http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg9xp_AYgUo
April 10, 2012
Keyla Beebe, for the Pulitzer Center, Cambodia
Cambodia has one of the worst deforestation rates in the world, which has accelerated with the country's rapid economic development and population growth. Charcoal production in Cambodia alone is responsible for 1.4 million hectares of net forest loss. But weaning Cambodians from wood fuel is no easy task. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 84 percent of the country's population depend on wood fuel as the main source of energy, and 27 percent of Phnom Penh's residents rely primarily on charcoal. As the population of Cambodia grows, the demand for charcoal will also increase, promising many Cambodian families a stable, alluring source of income.
2 comments:
well, i think it's time to help cambodia develop with higher standard of living like relying on electricity, gas, etc for cooking, etc like in the west. so, the more the world want to keep cambodia undeveloped and isolated, this kind of deforestation is inevitable to happen sooner or later. where else can one expect people to have fuel for cooking etc... in the past, it was different, now, of course, cambodia is finally catching up with the rest of the developing world. just look around, this kind of deforestation is not unique only to cambodia, you know. other countries's forests had disappeared completely in comparison to cambodia. i think one solution to fix this problem is to help cambodia produce more electricity and other type of fuel. if not, people will continue to chop woods for cooking, etc, really. and don't forget educate them too to understand about the importance of having lots of forests and trees, etc... perhaps, cambodia could encourage its people to keep planting more trees to replace the ones they chopped for fire woods, etc, you know.
"Charcoal Addiction costs Cambodia its forest"
The title above is very misleading and conveys no real fact at all, but certainly a false one!
The use of charcoal could not be the reason of the vast deforestation and forest destruction happening in Cambodia right now.
Even though Cambodian population is about twice that of the 60s, the use of charcoal as fuel for cooking could not have damaged the Cambodian forest the way it is; after all, in the 60s and 70s without much alternative forms of energy and Cambodians relied much more heavily on charcoal as fuel for their cooking, it had then made no dent in the Cambodian forest.
The reporter is young, quite inexperienced, and really gullible to quote a government's data which claims that the net loss of 1.4 million hectars of forest results from the common people making charcoal.
She should check her fact and figure also with independent monitors before making such a claim.
Forest does grow, doesn't it? In the 60s and early 70s, we had never heard of such a thing as making charcoal destroyed Cambodian forests; in reality the growth of the forests tends to compensate for the use because most of the trees cut to make charcoal are smaller and less valuable trees in term of quality and price and there was no indiscriminate cutting on the current scale.
Currently deforestation occurs both legally and illegally with heavy machinery and indiscriminate cutting for fast result so, of course, the speed at which the forest goes is quite alarming.
Don't blame the poor Cambodian people for the destruction of the forest as it makes no sense.
Pissed off
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