Environment Focus for UNDP

Khmer Times
Tin Sokhavuth

(Photo: ©UNDP Cambodia)

Monday’s World Environment Day was recognized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) when the organization’s headquarters in Cambodia issued a press release outlining the importance of environmental protection in the Kingdom.

“To attain environmental sustainability and sustain Cambodia’s path to development, it is therefore more than timely that the government has recently decided to initiate an environmental governance reform,” said the press release.

The Environmental Code and the National Environment Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) are being developed by the government and many stakeholders such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UNDP. The draft of this law and regulation is planned to be finished at the end of 2016.

According to the UNDP, the NESAP will be a legal framework and policy to tackle environmental issues to support sustainable development. This framework will also detail legal provisions protecting natural resources and wildlife, reducing the danger of climate change, promoting the use of environmentally friendly energy and building cities without pollution.

The NESAP will help the Kingdom achieve its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established last year, seven of which concern environmental issues such as “promoting sustainable use of natural resources, combating climate change and building sustainable cities.”

Sao Sopheap, spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, said the NESAP will help to solve environmental problems that hinder development in Cambodia – farmers in Battambang are now in debt after their crops were destroyed by drought, while flooding has ravaged villages in Kampot province, Mr. Sopheap said.

“Our Ministry is working with many stakeholders such as the UNDP and ADB to draft this environment code. We hope to finish the draft at the end of this year. The main goal of the law is to strengthen and preserve natural resources and to solve problems of pollution,” said Mr. Sopheap.

However, the UNDP said the practical implementation of the NESAP’s legal framework and policies regarding environmental problems will depend in part on human factors and financial resources.

“Effective enforcement of environmental laws and policies depends on the development of adequate technical and financial skills in relevant government institutions,” read the UNDP statement.

According to the UNDP, the degradation of forests, land, water, wildlife and biodiversity affects the lives of those living in rural areas whose lives depend on wood for fuel, crops and fish, especially women living in rural areas.

The UNDP added that Cambodia is among the countries most affected by climate change in the world. The Kingdom is especially susceptible to droughts and floods, with the heat-wave and drought this year one of the worst in the country in decades.

Flooding in 2013 affected two million Cambodians in 20 provinces with damages estimated upwards of $700 million.

The UNDP’s statement also said the increased demand for energy in Cambodia quickens the rate of its resource depletion. Wood is the country’s primary fuel source, with an annual 5.5 million ton demand, according to the Group of Environment, Renewable Energy and Solidarity.

The growth of urban areas that lack proper waste-disposal infrastructure is also in part to blame for the Kingdom’s increased pollution of the environment, the statement adds.

Pavit Ramachandran, Senior Environment Specialist at the ADB, said the rapid development in Cambodia, whose annual GDP growth topped 7.5 percent since 1998, is also a factor that threatens Cambodia’s natural resources.

“I think the distinction of ‘grow first and clean up later’ is an artificial distinction, and in the case of Cambodia it doesn’t hold true,” said Mr. Ramachandran.

He added that according to the World Bank, roughly 75 percent of Cambodians rely directly on agriculture or fishing for their livelihoods. It is therefore essential for the government to ensure these resources are protected.