Environment in

Cambodia
Individual Assignment

Name: Kien Forcefidele

Lecturer: Mr. Tep Samnang

Academic Year:
2006~2007

Newton Thilay School -1- Teacher: Tep Samnang

INTRODUCTION
I write this article to talk about the environment in Cambodia which is
becoming polluted from day to day every year. Otherwise, I would like to
inform that the environment is very essential to all of the living things
especially the people themselves. If the environment becomes all polluted,
the people and all other living things even the organisms will have diseases
and die after the pollution gets overall their bodies.

Newton Thilay School -2- Teacher: Tep Samnang

SUMMARY
Environment is the world around us and it is very important. In some
countries in the world, the environment is being polluted – for example,
China, Japan, the United States, Cambodia, etc. Some countries have found
the solution to solve the environment problem already, but some countries
haven’t found yet. Like in Cambodia, the environment is getting very worse
everyday. People throw garbage and litter everywhere they want without
respecting the morality and the law of the country. Furthermore, some
people even dare to cut down trees in the forest to sell to abroad in order to
get their own benefits. The government doesn’t seem to care much about this
problem, and let people do as they want. They don’t considerate about the
bad results which will affect on them. They will become sick, because of the
pollution. There will be many natural disasters such as drought, flood, etc.

On the other hands, if we protect our environment, we will get many good
benefits. We will keep our country clean, and then we all will have good
health. Moreover, the tourism in our country will be improved. Many
tourists will come to our country, and the government will have many
benefits from those tourists that can allow the government to develop the
country to be a developed country like other countries in the world like the
United States. Otherwise, the people who live around the tourism places will
get much money by selling things or opening a restaurant, etc. This is just a
small part. Thus, the people and the government must co-operate together to
protect our environment.

Newton Thilay School -3- Teacher: Tep Samnang

CONTENT
ƒ Meaning of environment and environment in Cambodia…1

ƒ Factories Factor……………………………………………...1

ƒ The trees in Cambodia………………………………………2

ƒ Bad Effects from Losing The Trees in the Forests…………...3

ƒ Wildlife and Fish in Cambodia……………………………...4

ƒ Depth of Tonle Sap Lake…………………………………….5

ƒ Using Chemical Substances on Fruits and Vegetables……...5

ƒ People polluted the Environment…………………………...6

ƒ Effect on The Tourism...............................................................7

ƒ Strategies to Protect the Environment in Cambodia………..7

ƒ Conclusion…………………………………………………..8

Newton Thilay School -4- Teacher: Tep Samnang

 Environment in Cambodia Must Be Protected
Environment is everything around us, including the water, land, weather, etc.
We separate the environment into two parts, the social environment and the
natural environment. For the social environment, there are the buildings,
roads, and other constructions which were made by the people. But the
natural environment is different; they were made from the nature itself such
as animals, forest, minerals, fish, wildlife, etc. The environment in the world
nowadays are being destroyed, especially in most Asian countries such as
Cambodia, China, Korea, Japan, etc. Cambodia is a country in Southeast
Asia which locates in Indochina. Cambodia used to be a country which has a
good environment before. Nowadays, the environment in Cambodia is
getting worse.

There are many factors that make the environment in Cambodia to be bad
everyday. One factor is called Air Pollution. These days, there are a lot of
factories where locate in many provinces and cities of Cambodia. Those
factories produce polluted gases that go into the atmosphere of the earth.
After that, it mixes with other gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc.
Thus, it will become a polluted mixture gases that can cause many problems
to the people. People will have many maladies after inhaling this air
including difficulty in breath, cough, swell the lung, etc. These gases also

Newton Thilay School -5- Teacher: Tep Samnang

mix with the rain. When the rain comes, it brings the polluted mixture gases
which we called “Acid rain”. When the rain flows into the water, it makes
the water polluted and it can kill the fish in the rivers or the lakes. Moreover,
the acid rain can cause diseases to the people such as skin cancer, damaging
to the lung, etc. Otherwise, the factories don’t cause only the Air Pollution;
it can cause both the Noise and Water Pollution. For the Noise Pollution, the
factories make noises which can bother the people who live around them.
And about the water pollution, the factories send the chemical substances
into the rivers, lakes, and can even flow into the sea if the factories are built
near the sea. When people use that water, they will become sick and after
that they will die because of drinking and using it.

The trees can give much importance to the environment in Cambodia.

People can get many kinds of food and medicine from them. Their wood can
be used for many things including cooking, heating, making furniture and
building houses and boats. Before and during the war, there are many trees
in the forests in Cambodia. But nowadays, the amount of the trees in the
forests is being reduced rapidly. The factors which cause this are from the
weather and especially people themselves. The cause of the weather is that
when there is a storm and the lightening go into the forests, then the trees in
the forest will be on fire and expand throughout the forest. Besides, the rocks
on the mountain sometimes fall down and hit other rocks on the lower
ground, and that can also make the trees in the forest burn too. Although,
causes made from the people are still much more important than the causes

Newton Thilay School -6- Teacher: Tep Samnang

from the nature. Many people cut down the trees or burn the forests in order
to do the cultivating. Moreover, they do these because they need to build
their houses, but there is not enough land for them. However, this is just a
small problem. The big problem is because of some illegal people cut down
the trees in a big form in order to sell them and export them to other
countries in the world. After that, they will be rich. If they can do this freely
without any banning, they will continue to do this again and again. The
government does not care about this matter, and some of the ministers even
take bribe from those illegal people.

As we know, the trees in the forest these days are being cutting down
gradually. People don’t realize what will happen when there isn’t any tree in
Cambodia. There will be many affects, including the weather, the ozone
layers, etc. The weather in Cambodia will be changed. Like nowadays, the
weather is very hot. If the trees are being continued to cut down, we won’t
be able stay under the sun anymore, because it is too hot. Moreover, our
country will have many natural disasters such as drought, flood, and other
natural disasters. The flood can destroy the people’s houses, destroys the
crops, and it can also destroy the infrastructures in the society like the
bridges, roads, etc. The drought can affect to the cultivating of the farmers,
including the lacking of water to send into the rice-fields. Moreover, it can
cause many diseases to the people such as cholera, and other maladies which
we can’t predict. Otherwise, if there isn’t any tree along the bank of the
river, the soils will fall down into the river and make the river even
shallower. Worse than that, it makes the ozone layers even thinner and
thinner everyday, so the earth will become hotter and hotter. Then, the sun
will send ultraviolet radiation to the earth which can make the people’s skin

Newton Thilay School -7- Teacher: Tep Samnang

to become cancer, and have other diseases. Soon afterwards, we won’t be
able to live in our country. Moreover, cutting down the trees make floods,
storms, droughts, etc. It makes the wildlife has nowhere to live, no food to
eat, and then they will be dead because of starving and no homes.

The wildlife and the fish are very essential resources in Cambodia. We
altogether need to depend on the wildlife meat. Otherwise, the wildlife is
important to the tourism. We can collect many kinds of animals to make a
zoo in order to interest the visitors. This makes the money to include to the
treasury of the country, and the government will have this money to develop
the country and also can build many other tourism places. On the other
hands, the standard of living of the people who live around the tourism will
become better and better. They can sell something for the visitors at the
reasonable price, so they will be able to support their families. Moreover, the
fish can also produce food to the people. All Khmer people need fish to eat,
especially the fish in the Tonle Sap Lake. Bu right now, amount of the
animals both the wildlife and the fish in Cambodia are decreasing rapidly
every year. The main factor that causes this matter is coming from the
people. People cut down the forests, and the wildlife will have nowhere live.
Soon, they will die. And the losing of fish is caused by the people also.
People cut down the inundated forest which is the main shelter and the best
place for fish to live and lay eggs. Moreover, some illegal people use illegal
equipments to fish including using the bomb to kill the fish, using the
equipment to shock the fish. Theses are the factors that cause the amount of
the wildlife and fish to be decreased.

Newton Thilay School -8- Teacher: Tep Samnang

Tonle Sap Lake is a very big and vital Lake in Cambodia. All of the people
need Tonle Sap Lake. These days, the depth of Tonle Sap Lake is getting
shorter and shorter every year. That because of the alluvial soil that comes
from the Mekong River and some comes from the land on the bank of the
lake. The alluvial soil falls into the lake because there are not many trees
along the lake that can block the land not to fall down into the lake. If we
don’t solve this problem, in the future the alluvial soil will fill completely
into the Tonle Sap Lake. On the other hands, the fish in Tonle Sap Lake will
have nowhere to live, and then they will die. That’s absolutely the serious
problem.

Nowadays, many Khmer people use chemical substances to put on the fruits,
vegetables, animals and other living things because they want to keep them
fresh in the markets for a long time and want them to grow faster than usual.
Thus, they can make a lot of money to support there living standard and their
family, but they ignore one thing, the bad effects. Chemical substances can
make the food fresh, but they can make the organisms die because of
depriving of food. And the big animals that depend on them will die, too.
For instance, the worms need leaves of the tree to eat, and when people put
chemical substance on that tree, the worms won’t be able to eat those leaves
anymore. Then, they will be all dead. The birds which depend on the worms
will have no worms to eat, and then they will die, too. We people need those
animals for eating. What if all those animals die? What will we have for
eating instead of them? Moreover, they can effect on people’s health, too.
When we use these chemical substances, we can inhale them into our bodies.
Then, the chemical substances begin to influence their poison all over our
bodies and cuts down our age everyday during using these chemical
substances. And we don’t know when we will die, but sooner or later.

Newton Thilay School -9- Teacher: Tep Samnang

The most essential factor is from the people themselves. Some people use
the old motorbikes and cars that send many polluted gas into the air; they
don’t know what will happen after they use those vehicles. Moreover, there
are many untidy buildings in Phnom Penh, and the environment around
those buildings is not good at all. Around them is full of dumps and foamy
mud. They live their lives very untidy, throw garbage everywhere, because
the government doesn’t care much about this; they just ignore it and don’t
try to control them. Another factor is from the people using the refrigerator,
air-conditioner, and other devices that expel many kinds of gas such as
carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere of the earth. These gases
would go to the ozone layer and destroy the ozone layer. Soon after that, the
heat in our country would be increased. The sun will be able to send the
ultraviolet radiation to our country. Then, our people will get many
untreatable diseases including cancers and die after that, because there isn’t
any medicines to treat those cancers. Another cause which also comes from
the people is the growth of the population. These days, the population in
Cambodia is growing very fast, especially the population in Phnom Penh.
Those people come from the countryside and other people come from other
countries such as China, Vietnam, Laos, etc. People who live in the city
don’t care much about the city environment. They throw rubbish anywhere
they want and make our environment smell and look terrible. Then, they will
become sick, because of the pollution. People need to build many houses,
and if there is not enough land, they will build them on the bank of the river,
lake, etc. That will cause the river dirty, and they use that water. Soon, they
will be sick and die after that. Moreover, people need to use the natural
resources, but there are too many people. So, those resources are not enough
for people to use. Thus, the resources in our country will be used all. That is
the problem that effects on the environment.

Newton Thilay School - 10 - Teacher: Tep Samnang

There are many bad results of the environment in Cambodia. Nowadays, we
can see all the ways in the Phnom Penh that are full garbage and dumps.
Moreover, the beauty in our country is losing these days. It is the main
problem which influence on the tourism. Less and less visitors will come to
visit our country, because our country is full of dumps and garbage. And in
the future, our country will have no visitors. It will affects on the economy,
and our government won’t have enough money to develop our country.

As far as I’m concerned, I think that we have some tactics to protect our
environment and we must implement them all together. We must make some
strict law for the illegal people who cut down the trees in the forests in order
to warn them not to do it anymore. Moreover, the government must permit
to build the factories far from the city or from the place where many people
live, or those factories must put high smoke containers from the ground. So
that will reduce the noise and the polluted gases which come from them. The
people in a village or a community must respect the right of their neighbors
like decreasing the volume of the Karaoke, television, radios, etc. The
government should advertise on the television about the environment in
Cambodia and encourage the people in the country to protect the
environment such as growing up the trees, throwing the garbage into the dust
bins, etc. Otherwise, the government should put sayings along the roads like
“Good environment brings good health”, “Throw the garbage in the dust
bins”, “Don’t litter”, etc. So, when they see those sayings, they will
understand and won’t throw the garbage everywhere anymore. The
government should put many dust bins as many as possible along the roads
and in the community in order to cut down and keep the garbage in one
place. Moreover, the government should send the people to teach the people
in the remote areas to know how important the environment is and also teach
them about the morality in order to make them understand and do the right
things. Furthermore, we should decrease the using of wood and other natural
resources in the family and try to find other energies such as using electricity
instead of using wood. So we will be able to decrease the natural resources
we are using. Besides, if anyone sees that there is a fire in the forest, that
person must call for help immediately from the authority in order to put out
the fire. Moreover, the people must report to the ministry of environment
about the chemical substances coming out from the factories which kill the
fish and lives in the rivers, lakes, and sea. Otherwise, each family must keep
the garbage in the dust bin or find a hole to keep it. On the other hands, the
government should make strict law for the illegal people who fish in the
season which the fish lay eggs or using the illegal devices to fish – for

Newton Thilay School - 11 - Teacher: Tep Samnang

example, using the bomb to kill fish or the device to shock the fish.
Furthermore, the people should plants the vegetables and other fruits trees as
many as possible in order to cut down the use of original natural resources.
Thus, we will be able to keep our natural resources for a long time.
Moreover, we can take those vegetables and fruits for eating instead of
buying them in the market, so we can save a lot of money in order to support
and help our family. On the other hands, we could protect our environment
and ourselves have good health, too. The government should plant trees as
many as possible along the street. This can be very helpful. The trees can
give shade to the people, and they can decrease the heat in Cambodia,
especially our city Phnom Penh. The government should insert the
environment subject into the study schedule in the public schools. So, the
students will understand more about the environment problem and try to
protect their city environment.

On the conclusion, protecting the environment in Cambodia is very essential

which everybody have to know and act it immediately. If we still continue to
pollute our environment, in the future we will all get bad results ourselves. If
we don’t help each other to do the protecting, no one will come to help us.
But if there are only the people to protect the environment, we can not apply
this. And if there is only the government, the result will not appear also.
Thus, the people and the government have to cooperate together to protect
and reduce the pollution of the environment, especially keep the world clean.

Newton Thilay School - 12 - Teacher: Tep Samnang

REFERENCE
ƒ Own point of view depending on the studying from the school,
experience, and the true facts in the present society.

Newton Thilay School - 13 - Teacher: Tep Samnang