NEWSLETTER – MAY-JUNE 2007

The 2006/2007 Committee
So that members can get in touch with the Committee, here are the names & telephone numbers of the 2006/2007 Committee, elected at the AGM held on 6th June 2006: President - David Edwards [2334463 (h), 2463001 ext. 1384 (o)]; Secretary - Ulmar Grafe [8830209 (hp)]; Treasurer - Harkirat Dhindsa [2463001-1547 (o)]; Membership Secretary – Hjh Masnah Hj Mirassan [8855502 (hp)]; Librarian - Peter Boyce [2410011 (h)]; Committee Members - Joe Charles [2335538 (h), 2463001 ext. 1386(o)]; Abdi Negyal [2229067 (h)], Steven Dodd [8809846 (hp), 2463001-1842 (o)]; Kamariah Abu Salim [8710898 (hp)];  Robert Bush [8653484 (hp)].

Reports of Recent Activities

An account of the outing to Pulau Baru Baru and Pulau Berambang, by Chak Wang Hoong, has been placed on the website. Please look it up at http://bruneinaturesociety.org. Many thanks to Hajah Masnah and Moi Chan for organizing this highly successful outing, which had to be repeated as so many members wanted to participate. 34 members joined the outing on Sunday 8th April, and 38 members joined the repeat performance the following Sunday, 15th April 2007 – and there are still a few members who would like a repeat of the outing as they missed out completely! Maybe later this year? An account of one of the outings by one of our members was also published in the Borneo Bulletin.
 
Forthcoming Events
May Meeting – Tuesday 8th May 2007 – “Saving the Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka: A Blueprint for the Future” by Kushan Tennakoon. 8.00 pm, Room CLT 1.17, UBD Central Lecture Theatre.
Dr Kushan Tennakoon is a Visiting Lecturer in the Biology Department at UBD, and has been in Brunei since early February this year. His ‘permanent’ position is in the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, where he has been undertaking research into various aspects of plant physiology and their relevance to crop improvement. Many people in Sri Lanka, and on the Indian sub-continent as a whole, rely almost entirely on traditional medicines, and this has resulted in some plant species being severely over-exploited. Some plants, heavily used as sources of medicines and hence critically endangered in the wild, are very difficult to cultivate, and Dr Tennakoon will be reporting on ways in which cultivation of such plants can be enhanced. One of the most interesting plants he has been studying is Sandalwood (Santalum album) which is a hemiparasite and which will only grow attached to the roots of a host tree or shrub. Kushan has provided the following introduction for his talk:

Over one-third of the Sri Lankan population is primarily dependent on Ayurveda, one of the longest-established traditional medicine systems, that addresses the island’s primary health care needs.  Its recorded history dates back the period of King Buddhadasa (337-365 AD). Nearly half the higher plant species of Sri Lanka (about 1675 species) are used in Ayurveda medicinal preparations, to cure well over 300 ailments. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in medicinal plants for their commercial use in indigenous medicine, health food and drinks, in the cosmetic industry and in the tourism industry.  According to the World Health Organization (2001) world-wide demand for medicinal plants is currently about US$ 14 billion a year, with a projected value for year 2050 of US$ 5 trillion. A number of multinational companies have entered into contractual agreements with farmers in rural areas of Sri Lanka for the supply of a number of medicinal species. A high proportion of the medicinal plants in Sri Lanka are harvested from wild populations and it has been reported that commercial collectors adopt haphazard and indiscriminate harvesting techniques, with scant regard for long-term sustainability of the resource. This poses a serious threat to the survival of medicinal plants in the wild.  In this presentation I will be discussing the development of simple, cost-effective cultivation techniques and field establishment methods for four ‘heavily-used’ medicinal plants, with a view to reducing the pressure on wild populations and ensuring sufficient commercial supplies by cultivating them outside the forest (i.e. as enrichment programs in the buffer zones of forests, degraded lands and in home gardens).

This should be an interesting talk, and the techniques pioneered by Dr Tennakoon will be relevant to many tropical countries, including Brunei Darussalam, where over-harvesting of Gaharu trees has seriously compromised the existence of this species in the wild.

May Outing – Sunday 27th May 2007
The Committee has been unable to arrange an outing for May, so if anyone has any ideas, please get in touch with any Committee member or be prepared to announce it at the Meeting on the 8th May.

June Meeting – Tuesday 5th June 2007 – “Genetic Engineering – The Truth Revealed!” by Jacky McLaren. 8.00 pm, Room CLT 1.17, UBD Central Lecture Theatre.
Jacky McLaren is a teacher at JIS, with an Honours degree in Plant Breeding from Nottingham University and a Masters in Plant Breeding from Massey in NZ. She worked in the Horticultural industry before teaching science, and became a specialist Biology teacher. Whilst living beside New Zealand's first ever self-proclaimed "GE Free City", Nelson, she decided to expand the teaching of her subject out of the classroom and into the less forgiving(?) public arena all the way up (or down!) to Members of Parliament. In 2000 she was awarded a Science and Technology Fellowship to do this. Jacky has provided the following introduction to her talk:

This talk looks at the ways of breeding different varieties of animals and plants have actually changed over the last few hundred years. It attempts to tell the story in an understandable form to the layman in such a manner that they can decide for themselves whether Genetic Engineering poses more or fewer risks than conventional methods. Are designer genes something you really want to be wearing? 

THIS TALK WILL BE ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH DUE TO THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS WHICH START ON THE 10TH JUNE 2007

This should be an excellent chance to find out what Genetic Engineering really means, and to cross-examine someone who knows all about it!

June Outing – Dinner and Annual General Meeting Saturday 9th June 2007
The BNS constitution requires the Annual General Meeting of the Society to be held before the end of June each year, so the Committee has decided to have the AGM on the 9th June this year, as many of our members will be leaving the State during the school holidays which start on the 10th June (teachers in government schools will apparently not be allowed to Leave the State on the 10th, so we hope for a good turn-out on the 9th!).

This year we will go back to an earlier format for the AGM, and will gather at one of the restaurants in Bandar, and the AGM (which usually lasts no more than 20 minutes) will be followed by a buffet dinner, the cost of the food being subsidised by the Society. At the present time we cannot confirm the venue, but it is likely to be Poolside at the RBA Club (or similar) and the cost of the dinner will be subsidised by the Society to the tune of B$10 per person.

Names for the AGM & Dinner will be taken at the May and June Meetings, with anyone signing up required to pay B$15 at the time of signing (since the cost cannot be confirmed at the present time, we will assume it will be about B$25 per person, with the Society paying B$10; any excess collected at the sign-up will be returned to individuals at the dinner).

The agenda for the Annual General Meeting is shown on the next page. If you are willing to spend about one evening a month helping to run the Society, please volunteer to serve on the Committee – either speak to one of the existing Committee (see header at the top of the Newsletter) or fill in the nomination form at the end of the Newsletter and bring it along to the AGM. Even if you do not wish to serve on the Committee there are many other ways you can contribute to YOUR Society – by giving talks, leading walks, doing write-ups, taking pictures for the web site or joining in the activities of the BNS Biodiversity Conservation Programme.

                BRUNEI NATURE SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 9TH JUNE 2007
                                                                            AGENDA

1. Confirmation of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 6th June 2006.
2. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the 2006 Annual General Meeting.

3.             Consideration of the Treasurer's Report for 2006/2007.
4.             Consideration of the Committee's Report for 2006/2007.
5.             Election of New Officers and Committee members for 2007/2008.
6.             Appointment of Honorary Auditor for 2007/2008.
7.             Any Other Business.

BNS Activities for Schoolchildren – Sunday 17th June 2007
This year the Society is trying a new venture, with some of our members volunteering to arrange activities for schoolchildren during the June school holidays. The details for this activity have not yet been finalised, but this will be more of a pilot project, with schoolchildren recruited from selected schools, sorted into age groups and being given supervised activities, with prizes for the best ones. Activities are likely to include drawing, colouring, collecting leaves, and making cards using pressed plant materials etc. The venue for these activities, which will last the whole day is not yet fixed, but is likely to be at either Bukit Shabandar Recreation Park, or Berakas Recreation Park. As usual, the more volunteers we have the better, so if you can help out for this day (or part of it) please let the organisers, Kamariah or Hajah Masnah, know by e-mailing either at kamsalim@fos.ubd.edu.bn or masnah@fos.ubd.edu.bn or by telephone to 8710898 (Kamariah) or 8855502 (Hjh Masnah).

The Brunei Nature Society Website
Peter Boyce has set up the website, which is at http://bruneinaturesociety.org. We need more material to put on the site, and suggestions for additional categories to be included will be welcome. There is a section for Forthcoming Events, sections on Outings (Reports and Members photographs) and a section for members to include interesting photographs of plants and animals. However, many of these sections are empty, or nearly so, and the Committee is appealing for members to come forward with their photographs. Peter hopes to organize the site so that it is easy to add material, using templates. However, he will need some assistance in maintaining the site (and we will need someone to take responsibility for it should Peter and Jan leave Brunei later this year!) - anyone interested please get in touch with Peter at boyces@mail.com.

E-mail Addresses
If you did not receive an e-mail announcing the May 8th talk, please ensure that we have your correct e-mail address – some addresses are difficult to read, and may have been recorded wrong. If you are in doubt, please send an e-mail to brunei_nature_society@hotmail.com.
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BRUNEI NATURE SOCIETY                                                              Nomination form for the 2007/2008 Committee

NAME:                                                                                                  COMMITTEE POST:
ADDRESS:                                                                                            TELEPHONE:

Signature:_______­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________

Proposed By: _________________________________          Signature: _______________________________

Seconded By: _________________________________         Signature: _______________________________

Please pass completed forms to any Committee Member, or bring them to the AGM.
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