3 August 2021 (Tuesday) – The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA), Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and The Habitat Foundation co-organised ‘Mass Flowering of the Malaysian Rainforest’ webinar on 30 July 2021.

The webinar was held to share interesting research findings on mass flowering as well as to highlight strategies and activities undertaken by various agencies and organisations to ensure the production of mass planting materials for forest conservation and restoration.

Ismail as the moderator of the webinar.	The list of topics by respective speakers.

The session was the second series of webinars in conjunction with Greening Malaysia: The 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign 2021-2025. Over 1,200 participants from several countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Australia joined the webinar which was held simultaneously via Zoom and FB Live.

“I hope the findings obtained through the various studies presented during this webinar would shed some light on the issues and challenges as well as opportunities related to making plant materials available for forest restoration and conservation projects,” said FRIM Director General Dr Ismail Parlan in his opening remarks. Ismail also served as the moderator of this webinar.

The webinar promotional poster.	Kapur tree crown laden with fruits during the mass flowering phenomenon.

The interesting topics of presented were:

1. ‘Pattern of flowering in Peninsular Malaysia’s forest: Trend over a 30-year period’ by Nashatul Zaimah Noor Azman, Head of Seed Technology Laboratory, FRIM;
2. ‘Seeds collection for ecosystem restoration’ – Mohd. Rizal Sabran, Head of Section, Planting Material Technology, Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia;
3. ‘General flowering of tropical forest and its implication to forestry in Sabah’ – Dr Reuben Nilus, Head of Forest Ecosystem Management Research Programme, Sabah Forestry Department;
4. ‘Managing source of planting materials in governing Sarawak’s greening programme’ – Zarina Shebli, Assistant Director, Restoration and Industrial Forest Division (RIFD), Forest Department Sarawak;
5. ‘Community-powered conservation: A voluntary dipterocarp seed project’ – Afzan Abdul Aziz, Project Manager for Elmina Rainforest Knowledge Centre, Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre; and
6. ‘NGO role towards greening programme through CEPA’ – Prof. Dr Ahmad Ismail, President of the, Malaysian Nature Society.