Global Partnerships & Environmental sustainability
Problem: In Cambodia firewood and charcoal are now seen as an ecological threat. They are using so much firewood and charcoal it is effecting their environment. Also the people in Cambodia have to spend most of their money and resources on purchasing firewood for their food.
Cause: In Cambodia over 85% of their people are still using wood fire or charcoal stoves. This has caused the demand for firewood and charcoal to stay relatively high. Another cause for this problem is that it causes deforestation because they need the wood to cook their food. They are having a difficult time protecting and preserving their forests already and then with the need for wood to cook food it has become even more difficult for that preservation process.
Solution: Cambodia has a goal of reducing this amount of people who are using these wood-fired/charcoal stoves down to 52%. They still have a long way to go. A solution to this problem could be to help them find something else that they can cook their food with. This would be quite a process because Cambodia is a developing country and wood is the most basic and effective way to cook their meals. If Cambodia could get some aid from other countries and introduce a variety of different stoves that either don’t use wood/charcoal or use less of it then that would be very helpful. Eventually, over a period of time Cambodia might start to get electricity in the homes and they could get an electric stove. For the time being, they could be introduced to metal stoves, solar stoves, or brick ovens. This would definitely take time to switch the people of Cambodia over from a stove that they seem as effective to a stove that is more environmentally suitable. One problem that might arise from changing their way of cooking, is that they might not have the necessary materials for the new stoves that are introduced.
Problem: An average of 1.1% of forest cover has been lost each year in Cambodia between the years of 1990 and 2010. Though some of the forest cover is coming back, it is not in very good condition. So the problem that Cambodia is facing would be that they are losing their forest cover and not getting good forest cover back.
Cause: A cause for this problem in a loss of forest cover would be due to the low techniques for planting, illegal logging, limited resources, and low incentives for staff taking care of the forests. The people are lacking the knowledge of how to replant the trees so the trees are growing back in not the best conditions.
Solution: The government of Cambodia already has set up 23 protected areas of the forests. Since this does not seem to be helping too much, I would consider as a solution to use something that would encourage the staff more. The staff needs incentives for taking care of these forests. Have them take a class about techniques that could be used to save the forests, also give them paid training time and other benefits. The security also needs to become stricter to reduce the amount of illegal logging. This could be done by an increase of staff or a better border around the forests that they are trying to protect. Put these principles into government policies and programs to make sure that they will be enforced and followed through with.
Cause: A cause for this problem in a loss of forest cover would be due to the low techniques for planting, illegal logging, limited resources, and low incentives for staff taking care of the forests. The people are lacking the knowledge of how to replant the trees so the trees are growing back in not the best conditions.
Solution: The government of Cambodia already has set up 23 protected areas of the forests. Since this does not seem to be helping too much, I would consider as a solution to use something that would encourage the staff more. The staff needs incentives for taking care of these forests. Have them take a class about techniques that could be used to save the forests, also give them paid training time and other benefits. The security also needs to become stricter to reduce the amount of illegal logging. This could be done by an increase of staff or a better border around the forests that they are trying to protect. Put these principles into government policies and programs to make sure that they will be enforced and followed through with.