Phnom Penh Post Supplement_environment Week 2009

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Environment Week 2009

01 June 2009

Talking about a green future BENNETT MURRAY

Cambodia’s second annual Environment Week features a range of events designed to encourage Cambodians to look after the world around them

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rench NGO GERES, the French embassy and the French development agency AFD are coordinating Cambodia's second Environment Week, which runs today to Sunday. The week is to feature film screenings at the Institute of Technology, the French Cultural Centre (CCF), Meta House, a display at Wat Phnom and a three-day Eco-Festival at the park east of Wat Botum running from Friday to Tuesday. "The idea is to have one week in the year where we talk about the environment," explained GERES Deputy Director Charlotte Nivollet. "Whoever has something to say about the environment, whoever has experience on how to address the main environmental issues that the human being is facing nowadays." In particular, the coordinators hope to raise environmental awareness amongst the Cambodian population and to promote discussion amongst the country's main environmental actors.

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON Environment week aims to encourage local Cambodians to look after the environment, not trash it like this river in Siem Reap.

The events at Wat Botum park are the centerpiece of Environment Week. Lasting for three days, it will feature a tent complete with the displays of NGOs that deal with the environment. "They can show the general public what they are doing," explained Nivollet. "People can walk around and have a look and discuss with the organisers." The festival will feature a stage where quizzes, role-plays and music acts will take place. "There are lots of songs going on from student groups," explained filmmaker and photographer Allan Michaud, who is organising the eco-festival. Additionally, there will be films shown each night from 6pm to 9:30pm.

The obvious thing is to raise awareness ... rather than have Khmers rely on donors to ... babysit them. Local emphasis According to Michaud, environmental awareness is low in Cambodia. "I think most of the problem in this country is that it just needs people to be aware. Be aware of their own personal problems and issues that they're bringing up." Events such as Environment Week are intended to change these attitudes. "The obvious thing is to raise awareness and try to educate people, rather than have Khmers rely on donors to come in and NGOs to come in to look after them and babysit them. They need to be the ones looking at their environment and trying to take care of it." Michaud hopes to get Cambodia's urban population interested in environmental issues in particular. "My personal aim with doing the big event in Wat Botum park is that we need to target the Phnom Penh audience. They're the ones who actually have some power in the country," he said. "We have all the rural people understanding about their local problems, but if you can get the urban people to understand, particularly the students ... they can take the steps in the future."

Building on success Environment Week originated in 2007 when the French Cultural Centre featured a three-day film festival featuring movies dealing with environmental issues. "It was quite a small event, but it was very successful," Michaud said. Nivollet said the event was then expanded the following year by participants who wanted to do "something bigger" on the environment. "We started by just meeting together and thinking what we could do bigger than all these screenings, and we were thinking of something to reach as many people as possible," she said. With the French embassy taking the lead initiative, the film festival was expanded last September into the first Environment Week with the collaboration of GERES and AFD. "There were a lot of seminars and discussions which aimed at specifically targeted groups of people," said Michaud, adding that this year's event aimed to be much more public. Nivollet stressed that GERES, the French embassy and AFD are coordinating the events, but not organising them. "We are here

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to facilitate the thing and to communicate on the events, but we are not organising the events," she said. "It will be a success only if the participants want it to be a success."

ADB calls for curb on transport emissions in developing countries NATHAN GREEN

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ITHOUT immediate action, the transport

sectors of developing countries will account for the overwhelming share of increased carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, according to a new declaration by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). While developed countries are still responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, emissions from developing countries - particularly in Asia - are growing rapidly. Transport-related carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase 57 percent from 2005 to 2030, with transport sectors in developing countries expected to contribute about 80 percent of this increase, the Bellagio Declaration on Transportation and Climate Change said. Most GHG emissions in the transport sector and virtually all the expected growth in emissions come from private cars and trucks.

Key principles The declaration, which outlines how the transport sectors in developing countries can reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, is the result of a three-day conference in Bellagio, Italy, last month. It calls on governments and the transport industry to embrace a range of key principles. These include reducing the need for travel through better integration of land use and transport; more effective use of carbon finance mechanisms to fund sustainable transport policies; and recognition of the benefits of low-carbon transport in reducing the local air pollution, noise, congestion and road accidents that define many urban areas. "The Bellagio Meeting will greatly help ADB to develop its Sustainable Transport Initiative, which aims to help Asian countries change their transport investment patterns and secure a low-carbon, sustainable transport future," WooChong Um, Director of ADB's Energy, Transport and Water Division said in a media statement. The Bellagio meeting, which was held in mid-May, was organised by the ADB and the Clean Air Institute, and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. It also helped build consensus on how transport sector policies must be reflected in the upcoming UN Climate Change discussions in Copenhagen in December, the media statement said.

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Government inaction worsens climate threat ELEANOR AINGE ROY

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HE threat of climate change is gradually making its way to the top of policymakers agenda's worldwide, but in Cambodia such action is proving slower to catch on. But with 85 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people living in rural areas and largely relying on the land for their survival, according to United Nations estimates, the issue could soon be a critical one. What will these people do if the land begins to revolt? GERES, an environmental NGO, released a climate change awareness report in March that showed that 85 percent of Cambodian people are already beginning to see the effects of climate change. The report cited "unprecedented occurrences of pests, unseasonable rains, droughts and floods" in many areas of Cambodia and said these exacerbated the difficulties faced by people reliant on agricultural systems for their livelihood.

Photo by: Tracey Shelton Around 85 percent of Cambodians depend on the land, putting them very much in harm’s way when it comes to climate change.

"People speak of the increase in temperature, the irregularity of the wet and dry season, and the growing prevalence of floods and droughts," said Nop Polin, national climate change awareness coordinator in GERES's Climate Change Unit. "However, one of the main challenges in the battle against climate change in Cambodia is that most people don't know why these changes are occurring. They don't understand the term climate change or any of the causes - such as smoke and deforestation. Without understanding the scientific links they don't care about things like cutting down the forest." According to the report, 61 percent of people interviewed stated they were "very concerned" about climate change, and 97 percent of those that had heard of climate change said they believed they would be affected.

The most important thing is for people to start taking individual responsibility by choosing to change. However as an indication of the low level of detailed knowledge concerning climate change, most respondents to the GERES survey viewed climate change as a localised issue. Ing Heng, deputy dean of the faculty of science at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, has seen firsthand the changes documented in the GERES report. "The changes taking place day-to-day are not very noticeable," he said. "But if we look back 20 or 30 years, old people will tell you the weather was different then. Young people today don't appreciate the difference because they don't know what it used to be like here."

Worse to come But these changes being noted across the land are just the beginning. According to the UN Development Programme's Environmental and Energy Team Leader Lay Khim, if Cambodia fails to respond swiftly to the threat of climate change it faces the possibility of sea level rises of 20 to 60 centimetres by the end of the century, an increase in malaria and other waterborne diseases, acute water shortages and a shortage of clean water. Lay Khim is adamant that the Cambodian government must start preparing more long-term strategies to deal with the looming threat of climate change and prioritise communication with development agencies and NGOs. Climate change needs to be addressed as a development issue, he said, and co-operation between government departments - such as health, environment and agricultural - is crucial. "We need to get serious about long-term policy planning," he said. "Scientists are aware of the threat but we don't yet know how big it is, and it's very important to start preparing the mindset of the population today, and also investigating investment options in technology, in information, in capacity building to prepare communities for the changes that will come."

Government action The Ministry of Environment established its own climate change unit in 2006, but many experts are concerned that with only seven full-time employees its capacity is too limited. Nop Polin was also concerned the unit was not focused enough on awareness raising and was worried about political interference in environmental concerns.

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"Deforestation is one of our major concerns but it is very hard to talk about it - even people from the Ministry of Environment find it hard to talk about - because it involves high-ranked people doing such things," he said. "In our reports we just recommend re-forestation - instead of explicitly criticising deforestation." Ing Heng criticises the climate change unit for being ‘all talk, no action' though he concedes that their resources are too limited to do any substantial good. Lay Khim called for the unit to expand and better support the development partners starting to take an interest in Cambodia's environmental issues and provide technical support to the industrial sectors to integrate climate change policies into their business plans. "I envision over the next two to three years there will be more and more demands on this office to provide more co-ordination, better information sharing and better support of development partners," he said. "At its current capacity it will not be able to provide these services." In the face of growing acknowledgement of the threat of climate change, NGOs working in the sector are finding there skills and knowledge in demand. For instance, GERES has lately had requests for carbon audits from Phnom Penh hospitality business the FCC, the British Embassy and UNDP. It has also had over 100 applicants apply for a training course on climate change it will run in July. But for Ing Heng, a lack of money to implement the programs required to address the impacts of global warming means it is ultimately down to individuals to make the changes needed for their own families and communities. "Cambodia is a poor country and it doesn't have much money to spend on climate change," he said. "Rural people care for the forests, they care for the land, but at the moment they are too poor to look after it properly. People in the cities have a high knowledge of climate change - but they are not doing anything. "The most important thing is for people to start taking individual responsibility by choosing to change."

Cambodia trip can be carbon heavy for careless travellers BENNETT MURRAY

Buying locally is one way for tourists to reduce carbon footprint, an an oportunity exists for businesses looking to cash in on conscience

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ambodia's level of carbon emissions are relatively small at less than 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per capita per year,

but as the tourism industry grows, so does the rate of carbon emissions. According to GERES Climate Change Unit Manager Minh Cuong Le Quan, tourism directly affects climate change on two accounts. "One is direct emissions from the travel of the tourists," he said, with air travel making a particularly high contribution. According to the Lonely Planet, a couple flying from London to New York adds 2.68 tonnes of CO2 to their carbon footprint, or over a quarter of the average UK household's yearly emissions. As tourists visit restaurants and hotels, and travel between them, they also add to domestic consumption of fossil fuels, further adding to Cambodia's total greenhouse gas emissions, Le Quan said.

The first thing to do is take an honest look at one’s own practices. But there are also additional, more subtle ways that tourism increases Cambodia's energy consumption, he added, as tourists maintain their first world, high-consumption lifestyles. "People tend to take showers the same way and take baths the same way they would in the West or Northeast Asia," Le Quan offered as an example.

Steps to reduce footprints Le Quan suggested ways that tourists can lessen their carbon footprint. "The first thing to do is take an honest look at one's own practices," he said. "This begins by using the least-polluting modes of transportation." According to Le Quan, economy class seats are two times less polluting than business class seats on airlines, and three times less polluting than first class. He also recommended staying in "environment friendly" hotels, though recognised this could be difficult in Camboida due to an absence of any specific "climate friendly" labels.

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However, a number of hotels and restaurants have already gone beyond the usual eco-friendly standards, he said, including properties owned by the FABS Group and the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. It is also more environmentally friendly to buy Cambodian-made products and crafts instead of imports, and tourists can also give money to carbon offset programs, which GERES is involved with. "The idea is good," said Le Quan, but added that potential donors look carefully at the organisations they are giving money to, pointing out that many are for-profit businesses.

Getting off easy Some critics of carbon offsetting have compared such donations to the payment for papal pardons. "This is a valid criticism," Le Quan said. "If you just keep going your own way and just offset because you've got money to spend on it and want to feel good about it, that's a pardon." Instead, he suggests reducing consumption before paying for offsets. To Le Quan, adopting climate friendly practices is an opportunity for businesses. "It's an opportunity to the structure of companies to answer to the new economy which is emerging this century, which is socially and environmentally responsible," he said.

Walking a fine line in ecotourism STEPHANIE MEE

While income generated by ecotourism has the potential to help preserve wilderness areas and sustain villages, not all 'ecotourism' businesses are living up to their responsibilities

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ith more than 43,000 square kilometres of protected forests, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and marine ecosystems, Cambodia has tremendous opportunities for ecotourism. While ecotourism ventures are on the rise across the Kingdom, the line between what helps and what harms the environment - and the definition of ecotourism itself - is blurry. For example, an environmental impact assessment report on a company given a land concession in Kandal province to build an ecotourism site concluded the work would pollute and destroy the habitats of both humans and animals. The line is further blurred with authorised constructions in protected areas and the forcible displacement of locals to create room for tourism ventures which claim to be eco-friendly.

Cycling in the Chambok Community Based Ecotourism Site. Courtesy Mlup Baitong

So how does one differentiate between legitimate ecotourism and tourism for mere economic gain? In 1990, the International Ecotourism Society defined ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people". In principle, ecotourism has minimal environmental impact, uses recycling and efficient sources of energy, conserves water and wildlife, and promotes sustainability within local communities. It requires the informed consent of local communities to use their land or territory, respects local culture, creates jobs for local people and benefits local economies. According to Janet Newman, owner of the eco-friendly Rainbow Lodge in Koh Kong province, there are two main types of ecotourism in Cambodia: community based ecotourism (CBET) and private sector ecotourism. In 1997, CBET was defined as tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account, she said. "It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life," Newman said. She said private sector ecotourism should try to emulate this definition. A particularly good example of CBET in Cambodia is a site next to Kirirom National Park in Kampong Speu province. The Chambok Community Based Ecotourism Site was created in 2001 by Mlup Baitong, a local Cambodian NGO devoted to environmental education and natural resource management, and a member of the Cambodia CBET Network. The site boasts guided nature trails to a 40-metre-high waterfall, bird watching, traditional oxcart rides and homestays with local villagers. All revenues stay in the community and are used in part to conserve the forest.

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View from hut at Rainbow Lodge, Koh Kong. STEPHANIE MEE

Waterfall, Chambok. Courtesy Mlup Baitong

Project Coordinator Prak Thearith said before 2001 there was a lot of illegal hunting and logging in the area and the people were poor. "We wanted to provide the villagers with income and encourage them not to destroy the environment," Prak Thearith said. "For example, using ox-carts and drivers to transport tourists instead of illegal timber, or training hunters to be nature guides instead of hunting rare animals." Today, income in the village has increased, literacy rates are up, infrastructure has improved, and the villagers are almost entirely self-sufficient. And villagers have an incentive to preserve the forest rather than deplete it. Private sector tourism in Cambodia is also on the rise, notably with the huge successes of Rainbow Lodge in Koh Kong province and Yaklom Hill Lodge in Ratanakkiri province. "I would say the potential for this kind of tourism market in Cambodia is very high, considering the abundant resources," said Sompong Sritatera, manager of Yaklom Hill Lodge. But he warns many people abuse the word ecotourism to promote their business, with little or no background knowledge. "For example, some people think that when you come to Ratanakiri, anything you have done here is ‘ecotourism'," he said. "Same for some business owners that market their place as offering ecotourism activities without even knowing the basics of it." Both Sompong Sritatera and Newman agreed that while ecotourism has the potential to grow in Cambodia, it will be difficult to implement properly unless people take steps to preserve the environment and local cultures rather than simply profit from Cambodia's natural resources. "I do believe that there is a certain amount of will on behalf of the government to endorse and embrace ecotourism," said Newman. "Good examples of this are the mangrove walkway at Peam Krasop wildlife sanctuary and the ranger stations at Thma Bang and Chipat, all in Koh Kong province. "However, many of these projects have been set up by organisations like Wildlife Alliance and Conservation International." Newman said the future of successful ecotourism in Cambodia lay in education and awareness.

The mangrove walkway at Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, Koh Kong. STEPHANIE MEE

"We must ensure that Khmer people themselves understand the importance of such projects and see that some benefit will be passed on to them and their community," she said. "This comes from education, not only of those in the field, but also education at an early stage at schools of the importance of the forests and rivers. "Only if we can persuade the government and the people that there is a benefit to them in environmental and wildlife preservation will it ever happen. "Therefore, the more people that insist on and support eco-friendly ventures, the more this message will filter through."

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Government efforts to say forest coverage up slammed as greenwash by global NGO BENNETT MURRAY

Other natural resources also at risk of exploitation as Cambodia’s forests are decimated

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ECENT government claims that Cambodia is nearing its Millennium Development Goal of maintaining 60 percent of forest coverage by 2010 have been dismissed by environmental groups concerned over uncontrolled exploitation of the precious resource. According to the Ministry of Agriculture's annual report released in April, more than 6 million trees were planted in Cambodia between 2004 and 2008, and Forestry Administration Director Ty Sokhun said that number is set to increase. "We will grow and distribute 10 million trees to people throughout the country ... and encourage tree planting on 10,000 hectares of land," he told the Post in April. UK-based NGO Global Witness, a frequent critic of the the Cambodian government over its environmental record, hotly contests the claim. "Investigative work by Global Witness over the last decade has revealed widespread illegal exploitation of natural resources in Cambodia and a worrying lack of transparency at the highest levels," Global Witness campaigner Eleanor Nichol said in an email. In 2007, Global Witness published a report "Cambodia's Family Tree" - that exposed toplevel corruption in resource harvesting and was subsequently banned in Cambodia.

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON This forest on the border of Virachey National Park has just been cleared in this file photo taken earlier this year.

FOREST coverage TOTAL FOREST:  1990 – 12,946,000 ha  2000 – 11,541,000 ha  2005 – 10,447,000 ha PRIMARY FOREST:  1990 – 766,000 ha  2000 – 456,000 ha  2005 – 322,000 ha SOURCE: FAO

It alleged that Cambodia's logging industry is heavily intertwined with the government via family and other personal connections and recommended that Cambodia's judicial authorities investigate the activities of Ty Sokhun and Chan Sarun, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. "Cambodia's most powerful logging syndicate is led by relatives of Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials," the report said.

The same political elite who squandered the country’s timber resources are now ... managing its mineral and petroleum wealth. A recent report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation also highlights the gap between government claims and the reality in the country's forests. According to the report, Cambodia's primary tropical forest coverage fell 29 percent between 2000 and 2005 from 456,000 to 322,000 hectares. In 1990, Cambodia had 766,000 hectares of primary forest, the report said. Global Witness said the real losses may be higher, as artificial plantations may sometimes be counted as natural forests in surveys. "Plantations are not natural and have few if any of the ecosystem benefits provided by natural forests," Nichol said. "They are, in effect, agricultural crops. The inclusion of plantations in forest cover assessments can mask a decline in natural forest cover if plantations are on the increase."

Hit from both ends But not all of Cambodia's deforestation is driven by powerful Cambodians, said Mathieu Van Rijn, the manager of the forestry unit at GERES, a French environmental NGO.

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Part of the problem was rural farmers who make and sell charcoal in order to supplement their incomes during the dry season, he said. "You have to think about people who have almost no income during a certain period of time [each] year," he said, adding that GERES was working in rural areas to encourage sustainable charcoal production. To do so, GERES has encouraged Cambodians to use the Yoshimuru Kiln to produce charcoal, which requires 30 percent less wood than traditional kilns, and to cook using the new Lao stove, which burns up to 22 percent less fuel than traditional stoves. "You try to lower demand, and on the other side you try to supply what is needed in the new situation," Van Rijn said. As GERES helps Cambodians to reduce their consumption of wood, Global Witness (which has been barred from Cambodia since 2005) continues to maintain that the greatest threat to Cambodian forests lies in government sanctioned, illegal logging schemes and other illegal land concessions. But according to its February report "Country For Sale", the problem of corruption in allocating natural resource concessions isn't limited to timber. "The same political elite who squandered the country's timber resources are now responsible for managing its mineral and petroleum wealth," the report said. "Like high-value timber, these resources are a one-off opportunity. Once they are gone, they are gone forever." At least six out of 23 protected areas in Cambodia had some form of mining activity as of February 2009, Global Witness said. One, Mondulkiri province, has had 282,700 hectares, or 21 percent its protected area, allocated to mining concessions. The Cambodian embassy in the UK issued a press release in response to the report accusing Global Witness of "pursuing a malicious campaign to try and discredit the country and its leaders" and insisted that the government was handling its resources responsibly. "The Government is working hard to establish a sound and comprehensive framework governing the extractive industries," it said. "These will reflect best practice and be based on the principles of transparency and accountability." Given the government's track record, Nichol said action needed to be taken by donor governments. "If Cambodia's donors want the country's natural resources to be managed in a way which benefits the Cambodian people, then they must confront highlevel corruption which underpins the sector," Nichol's said. "At a minimum, they must link all non-humanitarian aid to reforms that will make the government more accountable to the country's citizens. They can start by insisting that a credible anti-corruption law - which the government has been stalling for over a decade now - is passed immediately."

Bright idea gives light relief BENNETT MURRAY

An NGO aims to reduce the use of expensive and environmentally damaging kerosene lanterns by distributing LED replacements in rural Cambodia

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NEW initiative by French environmental NGO GERES aims to shine a light on energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint in rural areas from inefficient kerosene lanterns. GERES Village Entrepreneur Supervisor Narein Sourn said the lack of a national power grid meant people in rural villages usually relied on kerosene lanterns for nighttime illumination, which was bad on many levels. "The kerosene lamp is not good for the environment, and [villagers] spend much money to buy kerosene," he said. It costs bewteen 200 and 400 riels to keep a lantern burning on kerosene for four to five hours, she said. As an alternative, GERES has introduced longer-lasting, cleaner LED (light-emitting diode) lanterns to the countryside at the same price that villagers currently pay to run a kerosene lantern.

The lantern has now become a tool to empower households. GERES rents the lanterns to central village operators, who in turn charge villagers 300 riels a night to rent the lanterns. The lanterns can operate 12 hours a night for five days before the battery needs recharging. At the end of the five-day period, the villagers return the battery to

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the village operator and are given a new one. The distributor then recharges the battery with a diesel-powered car battery and rents it out again.

01 June 2009

Photo by: Bennett Murray GERES Village Entrepreneur Supervisor Narein Sourn shows off a rechargeable lantern.

GERES Eco Business Development Manager Ruben Mahendran estimated that the village distributor can make $45 a month in profit from the rentals. Whereas villagers will typically burn 250 mililitres of kerosene a week with traditional lanterns, the LED lantern batteries only require 12.5mL of diesel to keep them charged for a week. Furthermore, the LED lights do not expose the entire household to indoor pollution from the toxic fumes. The flammable kerosene also poses a fire hazard to rural homes. GERES hopes to use solar power in the future to make the system truly environmentally friendly.

Not just green In addition to the increased efficiency of LED lanterns, they also provide better lighting than kerosene lanterns, making it easier for students to study at night, according to Narein Sourn. "Children cannot study very well with the kerosene, because the lamp is not bright enough," he said. "People can also work later into the night on economic activities such as weaving, silk-making and fishing." GERES has run the project as a pilot program in five villages in Kandal province and has thus far distributed 300 lanterns. "The lantern has now become a tool to empower households," Mahendran said. GERES has also been conducting market research in Kampong Chhnang with the intention of expanding the project. In the future, GERES hopes to make a profit from the rentals that can in turn be invested in further rural development projects.