Associate Professor Dr Sang-Ho Yun and his team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore came for their first visit and fieldwork recently. The visit was also joined by Dr Hao Tang from National University of Singapore (NUS) and Dr Alex Cobb from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) as part of a new collaboration with UBD’s Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (IBER) and the Brunei Forestry Department on a research project entitled “New Techniques for Monitoring Carbon Stock and Flux in Southeast Asia using Spaceborne SAR and LiDAR Observations”.
Working with the team at IBER led by Associate Professor Dr Rahayu Sukri, this project aims to develop and automate new remote sensing techniques to quantify tropical peatland carbon stocks and changes in these ecosystems. The team will utilise remote sensing approaches via InSAR and LiDAR, coupled with ground truthing of aboveground biomass, peat parameters quantification and subsidence measurements, in Brunei’s peat swamps.
IBER plays a major role in helping UBD and Brunei Darussalam achieve one of the United Nations Sustainability Goals (SDG). Goal 15 calls for the protection, restoration and promotion of sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, and halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss.