies communications agencies. to be taken forward to the upcoming We have found that many different groups BIMP-EAGA Ministerial Meeting. want to invest their time, resources and By many measures, we see a convergence relationships to work closely with WWF to of the HoB with regional agendas and tackle the challenges faced in delivering global issues. Now is the time to act. I am the vision set forth by the HoB. This convinced that together as a Network, expanding ‘HoB team’ requires WWF to we can harness the interest of many new operate in different ways, and on different “partners” and deliver lasting biodiversity levels. A consolidated Network approach and footprint results. I look forward to is necessary if we are to be successful at telling you more during this year’s Annual turning interest into action. Conference. THE HEART OF BORNEO 2 May 2010 Newsletter We seek 10 of the most important Network partners asked Network countries to take up the Challenge and make commitments to to meet the HoB Challenge achieve HoB’s goals. We’re also hoping that it won’t stop there and more events, At the WWF Annual conference, on the The range and scope of events issues and ideas will surface as the Roadshow gathers momentum (and island of Borneo, we are launching the we can organise is only limited Heart of Borneo (HoB) Challenge. publicity). In your country, we expect it by our imaginations and our to stimulate debate around HoB-related The Challenge is a ‘call to arms’ to all Roadshow supporters are issues and provide the vehicle to help the our Network supporters to renew their encouraging us to let our Network achieve meaningful conservation commitment to the HoB Initiative on imaginations run wild. outcomes. their own terms: to present us with Scope of commitment commitments which both meet their The scope of commitment should fall national office priorities, activities and The first steps in our commitment within the three broad HoB strategies. This capabilities and at the same time move still offers a huge range of opportunities forward on the HoB’s strategic priorities. We will come to the Annual Conference with a commitment prepared and ready for engagement on issues as diverse It is also why we will be linking the to be announced as the beginning of the as regional and local policy advocacy, Challenge to an ambitious global HoB Challenge. green business development, carbon ‘Roadshow’ which will bring to life the banking, valuation of eco-system services This will revolve around a major new conservation challenges faced in the and everything in-between. We are initiative to catalyse China and India HoB and deliver them to key Network developing activities we can weave into market power to drive sustainable palm oil offices’ own backyards where they can a Roadshow concept such as: report and production.