Ministers from Mekong nations look to extend environment program [-Hun Xen's all talk no action?]

PHNOM PENH, Jul 28, 2011 (dpa) -- Environment ministers from the six nations that comprise the Greater Mekong Subregion group agreed Thursday to extend to 2016 a plan linking development with concerns for the environment.

The six are: Cambodia, China, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The original five-year program agreed in 2005 was designed to bring under one roof efforts that balanced development with protection for the environment.

Final approval rests with heads of government, who are scheduled to meet at a GMS summit in December.

The original 30-million-dollar cooperation program, known as the Core Environmental Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative, is scheduled to expire on December 31.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told delegates that environmental issues had become "a hot topic" on the global agenda particularly in relation to energy.

"Energy is vital for economic growth, vital for development, but also poses a great environmental risk," Hun Sen said, before alluding to a recent regional spat with Cambodia's northern neighbour Laos about the proposed Xayaburi dam on the mainstream of the Mekong.

10th Asian Cartoon Exhibition opens in Cambodia for environmental issues

Would CJCC dare exhibit this Cambodian environmental reality at its exhibition?
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at: http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

September 18, 2007

The 10th Asian Cartoon Exhibition opens in Phnom Penh on Monday with the theme of "Asian Environmental Issues".

The exhibition is being held in the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC) in Phnom Penh from Sept. 17 to 29, a CJCC press release said.

It displays 77 new cartoons of leading cartoonists from 10 Asian nations, namely China, Cambodia, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, it said.

Each cartoon presents various perspectives of the cartoonists on the topic of environmental issues in each country, it added.

Cambodian cartoonist Em Sothya appeared Monday at the opening of the exhibition and explained his works about illegal logging to the audience.

The Japan Foundation has been sponsoring the Asian Cartoon Exhibition every year as a contribution to the greater understanding of Asian societies, cultures and people through the widely appreciated medium of cartoons, the press release said, adding that this year the exhibition is held by the Japan Foundation in cooperation with CJCC.

Source: Xinhua