KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan is expected to officiate at a webinar on ‘Future-Proofing Sarawak Forestry through Sustainability’ on Feb 15.
Awang Tengah, who is also the Second Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development will be delivering a keynote address at the webinar.
The webinar to be held from 2pm to 6pm, will be hosted by Control Union (CU) Malaysia, a global leader in forest certification, and aims to bring together all relevant forestry stakeholders to review and analyse key challenges facing the sector and ways to address these.
It is also being hosted in collaboration with Forest Department Sarawak (FDS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Malaysia, Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and Malaysia HR Forum.
Apart from that, the webinar aims to facilitate the exchange of views and experiences on all aspects of forests and forestry-based certifications, which may lead to the formulation of broad recommendations applicable at national and regional levels.
The event also provides an opportunity to produce an overview of the sector, in order to discern trends, adapt policies, create awareness in decision-makers, and influence public opinion.
Given the high number of participants expected, it intends to be a valuable forum for strengthening the role of forests in general as well as in the context of critical environmental, economic, and social issues, also taking into account the developments in the global sustainable development agenda in Future-Proofing Sarawak Forestry Industry.
In addition, the webinar will include half a day of online sessions including keynote and plenary addresses, as well as a panel discussion.
Plenary addresses will feature both research-based talks featuring prominent scientists, and more pragmatic, real-world presentations featuring prominent practitioners or policymakers from industry, government, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Among the plenary speakers are Forest Department Sarawak (FDS) deputy director (Forest Management) Abang Ahmad Abang Morni, CU Malaysia general manager Supun Nigamuni, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) country manager Charmaine Chee, Malaysia Timber Certification Council (MTCC) chief executive officer Siti Syaliza Mustapha, Malaysia HR Forum co-founder Arulkumar Singaraveloo, Sarawak Timber Association (STA) chief executive officer Annie Ting and WWF Malaysia head of conservation Sarawak Dr Jason Hong.
Those interested in attending the webinar can do so by registering at the link provided: https://forms.controlunion.com/view.php?id=333771.
For further enquiries, contact CU development manager Jocelyn How at 012-7059975 or email jocelynhow@controlunion.com, or CU (Bintulu) auditor cum marketing person Franklin Emang at 019-8753343 or email franklinemang@controlunion.com.
