A Changing Climate
Sunday, 31 May 2009 13:16
'The PDD and the PIN have been submitted for a SSC CDM project to the CCCO for assessment by the DNA’. Welcome to the world of climate change. From biomass fuels to solar and wind power, from reforestation and afforestation to carbon trading, the issues – but also the opportunities surrounding climate change – are many-sided and often complex. A whole range of programmes has taken off in Cambodia involving actors as varied as large private companies, government agencies, climate change consultants, NGOs and local households. Johan Smits wrestles with the dense jungle of acronyms and explores which climate change issues are driving Cambodia today.
“Often when people talk about energy … they think about electricity. Replacement of wood is not very high on the agenda,” says Jan Lam, Senior Biogas Advisor with SNV, Netherlands Development Organisation. “In Cambodia, 85 percent of the energy needs is covered by firewood and charcoal, and it’s not done in a very efficient way,” he adds. SNV and MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) have formed a joint venture called NBP or National Biodigester Programme to try and tackle this problem.
In simple terms, a biodigester is a low-cost building where cattle dung and crop residues are collected for further ‘digestion’. The methane produced in the breaking down of the material is kept in a sealed environment instead of released by cattle dung in the open field. “It’s like a giant fart,” Jan explains.
This methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) than carbon dioxide (CO2). By burning it, energy is released that can be used by households for cooking and lighting. “One biodigester can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent per year per plant by about six tonnes,” Jan says. “In terms of biomass, 6 to 9 kilograms of firewood can be saved per day per household, as well as 50 litres of kerosene and 100 kilograms of chemical fertiliser per year.” The latter comes from the slurry that can be used as an excellent fertiliser. “It’s a closed circuit – you don’t take more off the land than you put in it – that’s the whole idea of integrated farming,” he adds.
Evidence of the effectiveness of the system comes through the programme’s rapid expansion. “In Cambodia the NBP started in two provinces in 2006,” says Saoleng Lam, Coordinator of NBP. “Now we’re operating in eight provinces and plan to complete 17,500 plants by the end of the year.” The plan is to move towards a permanent market-oriented sector where the client – the farmer household – determines which way a product is delivered. Jan estimates a potential of around 200,000 biodigesters. “It pays itself off, the quality of life increases and it leads to a sustainable way of farming,” he says. “You win everywhere.”
This programme works very well in the countryside where many families have at least a couple of cows or pigs, but in urban centres there’s no cattle waste to convert into energy. “In Phnom Penh city alone people consume 100,000 tonnes of charcoal in one year,” says Iwan Baskoro Southeast Asia Regional Director of GERES. “We did the study in 2005-2006.” In response to this, GERES introduced improved cooking stoves that are affordable to the poor and have the potential to reduce large amounts of GHGs. “By cutting consumption, we can also release the pressure on the forest,” he adds. Sales of the stoves, which can save up to 32 percent of charcoal and are produced locally by micro-enterprises, are now around 200,000 per month.
Since their cooking stove programme took off, GERES has launched other initiatives such as improving charcoal kilns attached to sustainable forest management. To Iwan, biomass is a sustainable energy source for the future. Charlotte Nivollet, GERES’ Deputy Director agrees. “If it’s well managed, it’s perfectly renewable,” she says. They both think that non-biomass energy such as solar, though clean is too expensive for most people to embark upon.
A Sunny Business
Margaret Ryan views things differently. She’s an American consultant with Khmer Solar, a local company that provides solar energy solutions to private companies, organisations and homes. “Last year we sold nearly 1000 panels to households,” she says. One 85-watt panel can power a colour TV and light. At US$870 for an 85-watt system, it’s not the kind of alternative energy source that is accessible to every family.
“There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed before green energy can be feasible for the average household,” says Steve Gosselin. He works for Clean Energy Group (CEG), a subsidiary of the engineering firm Comin Khmere. He cites affordable micro-credit programmes or subsidies to help bridge the high initial investment costs. He also mentions the need to educate the consumer and to lower the high import taxes on green energy products. “As seen in many European countries, a lot of green technologies can not be profitable at this time without support from government or other subsidies,” he says. Khmer Solar sells to telecom companies, to power their signal repeater towers in rural areas, but it is the home sales market that they are really interested in. “Since 2004 we have an office in Battambang that is 100 percent about home use,” she says. “We also extend credit there. And now we have Siem Reap and a smaller one in Kampong Chhnang.”
Although solar energy is totally clean, environmental benefits are not on the end-users’ agenda. “It’s about convenience because they don’t have to go to the battery station, and also cost, because the generator runs off eventually,” she explains. A similar observation was made by Jan about NBP’s biodigester programme, where convenience is cited as the main motivator for rural people to adopt the system, followed by finance. Khmer Solar is also experimenting with wind power on Bokor Mountain in Kampot, although Margaret doubts that it is a suitable energy source for Cambodia. “It works wondrously in Vietnam where they have a long coast and monsoons, but not here,” she says. “It would be nice because wind is cheaper.” Steve too believes that solar energy is by far the most abundant source of green energy in Cambodia. He thinks there’s no doubt that the market will continue to grow. “Green energy technology is advancing rapidly,” he says. “Every year there are innovative ideas while affordable products become available on the market.”
Be Prepared
Despite all these energy efficiency and green energy projects, climate change is happening and won’t go away. According to a recent report by the Asian Development Bank, Southeast Asia will be among the regions worst affected by global warming. That’s where climate change adaptation comes in. One particular player in that field is Oxfam America. Just over a month ago they brought together White House staff, climate experts and community leaders in Washington, DC, in a conference focusing on building people’s resilience to the crisis.
“Oxfam’s interest is mostly about adaptation and, obviously in the poorest areas, because usually they are going to be hit the worst, like delta regions and dry climates,” says Brian Lund, Oxfam America’s Regional Director for East Asia. In order to help local people build capacity in this area, the Cambodian Climate Change Office (CCCO), which operates within the Ministry of Environment, created the National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA). “Thirty-nine projects have been identified within NAPA to adapt to climate change, and two are currently under project document preparation,” says Deputy Director Thy Sum. “Our role is also to mobilise resources to implement NAPA.”
Programmes that have been launched in Cambodia include DDR – Disaster Risk Reduction – and the free disposal of relevant meteorological information to farmers, packed in a way so that they can use it effectively. “Everyone has to play an active role in adaptation to climate change,” says Thy. “It will impact on everyone, but it depends on the region. Flooding may affect one province and drought another." One of the programmes that Brian finds particularly exciting is SRI or System of Rice Intensification. It’s a methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. “This is a really red hot one that’s coming globally,” he says.
According to Piseyrith Luy, Oxfam Programme Officer for Livelihood and Income Security, 100,000 farmers in Cambodia have taken up SRI. It has become part of the government’s national strategy. “SRI can double the crop,” adds Brian. “That’s a pretty hefty opportunity for the country, but it’s also going to the little guy – that’s where we are particularly interested in.” SRI is considered very promising to climate change adaptation as there are a dozen reasons why it makes the plants more resilient such as less need for water (higher tolerance to draughts) and quicker replants. “It’s positioning the farmer well when it comes to climate changes, and potentially the entire economy,” Brian says.
Money, Money, Money
Carbon trading is a system where companies in industrialised countries, bound by GHG emission caps under the Kyoto Agreement, buy CERs (Certified Emission Reductions) from companies or organisations that reduce their GHG emissions in developing countries not bound by Kyoto. It has become a huge market – valued at around US$120 billion in 2008. One company that specialises in the Mekong Region is Carbon Bridge, which works with emission reduction project developers to help them access the carbon market. By creating and selling the carbon credits, they bring in revenue to help pay back the investment costs.
In simple terms, a biodigester is a low-cost building where cattle dung and crop residues are collected for further ‘digestion’. The methane produced in the breaking down of the material is kept in a sealed environment instead of released by cattle dung in the open field. “It’s like a giant fart,” Jan explains.
This methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) than carbon dioxide (CO2). By burning it, energy is released that can be used by households for cooking and lighting. “One biodigester can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent per year per plant by about six tonnes,” Jan says. “In terms of biomass, 6 to 9 kilograms of firewood can be saved per day per household, as well as 50 litres of kerosene and 100 kilograms of chemical fertiliser per year.” The latter comes from the slurry that can be used as an excellent fertiliser. “It’s a closed circuit – you don’t take more off the land than you put in it – that’s the whole idea of integrated farming,” he adds.
Evidence of the effectiveness of the system comes through the programme’s rapid expansion. “In Cambodia the NBP started in two provinces in 2006,” says Saoleng Lam, Coordinator of NBP. “Now we’re operating in eight provinces and plan to complete 17,500 plants by the end of the year.” The plan is to move towards a permanent market-oriented sector where the client – the farmer household – determines which way a product is delivered. Jan estimates a potential of around 200,000 biodigesters. “It pays itself off, the quality of life increases and it leads to a sustainable way of farming,” he says. “You win everywhere.”
This programme works very well in the countryside where many families have at least a couple of cows or pigs, but in urban centres there’s no cattle waste to convert into energy. “In Phnom Penh city alone people consume 100,000 tonnes of charcoal in one year,” says Iwan Baskoro Southeast Asia Regional Director of GERES. “We did the study in 2005-2006.” In response to this, GERES introduced improved cooking stoves that are affordable to the poor and have the potential to reduce large amounts of GHGs. “By cutting consumption, we can also release the pressure on the forest,” he adds. Sales of the stoves, which can save up to 32 percent of charcoal and are produced locally by micro-enterprises, are now around 200,000 per month.
Since their cooking stove programme took off, GERES has launched other initiatives such as improving charcoal kilns attached to sustainable forest management. To Iwan, biomass is a sustainable energy source for the future. Charlotte Nivollet, GERES’ Deputy Director agrees. “If it’s well managed, it’s perfectly renewable,” she says. They both think that non-biomass energy such as solar, though clean is too expensive for most people to embark upon.
A Sunny Business
Margaret Ryan views things differently. She’s an American consultant with Khmer Solar, a local company that provides solar energy solutions to private companies, organisations and homes. “Last year we sold nearly 1000 panels to households,” she says. One 85-watt panel can power a colour TV and light. At US$870 for an 85-watt system, it’s not the kind of alternative energy source that is accessible to every family.
“There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed before green energy can be feasible for the average household,” says Steve Gosselin. He works for Clean Energy Group (CEG), a subsidiary of the engineering firm Comin Khmere. He cites affordable micro-credit programmes or subsidies to help bridge the high initial investment costs. He also mentions the need to educate the consumer and to lower the high import taxes on green energy products. “As seen in many European countries, a lot of green technologies can not be profitable at this time without support from government or other subsidies,” he says. Khmer Solar sells to telecom companies, to power their signal repeater towers in rural areas, but it is the home sales market that they are really interested in. “Since 2004 we have an office in Battambang that is 100 percent about home use,” she says. “We also extend credit there. And now we have Siem Reap and a smaller one in Kampong Chhnang.”
Although solar energy is totally clean, environmental benefits are not on the end-users’ agenda. “It’s about convenience because they don’t have to go to the battery station, and also cost, because the generator runs off eventually,” she explains. A similar observation was made by Jan about NBP’s biodigester programme, where convenience is cited as the main motivator for rural people to adopt the system, followed by finance. Khmer Solar is also experimenting with wind power on Bokor Mountain in Kampot, although Margaret doubts that it is a suitable energy source for Cambodia. “It works wondrously in Vietnam where they have a long coast and monsoons, but not here,” she says. “It would be nice because wind is cheaper.” Steve too believes that solar energy is by far the most abundant source of green energy in Cambodia. He thinks there’s no doubt that the market will continue to grow. “Green energy technology is advancing rapidly,” he says. “Every year there are innovative ideas while affordable products become available on the market.”
Be Prepared
Despite all these energy efficiency and green energy projects, climate change is happening and won’t go away. According to a recent report by the Asian Development Bank, Southeast Asia will be among the regions worst affected by global warming. That’s where climate change adaptation comes in. One particular player in that field is Oxfam America. Just over a month ago they brought together White House staff, climate experts and community leaders in Washington, DC, in a conference focusing on building people’s resilience to the crisis.
“Oxfam’s interest is mostly about adaptation and, obviously in the poorest areas, because usually they are going to be hit the worst, like delta regions and dry climates,” says Brian Lund, Oxfam America’s Regional Director for East Asia. In order to help local people build capacity in this area, the Cambodian Climate Change Office (CCCO), which operates within the Ministry of Environment, created the National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA). “Thirty-nine projects have been identified within NAPA to adapt to climate change, and two are currently under project document preparation,” says Deputy Director Thy Sum. “Our role is also to mobilise resources to implement NAPA.”
Programmes that have been launched in Cambodia include DDR – Disaster Risk Reduction – and the free disposal of relevant meteorological information to farmers, packed in a way so that they can use it effectively. “Everyone has to play an active role in adaptation to climate change,” says Thy. “It will impact on everyone, but it depends on the region. Flooding may affect one province and drought another." One of the programmes that Brian finds particularly exciting is SRI or System of Rice Intensification. It’s a methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. “This is a really red hot one that’s coming globally,” he says.
According to Piseyrith Luy, Oxfam Programme Officer for Livelihood and Income Security, 100,000 farmers in Cambodia have taken up SRI. It has become part of the government’s national strategy. “SRI can double the crop,” adds Brian. “That’s a pretty hefty opportunity for the country, but it’s also going to the little guy – that’s where we are particularly interested in.” SRI is considered very promising to climate change adaptation as there are a dozen reasons why it makes the plants more resilient such as less need for water (higher tolerance to draughts) and quicker replants. “It’s positioning the farmer well when it comes to climate changes, and potentially the entire economy,” Brian says.
Money, Money, Money
Carbon trading is a system where companies in industrialised countries, bound by GHG emission caps under the Kyoto Agreement, buy CERs (Certified Emission Reductions) from companies or organisations that reduce their GHG emissions in developing countries not bound by Kyoto. It has become a huge market – valued at around US$120 billion in 2008. One company that specialises in the Mekong Region is Carbon Bridge, which works with emission reduction project developers to help them access the carbon market. By creating and selling the carbon credits, they bring in revenue to help pay back the investment costs.
“The Cambodian government has established their approval process. In our experience, they are far more efficient and transparent than Thailand and Vietnam,” says Bridget McIntosh, Managing Director of Carbon Bridge. She thinks that the agricultural sector – through biomass waste products – has the most to benefit from carbon trading.
However, Jan Lam from SNV does not believe that Kyoto really works for Cambodia and points to the polluting industries of China, India and Brazil. “They can use Kyoto and make a lot of money to clean up their act,” he says. “Cambodia cannot.” Bridget disagrees. “We have found carbon buyers falling all over themselves to buy the credits from our Cambodian projects,” she says. “There are not enough projects in least developed countries, so when they come up, they’re in huge demand.”
At the moment Cambodia has five Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. One of them, in which Carbon Bridge is assisting, is the largest project in Southeast Asia for methane capture. “Four of the five CDM projects that we have approved have been recognised by the UN, so that’s an 80 percent approval rate. The rate of rejection is very low in Cambodia,” says Thy from the CCCO. He stresses that CDM is not a grant but investment. “If Cambodia has a good environment to invest, they will come,” he says. Bridget agrees. “For our larger clients, their main motivation has been purely commercial. I think this is great. This means the carbon market is working and driving demand from investors who don’t imagine themselves to be ‘green’ but find themselves developing a green project because it makes good business sense.”
For smaller organisations the barriers can be high such as substantial project development and auditing costs and a long waiting period before the initial investment starts to pay itself off. This was also an issue that GERES was dealing with when it put its cooking stove programme into the carbon finance pipeline. It gradually recognised the need for a climate change unit that became operational in 2006 and is now serving GERES worldwide. As a member of the Asia Stove Programme Network, it found that many countries in Asia expressed the need to access the carbon credit market but lacked the capacity to do so on their own.
“In the end we came up with the idea to set up an alliance of NGOs in Asia where we can sit together, share experiences, build capacities and so on,” Iwan Baskoro explains. Each and every member can develop its own project and then put it into the carbon pipeline.” One of the advantages of ‘NEXUS – Carbon for Development’ is to minimise the cost by sharing it among its members. Project developers that are members of NEXUS have to demonstrate that their projects have clear social benefits. Charlotte Nivollet fervently believes the money that can be made from the carbon market should benefit the community. “This is not really happening so far. The CDM market is supporting any kind of project that is just going to reduce tonnes of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere with absolutely no concern of what the social impact of the project is,” she says. “NEXUS strongly believes that carbon finance cannot be just this. It has to be in the spirit of sustainable social development with clear social benefits.”
A Green Future?
Both Bridget McIntosh and Brian Lund foresee more projects in Cambodia related to the UN’s REDD programme, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. “Cambodia has some of the largest remaining tracks of rain forest in the region,” Brian says. “That’s one area of response that’s particularly important for Cambodia. It’s about diving into the carbon trading market and using the forest as Cambodia’s effective contribution to the world’s response to climate change.” He believes that these kinds of projects are going to be quite big in the future.
Bridget also sees the Cambodian carbon trading market evolving towards the voluntary market. This market is the demand from companies or individuals which voluntarily choose to offset their emissions (for example flights offsets). Typically, under the voluntary market more interest exists in small scale projects. “They have more sustainable development benefits and are not just cheap carbon credit to meet compliance,” according to Bridget. She deems these types of small scale projects more suitable to Cambodia. “I see more small household-scale projects around wood energy. After all, wood energy is the main source of energy used in Cambodia and not only is it causing emissions, it is also contributing to deforestation,” she says.
Information:
Looking to offset that big, fat carbon footprint? There is a voluntary market for people who want to reduce their impact on carbon emissions. Bridget McIntosh recommends to google one of the many carbon offset providers on the internet, credit card in hand, or to contact Cambodia’s own home-grown offset provider GERES.
Websites:
GERES: www.geres-cambodia.org
Oxfam America: www.oxfamamerica.org
National Biodigester Programme: www.nbp.org.kh
Netherlands Development Organisation: www.snvworld.org
Carbon Bridge: www.carbon-bridge.com
Khmer solar: www.khmersolar.com
Clean Energy Group: www.cleanenergycambodia.com
Cambodian Climate Change Office: www.camclimate.org.kh
Ten Ways to Reduce Your Cambodian Carbon Footprint
1. Become a vegetarian. In 2006 the FAO reported that, “the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent than transport.”
2. In the West you’d be encouraged to turn down the thermostat one or two degrees. Here you could turn down the air-conditioner a couple of notches. If you make sure all doors and windows are closed, you might not even feel the difference. Even better, open all doors and windows and turn off the air-con altogether.
3. Leave that Hummer where it is and take a bicycle. Say goodbye to those traffic jams and you might not need your air-conditioned gym membership any longer.
4. Don’t fly that much. Or at least not so far. Go on holiday locally. Why not cycle to Kampot?
5. When on holiday, stay at eco-friendly hotels and lodges.
6. Don’t print emails. Keep your office paper-free.
7. Recycle – not the easiest thing in Cambodia, but you can at least get rid of all your plastic, paper and aluminium cans by giving it to your domestic help or putting it in a separate box outside your door. You’ll make the local waste pickers or “Hychai” very happy with it as it means income to them.
8. Turn off the lights if you don’t need them and use energy saving light bulbs.
9. Fix water leaks and don’t use more water than you have to.
10. Become more involved. Persuade others about the benefits of reducing your carbon footprint.
However, Jan Lam from SNV does not believe that Kyoto really works for Cambodia and points to the polluting industries of China, India and Brazil. “They can use Kyoto and make a lot of money to clean up their act,” he says. “Cambodia cannot.” Bridget disagrees. “We have found carbon buyers falling all over themselves to buy the credits from our Cambodian projects,” she says. “There are not enough projects in least developed countries, so when they come up, they’re in huge demand.”
At the moment Cambodia has five Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. One of them, in which Carbon Bridge is assisting, is the largest project in Southeast Asia for methane capture. “Four of the five CDM projects that we have approved have been recognised by the UN, so that’s an 80 percent approval rate. The rate of rejection is very low in Cambodia,” says Thy from the CCCO. He stresses that CDM is not a grant but investment. “If Cambodia has a good environment to invest, they will come,” he says. Bridget agrees. “For our larger clients, their main motivation has been purely commercial. I think this is great. This means the carbon market is working and driving demand from investors who don’t imagine themselves to be ‘green’ but find themselves developing a green project because it makes good business sense.”
For smaller organisations the barriers can be high such as substantial project development and auditing costs and a long waiting period before the initial investment starts to pay itself off. This was also an issue that GERES was dealing with when it put its cooking stove programme into the carbon finance pipeline. It gradually recognised the need for a climate change unit that became operational in 2006 and is now serving GERES worldwide. As a member of the Asia Stove Programme Network, it found that many countries in Asia expressed the need to access the carbon credit market but lacked the capacity to do so on their own.
“In the end we came up with the idea to set up an alliance of NGOs in Asia where we can sit together, share experiences, build capacities and so on,” Iwan Baskoro explains. Each and every member can develop its own project and then put it into the carbon pipeline.” One of the advantages of ‘NEXUS – Carbon for Development’ is to minimise the cost by sharing it among its members. Project developers that are members of NEXUS have to demonstrate that their projects have clear social benefits. Charlotte Nivollet fervently believes the money that can be made from the carbon market should benefit the community. “This is not really happening so far. The CDM market is supporting any kind of project that is just going to reduce tonnes of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere with absolutely no concern of what the social impact of the project is,” she says. “NEXUS strongly believes that carbon finance cannot be just this. It has to be in the spirit of sustainable social development with clear social benefits.”
A Green Future?
Both Bridget McIntosh and Brian Lund foresee more projects in Cambodia related to the UN’s REDD programme, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. “Cambodia has some of the largest remaining tracks of rain forest in the region,” Brian says. “That’s one area of response that’s particularly important for Cambodia. It’s about diving into the carbon trading market and using the forest as Cambodia’s effective contribution to the world’s response to climate change.” He believes that these kinds of projects are going to be quite big in the future.
Bridget also sees the Cambodian carbon trading market evolving towards the voluntary market. This market is the demand from companies or individuals which voluntarily choose to offset their emissions (for example flights offsets). Typically, under the voluntary market more interest exists in small scale projects. “They have more sustainable development benefits and are not just cheap carbon credit to meet compliance,” according to Bridget. She deems these types of small scale projects more suitable to Cambodia. “I see more small household-scale projects around wood energy. After all, wood energy is the main source of energy used in Cambodia and not only is it causing emissions, it is also contributing to deforestation,” she says.
Information:
Looking to offset that big, fat carbon footprint? There is a voluntary market for people who want to reduce their impact on carbon emissions. Bridget McIntosh recommends to google one of the many carbon offset providers on the internet, credit card in hand, or to contact Cambodia’s own home-grown offset provider GERES.
Websites:
GERES: www.geres-cambodia.org
Oxfam America: www.oxfamamerica.org
National Biodigester Programme: www.nbp.org.kh
Netherlands Development Organisation: www.snvworld.org
Carbon Bridge: www.carbon-bridge.com
Khmer solar: www.khmersolar.com
Clean Energy Group: www.cleanenergycambodia.com
Cambodian Climate Change Office: www.camclimate.org.kh
Ten Ways to Reduce Your Cambodian Carbon Footprint
1. Become a vegetarian. In 2006 the FAO reported that, “the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent than transport.”
2. In the West you’d be encouraged to turn down the thermostat one or two degrees. Here you could turn down the air-conditioner a couple of notches. If you make sure all doors and windows are closed, you might not even feel the difference. Even better, open all doors and windows and turn off the air-con altogether.
3. Leave that Hummer where it is and take a bicycle. Say goodbye to those traffic jams and you might not need your air-conditioned gym membership any longer.
4. Don’t fly that much. Or at least not so far. Go on holiday locally. Why not cycle to Kampot?
5. When on holiday, stay at eco-friendly hotels and lodges.
6. Don’t print emails. Keep your office paper-free.
7. Recycle – not the easiest thing in Cambodia, but you can at least get rid of all your plastic, paper and aluminium cans by giving it to your domestic help or putting it in a separate box outside your door. You’ll make the local waste pickers or “Hychai” very happy with it as it means income to them.
8. Turn off the lights if you don’t need them and use energy saving light bulbs.
9. Fix water leaks and don’t use more water than you have to.
10. Become more involved. Persuade others about the benefits of reducing your carbon footprint.
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