• Society

Circular Strategy to Be Launched for the Country to Move toward a Green Economy

• By Lay Sopheavotey
• November 11, 2023 6:00 PM

PHNOM PENH — The Ministry of Environment will launch the Circular Strategy on Environment (2023-2028) on Nov. 15 in response to climate change.

The new strategy will focus on three top priorities: cleanliness, green, and sustainability, according to the ministry’s Facebook post on Nov. 10.

Speaking at the Climate Change conference in early November 2023, Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth had mentioned that the upcoming strategy would mainly focus on building up the efficiency of approaches being used to solve environmental problems with the long-term goal of improving people’s lives and assuring sustainable development.

And this, so that Cambodia can become a high-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050, he had said, adding that the strategy would aim to set directions and priorities for the work to be done to ensure a sustainable environment in the country.

According to the Facebook post, the strategy is to take the country closer to having a green economy, making Cambodia a carbon-neutral country with 60 percent of forest cover by 2050. This is to be addressed on three fronts: strengthening policies, digital administration building, and expanding the program’s promotion.

The strategy’s first priority is cleanliness that focuses on pollution management, updating pollution-evaluation capacity, and enhancing the environmental impact evaluation.

The second priority is “green,” which is about planting around the natural protected areas and promoting the livelihoods of local people. And the third priority is sustainability, which refers to compliance, expanding cooperation, and strengthening coordination.

The Ministry of Environment has also set four measures for natural resource management and biodiversity conservation as part of achieving sustainable development.

The measures consist of enforcing 100 percent of the law with no tolerance for natural resource offenses; strengthening cooperation with the local authorities at all levels to prevent natural resource offenses; cooperating with the Anti-Corruption Unit and the Royal Gendarmerie to make sure the laws and regulations are respected; and setting up tree planting programs and oversee forest sustainably.

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Meng Seavmey for Cambodianess.