https://zoom.us/j/91927163357
October 14, 2021, 8:00 – 12:00 (GMT+8)

Dr Wida Susanty Haji Suhaili
Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Informatics,
Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Brunei

Peatland Forest Fire Mitigation
Management in Brunei Darussalam

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

Facts About Brunei
Where is Brunei ?
South East Asia
Land size
5,765 KM2
Population:
412,238
Main Industry:Oil and Gas
Public Universities in Brunei:o Universiti Technology Brunei
o Universiti Brunei Darussalamo Universiti Islam Sultan Sarif Ali
o KUPPU SB – SBRT Universiti

Vegetation of Brunei Darussalam

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

Brunei Darussalam’s land area
5,765 sq km

Peat Swamp Forest
covering almost 20% of
the entire area of easternpart of Belait District5

Badas Peatland

Badas

MiriBelait• Part of the Belait
Peatland, is known
as Badas Peatland• Badas Peatland isrelatively goodcondition, comparedto the Miri side
• The Northern edgeof Badas peatland
converted due todevelopment and isdegrading.

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

Peatland• Peatland – good source of carbon• Peatland – naturally can guard itself against
fire and drought unfortunately when the eco
system is disrupted it no longer cansustained this property• Once fire break-out, an amount of carbon isrelease• As the eco-system disrupted natural sourceof water is no longer available• To get to the location is also difficult• In densely peat forest, to bring in the watersource to kill the fire will be tedious and an
expensive task
• 2016 , US$5.6Millions to water bomb
Brunei forest fire using helicopter.

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

Brunei: Badas Peatland (RBFR)• Study area
• N 4.59o E114.35o,
radius 3 km
Yellow spots mark fireevents in Feb-April 2016
(MODIS data). Black
polygons are water bodies
created by sand mining.
Light green area (SE) is thecentral area of the peatdome, dominated by quite
pristine “padang alan” (S.
albida) forest..

AGENCIES INVOLVED• Belait District Office• Royal Brunei Armed Forces, 3rd Batallion• Royal Brunei Police Forces• British Gurkha Garrison
 Brunei Fire and Rescue Department
 Paramedic
 Public Work Department
 DepartmentofEnvironment,
Recreational and Park.
 Brunei Shell Petroleum Brunei LNG

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

Outcomes of low and high peatland water level

DryWet10

Outcomes of low and high peatland water level
Low water level : Fire11

RBFR killing out fire in one of the peatland fire incident

Fire suppression methods (1)• “Total Flooding”

FIRE SUPPRESSION METHODS (2)• Water Bombing

Fire Suppression methods (3)▪ Make a fire break/ temporarylake or pool
▪ Slow down the spread of the fire
▪ Easily access by firefighters▪ Minimise the fire damage

DIFFICULTIES DURING OPERATIONS▪ Inadequate Water Supplies.
▪ Some areas cannot be accessed by firefighters.
▪ Equipment broken down during prolong
ops.
▪ Many forest fire calls received in oneday.
▪ Windy Conditions.
▪ Road users ignore their safety andsafety of the firefighter while driving in
the affected areas.
▪ Wild animals attack.

Outcomes of low and high peatland water level
High water level: Flood

16

Heart of Borneo (HOB)

THE “HEART OF BORNEO” INITIATIVE?

“Three Countries One Conservation Vision”

Exploratory International Workshop on
Heart of Borneo Initiative• Hosted by Brunei Darussalam [5-6 April2005] with the assistance of WWF.
Outcomes:• Generated a Vision Statement for theInitiative – “Three Countries, One
Conservation Vision”• Presented the benefits of large-scaleconservation efforts;• Importance of partnerships at alllevel to ensure effective managementof forests & biodiversity in the HoB.
18

THE “HEART OF BORNEO” INITIATIVE?

“Three Countries One Conservation Vision”

The Heart of Borneo Declaration… signed on 12 February 2007, in Bali,Republic of Indonesia

19

FOREST RESOURCES OF
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM“Three Countries One Conservation Vision”

Conservation initiatives and programs:❑

Strengthening forest law enforcement and forest policy implementation;❑ Forest Act, Chap 46, Laws of Brunei❑ National Forest Policy, 1989
❑ Other relevant laws: Wildlife Protection Act, Wild Flora & Fauna
Order 2007, Land Code, Town & Country Planning Act, etc❑

Forest re-greening and rehabilitation programs;❑Nature education and awareness programs;❑Intensifying R&D collaboration with local higher education & foreign
research institutions;❑The ‘Heart of Borneo” Initiative.
20

THE IMPORTANCE OF “HEART OF BORNEO”
INITIATIVE TO BRUNEI DARUSSALAM“Three Countries One Conservation Vision”• Eco-Tourism• Research & Development21

Brunei Shell Joint Venture(BSJV)BRUNEI SHELL PETROLEUM (BSP)
BRUNEI LIQUIFIED NATURAL GAS (BLNG)WETLAND INTERNATIONALS (WI)
JABATAN ALAM SEKITAR TAMAN DAN REKREASI (JASTRE)
HEART OF BORNEO (HOB)
SMART with UBD
UTBDevelop Biodiversity Action Plan

Develop Fire Communication Plan

Develop implementation Plan for restoring degraded areas

Canal blocking:help raise water table in the area

During Biodiversity Action Plan project 2012-2014 (BAP), canalblocks placed across BLNG pipeline road canal.

SMART & UBD- Conservation ofpeatland

BIODIVERSITY VALUES: Shorea albida forest around Jalan Badas
EBERHARD F.BRUENIG (1995)“The unique Shorea albida peat swamp forests of Sarawak and Brunei are
possibly the most threatened rainforest formation and ecosystem globallyand may, in Sarawak, disappear within a decade”.

Enrichment Planting
Peat swamp: Plant on edges ofintact forest and in areas ofregenerating forest

Plant species:
Shorea Albida (Alan)
Shorea pachyphylla (Meranti Kerukup)
Dryobalanos rappa (Kapur paya)
5th National Report to the Convention on
Biological Diversity Badas is considered
Critical Habitat with high biodiversity value.
Precious Specie: Shorea Albida (Alan)• Alan is very unique to Borneo. Currently
its facing extinct in Sarawak. Brunei is
now trying to conserve as this plant will
only bear seedlings once and very rare.
• Currently effort is on conserving thisplant where 12 Alan baby are planted• Alan is a water logged plant hence
require water availability to survive.

Community tree planting project area

STI X Livelihood x Women for the sustainable use of peatland and mangrove: Female
empowerment in research and practice through ASEAN-JAPAN Collaboration
14 October 2021

RBFR

NAPC

Evolution of Peat Project
JASTIPKSAA

BRU-NAPC

BSJV

RCND
MAPFIRE2016

2017
2017

HOB, MPRT2018

2018
2018

2019

2019
2018

2019

2019

NDMC

2020

2021

NAPC

2021
2020
2020
JASTIP ICOSICA ASWP20
2020

METRO

29

Peatland Research Journey (3 mins video to summarize the journey)1st Meeting with RBFR January 2017
For Wardah’s FYP project completed April2017

BICTA September 2017 2nd Place winner

17th APICTA (December 2017) Dhaka

FYP 20172018• FYP2017 – Siti Aisyah Hj Jalil• Project title: Prevention of Forest Fire by using
irrigation IOT technology• expand Wardah’s project• Improve algorithm and prototype to include valve• Complete: April 2018

Published and Paper presented:
November 2018
• CIIS 2018, with the title :• Towards Developing a Peatland Prevention System for Brunei
Darussalam• Wardah & Siti Aisyah

Engagement with HOB for Peat projects
Stakeholder increase: HOB by Aug 2018

Awareness & Activities surrounding
Peatland• Mohammad Haziq Waie bin Hussaini, Akmal Haziq bin Haji
Affandy and Namirah binti Yaakuub. Where this video has also
won the recent poster video competition in the 3rd CIIS2018.
• 16 – 18 November 2018

• Video was used as the opening launch video for Bru-NAPC
Dialogue Session 2019

ASEAN IVO 2018 Call for Proposal November
2017 (Radisson hotel, Brunei)

Call for proposal –ASEAN IVO (left) ; ASEAN-ERC(right)

ASEAN IVO 2018: NAPC
Kickoff Meeting in KL

Meeting with NDMC Aug 2018
refine idea of visual IOT

Expansion of the project in 2018
• CGP 2018 : Visual IOT in disaster management• Syam, Hisham and Hazmi• FYP 2018: Visual IOT in peatland mitigation• Muhammad Yusri Haji Yusop• MRP 2018: Transboundary Haze
• MSc students• Mohd Hanif Jumat• Noreffa Nabila Aziz

Sharing and Dissemination ofInformation• 5th JASTIP Symposium 16 – 19 October 2018, Sepang Malaysia• Disaster Risk Reduction & Environmental Sustainability for Social
ResilienceBRU – NAPC Dialogue Session 28 Jan 2019
The 6 local presenters laying out the strong foundation for this session are
1. Tuan Zaeidi Haji Berudin, Forestry Officer from Heart of Borneo,
2. Puan Dk Haryanti Pg Haji Petra, Senior Officer from JASTRE, Dept ofEnvironment, Parks and Recreation,
3. Tuan Muhd Shahreeni Haji Yussof, Senior superintendent from Fire andRescue Dept.
4. Puan Alinayati Haji Perudin, Environmental Affairs Advisor, BLNG
5. Puan Aziah Muhamaad, Technical Officer from Wetland Internationals
representing Brunei Shell Petroleum
6. Dr Alex Cobb Principal Research Scientist from Singapore- MIT Alliancefor Research & Technology on behalf of UBD.

Site Visit and Data Gathering

2 km

3.14kmAdd new members to Bru-NAPCApril 2019
• Dr Rakib (FoE)• Pg Dr Rafidah Pg Petra (FoE)Awareness sessions Aug 2019

Project Exhibition

Transboundary
Haze Meeting inRizqunExhibition
during Hari Belia

Yusri has expand his project by joining BICTA competition

Further Expansion• FYP2019 – Dashboard and LoRa in peatland mitigation• Ak Nur Ikram (CNS-SCI)• PhD2019 – Visual IOT and LORA in disaster mitigation especially forPeatland.
• Muhammad Hanif bin Jumat• From Engineering• Students under Dr Rakib and Dr Rafidah.

Visibility
Opportunities• Award of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Environmental Managementin the Islamic World• Project Title: Mitigating Floods and Fire Hazards in Forestry using
IoT System in Brunei Darussalam• Won 1st Prize under BEST NGO’s Leading Practices• Price ceremony in the 8th Islamic Conference of Environment
Ministers, ISESCO HQ in Rabat, Morocco, 2-3 October 2019.

Sharing Session• 1-4th October as invited speaker• In Mapfire 2019 in IPB university• Signing MOA with IPB on student exchange and project• collaboration• PhD Student supervisors Prof Imas
• Noreffa Nabila – Spatiotemporal Analysis on Source Apportionmentof Transboundary Haze Pollution in Southeast Asia Countries

Publication opportunities• Regional Conference on Natural Disaster 2019 – paper accepted• Paper title: Opportunity in using Visual IoT in the mitigation system
for Peatland area in Brunei Darussalam• The 7th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster(RCND 2019)• 25-26 November 2019, Sunway Putra Hotel, KL , Malaysia

Asean-Japan Science Technologyand Innovation 2020 symposium
17-19 January 2020 (Vietnam)

ICOSICA 2020
September 2020
invited speaker (online)

IDER FORSCHER WEBINAR LECTURE SERIES
MAY 2020• INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR SERIES July 2020

Project Sharing withindustry (shell)

ASEAN IVO 2018 –Smart Environment
NAPC531st Proposed Monitoring System

Option A:
Gateway atnearest mobilecoverage.

Sensor Node Station:
Weather station, lux sensor, waterlevel & soil moisture

LORALORA

Option B:
Gateway at TelBru’s
tower. Need to verify
mobile connection attower

Network Diagram: Brunei

Sensors in Gateway

3G/4G
Network

RSC 3

RSC 1

LoRaWAN Gateway

RSC 4

RSC 2Sensors deployed in LoRaWAN Gateway

Deployment in Remote Sensing Clusters (RSCs)
Sensors and data logger

9370-P [Temperature,Humidity and Pressure
Probe]
9325-P [Luminosity (luxesaccuracy) Probe]WS-3000[(anemometer +wind vane +pluviometer)
probe]

0091940 [In-Situ Rugged
TROLL 200]9255-P [Soil/Water
temperature (Pt-1000) Probe]9323-P [Soil moisture 8 m
Probe 90,00 4 360,00]

LoRaWAN components

LoRaWAN
DeviceStakeholder Involvements• AITI – Signing in April 2019
• DST - Internet connectivity• DST have agreed to sponsor for connectivity
VIA sim.
• Sign 28th August 2019

• LORA – Gateway & knowledge transfer• Sign MOU with ANIAN –LORA• 26th September 2019

Site Visits &Equipment TestingIn House TestingHardware Deployment Discussion with
Ethan from SMART

Next: Insitu (peziometer) integration required

Hardware integration next software integration neededComplete cable connection – Way Forward• All sets assembled• Need to send data withthe same hex file withthe other two data
• Need to email Libellium
to create the hex since
PCS license renewed• Next to get it read to thegateway to the cloud• Deploy to site
Complete hardware integrationfor each nodeComplete hardware integration for each node
INSITU (DATA LOGGER):WATER LEVELLIBELLIUM:
SOIL MOISTURE &TEMPERATURE

LIBELLIUM:
WEATHER STATION

Server: Digital cloud (paid)
Data interval: 10 mins
Display every 6 hrs

Deployed Ground Sensors @ UTB

Deployed at UTB (In-House testing)Plot 2 fence up with the stand pipes for thestation and sensors (10 feet)Plot 1 fence up with the stand pipes for thestation and sensors

Deploy to 4 sectors with 4 sensor node station
Gateway

13

24

Convert as
test module
in UTB

Distance within 2 km away

Deployed Ground Sensors @ LOCATION 3

Deployed at Location 3 (Controlled)

Revisit to check deployed node

BRUNEI - JASTIP-Net
Conservation of Peatland using Sago together
Conservation of Alan (Shorea-Albida)
Can also be attempted as part of green tourism together witheco-tourism (awareness of peatland)Deal with data collected: Expand to collaborate
with Meteorological Department from September
2019Inspire & Aspire
Young researchers to work in
STEM careers

National finalist for ASEAN-US Science Price for
Women 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snkdkEJiWcI
https://scienceprize4women.asean.org/#national-finalists

http://www.utb.edu.bn/dr-wida-represents-brunei-in-the-asean-us-scienceprize-for-women/

Underwriters Laboratories-ASEAN-U.S.
Science Prize for Women 2021.
https://asean.usmission.gov/asean-national-finalists-compete-in-science-prize-for-women-competition/

Engagement

Exposure & AwarenessThank You