Living on a dwindling trade

17 June 2014
The Phnom Penh Post
Civil society / Coal / Economy and commerce / Energy / Environment and natural resources / Environment and natural resources policy and administration / Environmental and biodiversity protection / Environmental impact assessments / Forest cover / Forest policy and administration / Forest products / Forests and forestry / Government / Investment / Land / Logging and timber / Ministries and other national bodies / Non-renewable energy production / Protected areas / Protected forest / Social development
Botum Sakor National Park / Cardamom Mountains / Chheng Kimsun / Chhim Savuth / Forestry Administration / GERES / Kirirom National Park / Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation / National Road 4 / Natural Resource Protection Group / Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary / Samrong Leu village / Wildlife Alliance

In Samrong Leu village, a picturesque community nestled deep in the verdant fields of Kors Kralor district, the acrid smell of smoke fills the air. Outside almost every house in this community, billows of smoke continuously emerge from the domes of homemade mud kilns, drifting around the families lounging outside and their children at play. Piles of freshly logged timber are everywhere. When the 10-day to two-week burning and cooling cycle of each kiln is completed, the next batch of logs goes in. … In Phnom Penh, 30 per cent of residents still use charcoal, while in rural areas, 48 per cent still use wood and 36 per cent use charcoal, according to GERES, a French NGO that has built 11 sustainable community charcoal production centres in Cambodia. GERES estimates that the Kingdom burns through 500,000 tonnes of charcoal a year, requiring 3.5 million tonnes of wood, but is still studying the problem to come up with a more reliable figure. …

 Kevin Ponniah and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/living-dwindling-trade