The Mangrove Symposium
Report
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　“The International Symposium on Conservation and Wise Use of Mangroves in Southeast Asia” was successfully held on the 6th-10th Oct, 2003 in Bander Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. The Symposium was co-organized by the Forestry Department of Brunei Darussalam, University Brunei Darussalam and Ramsar Center Japan, co-sponsored by Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), Ricoh Co.,Ltd., Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Eighty participants from fifteen countries and region, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, Brunei Darussalam, have actively taken part in the discussion on biodiversity, management, law, environmental education and wise use of mangrove forest.
　

6th Oct., Opening ceremony was held at the Riverview Hotel. On behalf of RCJ, Dr. Tsujii addressed welcome remarks.
Mr. Lei Guangchun, Regional Coodinator for Asia of Ramsar Convention Bureau attended the symposium and made a speech on "Ramsar Convention as the International Instrument for Mangrove Conservation".
Participants visited Selirong Island before the discussion. Mr. Kashio, Regional Forest Officer of FAO guided them.
Trees of this forest are 30-40 M high and 50cm-1.0M wide. Main species of tree is Rhizophora apiculata. Participants were surprised seeing the big mangroves.
32 participants have made presentations, according to the session themes of “Status and Challenges on the Management of Mangrove Forest in Southeast Asia”, “Management Plan of Pulau Selirong Forest Recreation Park” and “Implication of Education for Sustainable Development for Wetlands”.
During the question and answer sessions, all the participants were very active in exchanging their ideas.
8th Oct, there was a session of "Recommendations to Brunei Darussalam". We had discussions on "Administrative Structure and Legal framework", "Facility Development", "Main Activities and Program Operations" and "International and Regional Network". All outputs from the group discussions were adopted as a recommendation.
Closing ceremony.
Mr. Kashio made a speech.



＜Study tour（9th-10th Oct.）＞
Participants visited Bukit Patoi Nature reserve by bus and boat, it took about one hour from Bander Seri Begawan. The call of insects, birds and animals sounded in the forest.
This tree have a big curved, but it is still alive !
We traveled Ulu Temburong National Park by local longboat. The park located at the catchment area the Temburong river that flows down to the Brunei Bay.
There is the nice accommodation in the park. We stayed over night.
Early the next morning, we walked to the canopy walkway.
It’s canopy walkway. We went up the stairs one by one.
It little swung in the wind.
We could see the panoramic view of the rainforest on the top of canopy.