Khmer Circle:
Didn't Hun Sen also "commit" to chopping his own head off if he could not stop deforestation or illegal logging? Of course, all large-scale organised logging activities are all 'legal' technically since he is the one behind them.
Travel around the country and one will see how badly the landscape has been stripped of forest cover. And not only the forests that are on the chopping board; mountains, rocky hills, rivers, lakes, terrains in mineral-rich regions such as Pailin and the North-East, permanent home to Vietnamese troops and prospectors alike.
The rush to decimate Cambodia's forests is both strategic and commercial in outlook: it is estimated that around 10 million or more Vietnamese on the other side of the border have their livelihoods directly or indirectly fed by the logging trade with Cambodia. On the other hand, systematic deforestation for the country also goes inline with Hanoi's fear of the forests providing cover or sanctuaries for nationalist insurgents and guerrillas as this had done for Vietnamese insurgents in the course of the war with the Americans.
The so-called "K-5 Plan" that forced able-bodied Cambodian men and women to clear the malaria-infested jungle which was - and still is - laden with anti-personnel mines in the western parts of the country where anti-Vietnamese armed groups were most active in the 1980s conformed to this military strategic thinking; a forced labour campaign that resulted not only in the clearings of forest in that region, but also in the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent human lives.
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Son Minea / Khmer Times
Environment Minister Say Samal speaks at the launch of a ‘carbon neutral long-term development strategy for Cambodia’. KT/Tep Sony
Cambodia is all set to reduce deforestation by half by the year 2030 and achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions in its forestry sector by 2040.
Furthermore, Environment Minister Say Samal, who launched the “carbon neutral long-term development strategy in Cambodia” on Friday, said Cambodia is the first nation in Southeast Asia to publish a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
On the Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN), he said Cambodia is fulfilling its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and has the policy to achieve carbon neutrality and have a resilient society within the next 30 years.
The LTS4CN is a new type of policy tool for Cambodia. As a visioning exercise, it is not meant to replace or supersede existing national and sectoral strategies of the government but rather to guide future policy and investment decisions by all concerned stakeholders.
Furthermore, Environment Minister Say Samal, who launched the “carbon neutral long-term development strategy in Cambodia” on Friday, said Cambodia is the first nation in Southeast Asia to publish a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
On the Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN), he said Cambodia is fulfilling its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and has the policy to achieve carbon neutrality and have a resilient society within the next 30 years.
The LTS4CN is a new type of policy tool for Cambodia. As a visioning exercise, it is not meant to replace or supersede existing national and sectoral strategies of the government but rather to guide future policy and investment decisions by all concerned stakeholders.
Samal said that the LTS4CN will possibly be reviewed every five years, in line with the framework for updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
“This will provide an opportunity to refresh the LTS4CN and reflect the latest trends in policy, technology, and financing as well as any unforeseen external events,” he said, adding that Cambodia’s vision for carbon neutrality is largely founded on the continued implementation of existing commitments in the Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) sector.
He said the execution of the REDD + Investment Plan will drive reduced rates of deforestation as well as an expansion of afforestation and reforestation activities.
Samal said Cambodia has developed a long-term strategic document to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, which is in line with the goal of turning Cambodia into a high-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.
“The primary vehicle for achieving this goal is through REDD or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, led by the Ministry. We are seeing ‘REDD’ when it comes to our forestry resources,” he added.
He said Cambodia is firmly implementing its commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Cambodia is one of 72 countries to submit an update on the National Contribution to the Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in a timely manner by 2020.
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