OPENING SPEECH DATO DR. ABD. LATIF MOHMOD DIRECTOR GENERAL FRIM. Workshop of Tropical Tree Response to Climate Change. 29 Feb 2 March 2012

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1 OPENING SPEECH DATO DR. ABD. LATIF MOHMOD DIRECTOR GENERAL FRIM Workshop of Tropical Tree Response to Climate Change 29 Feb 2 March 2012 Venue: Morinda Meeting Room Dr. Naoki Tani, Senior Research Officer, Forestry Division JIRCAS Dr. Norwati Muhammad, Director of Forestry Biotechnology Division, FRIM, Distinguished guests, Invited speakers, Esteemed researchers Ladies and gentlemen, A very good morning to all of you. It is my pleasure to bid you all a warm welcome to this Workshop of Tropical Tree Response to Climate Change. We are honoured to jointly organize this workshop with our Japanese counterparts namely JIRCAS, JST and JICA. I was meet to understand that this workshop is held under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), which is a program that

2 promotes international cooperation in science and technology, and encouraging innovation in resolving global issues, in this case, climate change. This workshop is aims to provide a platform for scientists from selected universities and research institutions from Japan and Malaysia to discuss the feasibility study, in the pursuit of developing new research methods to minimize extinction risk of woody species, in particular Dipterocarpacea, by investigating the effect of climate change. It is our hope that through the discussion, sharing of information and exchange of ideas during the workshop, strategic research plans will be formulated that will lead to findings with significant impacts in mitigating the effects of climate change, not just in Malaysia but throughout the regions, besides generating new knowledge in science and technology. Ladies and gentlemen, Ever since the notion of ice ages introduced by Louis Agassiz in the 1830s, it has been generally accepted that the prehistoric climates differed markedly from the present. And studies on tree rings, pollen, ancient corals, fossils of plants and animals, bubbles trapped in ice cores and etc have lent evidence to the inevitable threat of global warming. In fact, climate change due to global warming leading to negative impacts on food security, extreme

3 weather patterns and sea level rise is deemed one of the most serious threats to humankind in the 21 st century. Apart from loss due to human activities and land use, biodiversity can also be succumbed to the effect caused by climate change, whereby the composition and geographic distribution of forest ecosystems change as a result of species adaptation to new environmental conditions. There are still many uncertainties about the effect of rising temperature on biodiversity, especially in the tropics. To date, most of the studies on the adaptation of forest ecosystem involved species from the temperate region. Information on the pattern of response of tropical flora and fauna to climatic change is relatively scarce. Recent predictions indicate that many lowland tropical taxa might not be able to cope with even modest temperature increases. It has been reported that for those plant species with low potential migration rates owing to short seed dispersal distances, such as Fagaceae and Dipterocarpaceae, the vulnerability might be acute. Therefore it is high time for us to be proactive in carrying out more concerted research which not only fill the gap in the understanding of the function of tropical ecosystems and their adaptation to changing environmental conditions, but transpire to technology development, with the

4 ultimate goal of safeguarding the rich tropical biodiversity before it diminishes. Ladies and gentlemen, FRIM is taking climate change research and development seriously by capacity building and enhancing technology transfer through collaborations with local and international agencies/research institution. As deliberate mitigation approaches are also required to reduce the substantial increase in the concentration of Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) manifested as the cause of the measurable global warming and climate change; FRIM has been very much involved in implementing forest tree planting programme covering 25,000 ha per year for 15 years; as part of a national forest plantation programme undertaken specifically to sequester carbon and nationwide tree adoption initiatives covering 750 ha/year with private agencies. These tree planting programmes for example, contributes to the sequestration of of 4.8 million tons of CO 2 annually resulting to a reduction of 10% of Malaysia s carbon intensity; mainly generated from the transportation and, oil and gas industries. FRIM campus itself amid a total area of ha, an average density of 3,601 tree per ha, and Shanon BioDiversity Index of (considerably rich in

5 biodiversity with the natural lowland and hill forests), can stock up to 49,500 tons of C annually and contributes to the sequestration of 181,350 tons of CO 2 per annum. Therefore it is also prudent that we enhance the storage of carbon by restoring or establishing forest plantation to reduce green house gasses being emitted to minimize the impact from climate change as well as to conserve our mega-biodiversity. Ladies and gentleman, Allow me to express our sincere appreciation to our Japanese counterparts from JIRCAS and FFPRI for their endeavour in carrying out related research in collaboration, sharing their expertise and contributing to our capacity building in the latest technology. Last but not least, I would like to extend a special thanks to the organizing committee headed by Dr. Naoki Tani for their untiring efforts in putting this workshop together. To all participants, I hope you will benefit from this workshop and enjoyed your excursion to Semangkok Forest Reserve yesterday and to the visitors from overseas, I wish you a pleasant and memorable stay in Malaysia.

6 Last but not least, let us make a difference for a better future for the generations to come. Thank you. Dato Dr Abd Latif Mohmod FRIM Director-General