Hairy-nosed otters patrolling the mangroves in the Temburong River. Pic by Dr Alastair Driver.

The High Commission helped arrange a lecture at University Brunei Darussalam (UBD) in October 2008. The lecture was presented by Dr Alastair Driver, a National Conservation Manager at UK’s Environment Agency. While in Brunei, Dr Driver also held informal talks with the Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources on Brunei's Biodiversity plan under the Heart of Borneo.

The following is an extract of his talk at UBD titled Managing floods and biodiversity on a crowded and shrinking island.

The Environment Agency is at the forefront of adaptation to climate change in England and Wales through, for example, fluvial and coastal flood risk management, water resource management, and the enhancement of biodiversity.

This presentation examines how the Agency and its key partners are working ever more closely together to create and restore sustainable wildlife habitats through its £650M per annum flood risk management programme.

National government targets for habitat creation through flood risk management have driven a move from spasmodic opportunistic projects to the development of regional habitat creation programmes which require a strategic approach to the acquisition and management of land for flood risk management and biodiversity purposes.

In parallel, a multi-organisation 50 year Wetland Vision has been published in 2008 to provide a comprehensive GIS tool for identifying the suitability of potential locations for different types of wetland habitat, taking into account various constraints, including the availability of water.

This presentation also illustrates best practice case examples of large scale wetland creation aligned to urban flood defence schemes and of coastal managed realignment schemes which not only compensate for the losses of habitat through coastal squeeze, but also facilitate additional habitat creation for the benefit of wildlife and people.