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Workshop
Looks at Environment Strategies
For
the past two years, a team at the Ministry of
Environment has been analyzing climate change and
making an inventor of greenhouse gases in hopes of
minimizing their adverse effects.
The
project, funded by the UN, hasn’t been easy.
“In
other countries, you could go to other departments and
pick up data pollution, meteorology and so on, “said
Tin Ponlok, national project coordinator for the
Ministry of Environment.
Here
“data management is very poor, if not nonexistent,
“he said. The project’s staff has had to start
from scratch in many cases and generate primary data.
But
the government is hoping its dedication to improving
the environment will make up for its lack of resources
and knowledge in trying to secure UN funding for
similar projects.
“We
still have a lot to do in the field of environment,“
Environment Minister Mok Mareth told UN
representatives Wednesday at the opening of a four-day
workshop on the UN’s Global Environment Facility
program, which funds projects in developing countries.
More
than 100 people from various government ministries,
international agencies, NGOs and the private sector
have gathered to discuss how Cambodia’s environment
goals fit within the GEF project requirements.
The
benefits to Cambodia could be huge. As of July 2000,
the GEF’s reserves topped $3.1 billion. Cambodia is
one of 50 developing countries where GEF officials are
meeting over three years to discuss coordinating
future environmental projects, said Ton Boon von
Ochsee, GEF country relations manager.
It
takes commitment on the part of a government for
discussions, he said. “Cambodia ha implemented a lot
of strategies,†| 
