Be the Change Network

Phnom Penh: My luggage got lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I don’t care so much about my clothes, meds and battery chargers; I can get by without those and find replacements at local shops. But the 60 pound duffle of donations for the school containing books, art supplies, puzzles and English learning games, are precious. I hope they will be found.

Andre and I are using this time to visit the offices of NGO’s with forest conservation and education projects. In meeting after meeting, Andre is getting a crash course in the extent of corruption in Cambodia. He can often be heard gasping “this is unbelievable�? in his gruff Brazilian accent. Here is what we have learned so far.

The Aural Wildlife sanctuary is a “hot spot�? of natural resource conflict. Flora and Fauna International, working in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment supports a community protection area of 2,100 hectares around the villages of Chrauk Tiek and Po Meas; children from both attend our school. A community protection committee of local citizens is charged with monitoring a pilot project of 400 hectares. The forest in this area is under siege on two levels, one is an illegal hardwood logging operation orchestrated by a high ranking former Khmer Rouge. He is a friend of the current Prime Minister, Hun Sen.

Where, I asked, is our local Community Protection Area committee supposed to report the forest crimes they witness? The local authority. That, I presume, would be the policeman 3 doors down from the school who collects bribes from the demobilzed soldiers driving oxcarts full of tumloap tree trunks and sawn timber to market in Kampong Speu. Humm…with non-existent law enforcement what are the villagers to do?

This is why our school director’s message said “but we are unable to protect.�?

The second onslaught comes from small scale charcoal production with large scale impact. 75% of the cooking in Phnom Penh is done with charcoal and most of it comes from Kampong Speu, currently the Aural district in particular. The extended families of decommissioned soldiers from Takeo and Svay Reing provinces are newcomers to the region for the sole purpose of the charcoal trade. They collect wood as small as saplings for the kilns. I have seen the denuded forest creep ever closer to Chrauk Tiek on each trip to Cambodia. It has come to the point of consuming the village itself, and the school director’s message pleads, “they are cutting down a thousand trees every day, even the small one, we are powerless to stop this action.�?

Who can they report these crimes too? The same local authority. Hence, the reason they report the problems to me. I listen. However, I have not yet found anyone who can take action. Today we will go looking for WildAid, a group with large funding by actress Angelina Jolie, perhaps they can help in the area of law enforcement.

The process of making charcoal briquettes from organic matter holds promise to solve this problem in a sustainable, income generating way. However, the question remains if we can convince people to change to an alternative energy product. That’s a big hurdle.

The idea must be education driven. Since the school curriculum doesn’t include science, we’re considering how we can start this project with a forest science class, made relevant by experimenting with charcoal briquette production. The students can learn the process and experiment with different “recipies�? of collected organic matter to see which one will make the best briquette for cooking rice. One of the interesting advantages of organic matter briquette production is the flexibility to tailor a charcoal product to different burning needs, a short hot burn or long, slow simmer.

Involving the students in briquette making, to learn the science behind them, is our best way to show their parents an appropriate technology that is a viable, sustainable alternative. Our trick will be to find a market for the product. We are hoping to hunt down an NGO called Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarites (GERES-CFSP) tomorrow, a French organization that is working with high efficiency cooking stoves in Phnom Penh. If they can help us find the clientele, we can develop a system for transporting and selling the briquettes to generate income for the village and our school.

The Abundant Forest approach requires diversity to be sustainable. We are also researching agro-forestry and perma-culture options, as well as the development of eco-tourism as a part of the plan.

A reliable and useful communication system is a key component of our strategy, we will need to install an internet computer hub at the school for learning, for communication, for e-commerce, and for reporting forest crimes to encourage law enforcement. A computer hub will cost $18,000, and it will attract even more students to the school, requiring another building to accommodate them.

Tomorrow I will meet with Arn Chorn-Pond, from the Cambodian Living Arts program, to discuss how to incorporate a music, dance and art classes that can communicate a forest conservation message in a non-verbal way.

Our work must start immediately as the forest destruction is imminent.

Our funding mechanism through the sales of the my book Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia is the key to our success to steer the village on a different course than the complete destruction of their forest and future. Please buy the book, and pass out the 10 postcards that come with your hardcover copy. We need 100 people to host a living room book discussion to get this project off the ground.

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