By CNV Team
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished National and International Guests,
Today, I am pleased to attend the “Inauguration
of the National Council for Green Development and the Dissemination of
the National Policy on Green Development and National Strategic Plan on
Green Development 2013-2030”. Taking
this opportunity, I would like to express my appreciation to the
management, officials of the Ministry of Environment and the National
Council for Green Development for working hard together to organize this
ceremony.
Today’s inauguration indeed reflects our firm
commitment to intensify implementation of various policies and national
strategic plans of the Royal Government. Overall, starting from the
implementation of these adopted policies and strategies, numerous
socio-economic achievements have been realized. Our immediate assignment
is to continue to formulate and implement national policies and
strategic plans, including the National Policy and Strategic Development Plan on Green Development 2013-2030 to continue promoting green development in the Kingdom of Cambodia, since Green Development
will lead to sustainable and continuous socio-economic development
through the efficient use of raw materials and natural resources, energy
savings, waste minimization, clean development, green preservation, and
natural heritage preservation and such.
What we are doing now is in line with the United Nations principles for sustainable development which regards Green Development as
the key means for achieving economic, social, environmental and
cultural development in a sustainable manner. Overall, achieving the Green Development Goals
helps protecting the Earth by balancing the supporting capacity of the
Earth for the needs of human beings; and this development model will
promote low CO2 emission development activities to better our people’s welfare, living standard and poverty reduction.
In this context, the Royal Government has formulated this National Policy and Strategic Development Plan on Green Development 2013-2030 to
complement the economic development effort to better balance it with
environmental protection and ensure the responsible management of
natural resources such as water, land, forest, fish and ecosystem,
poverty reduction, livelihood improvement, health and education systems
improvement, good governance at national and sub-national levels, as
well as infrastructure improvement and the natural heritage preservation
and such.
Truly, the Kingdom of Cambodia is rich in natural resources such as
land, water, mines, forest and fish. However, in the next phase of
development, improved governance and management of natural resources
will be critical to ensure their productive and sustainable use of
natural resources, and their genuine contribution to the socio-economic
progress and improvement of our people’s living standard. Indeed, we
need to ensure certainty and security of land ownership in both rural
and urban areas and important role of economic and social land
concessions in promoting large scale agriculture projects, improving
productivity, creating rural jobs, and ensuring access to productive
land for the poor and ethnic minorities, as these remain fundamental
elements of the national strategy and policy framework. Regarding the
Royal Government’s policy on land, the Royal Government has provided 1.5
million hectares of economic land concession to private companies.
Investment in rubber plantation accounts for 80% or 1.2 million
hectares. At present, 300,000 hectares of the land have been cultivated,
employing 100,000 workers. In the next 5 years, 70% of rubber
plantation will be cultivated while 840,000 hectares of rubber
plantation will be tapped for latex and 1.3 million workers will be
employed. To do this, 1.5 million hectares of forest cover are converted
to economic land concession, there still remain 9.2 million hectares of
forest cover. This shows that the Royal Government carefully balances
the needs to create jobs to reduce poverty and migration and the
necessity to protect the environment and natural resources. In addition,
rubber trees are considered forest cover, hence the 1.2 million
hectares of rubber plantations and the creation of 1.3 million jobs for
the people, in other words, are contributions to preserving forest cover
and enhancing the people’s livelihoods.
In particular, in the implementation of the “Old Policy with New Activity on Land”,
the Royal Government plans to issue land titles covering 1.8 million
hectares of land in 20 provinces to the people. Up to present, 670,000
hectares of land have been checked and distributed to 320,000 families.
It is expected that the task will be completed at the end of 2013 in
order to live up to our slogan “No landless Farmers”.
In this spirit, I have accelerated the distribution and issuance of
land ownership titles with demarcation assistance provided by thousands
of youth volunteers, resulting in the issuance of land ownership titles
for 160,000 lots of land to people in rural areas.
Alongside the success in the implementation of Old Policy with New
Activity on Land, the in-depth reform of fishery sector has not only
increased freshwater fishing lots for household consumption, but also
natural fish abundance which allows our people to use this resource with
ownership. Overall, this reform has contributed to the conservation of
fish and the improvement of the people’s livelihoods.
In addition, the Royal Government has regarded Water Policy as a
priority policy for the management of water resources, water sources,
quality of water and the protection of wet soil and gradient areas in
order to secure the continuity of water supply which must compromise
between development needs and conversation for ecological stability, and
the source of nutritious foods. The vision on water security aims to
ensure the equitable, efficient, and sustained use of water and water
resources in order to ensure adequate supply of clean water and
multipurpose water to people, farmers, enterprises, and general users,
based on the principle of water safety, sufficiency of water sources,
water quality, hygiene, and reasonable costs. Truly, the important basis
for ensuring the sustainability, safety, and quality of water supply in
Cambodia requires full involvements from all relevant stakeholders at
both national and sub-national levels, including general water users,
through steady implementations of policies and regulations related to
water use and management.
In parallel, Cambodia has aggressively
implemented various policies and strategies aimed to enhance and develop
networks of roads, waterways, railways, ports and other means of
transport in order to ensure safe transportation for businesses as well
as tourists. In fact, roads paved with asphalt accounted for 33.2% of
the total road length of 11, 914 Kilometers in 2011. Cambodia needs to
put more effort into the Development of Green Infrastructure and Green Transportation. Green infrastructure is highly encouraged as it can help mitigate environmental impact and the associated negative aspects. Green transportation
is also highly encouraged, due to the very low level of environmental
pollution. The development of transport network is a critical factor in
Cambodia because we still face some ongoing challenges such as traffic
congestion, lack of public transport service, violation of traffic law,
lack of vehicle safety inspection and too narrow sidewalk space for
pedestrians and so forth. Therefore, to implement this strategy
successfully, we have to continue taking serious action by setting up
green roads, planting more trees, conserving the forest, and
encouraging the use of electric public buses and electric trains,
vehicles powered by renewable energy, electric bicycles and electric
motorbike instead of petrol-powered or diesel-powered vehicles and
mandating the regular check of CO2 emission from cars.
With regard to the development of energy sector, a good progress has
been achieved, thanks to concerted effort of the Royal Government and
its successful implementation of the public-private partnership (PPP)
schemes. However, more effort is needed to meet the per capita increase
of energy demand of 7% per annum. The development of rural
electrification remains a priority for the government. In 2009, only
11.5 percent of rural households had access to electricity where
majority utilised generator, batteries and kerosene for main sources of
lighting. In 2011, the coverage improved to 23.5 percent and almost all
households in Phnom Penh (98.9 percent) had access to electricity.
However, electricity prices are still too high compared to our neighbors
in Southeast Asia. To address these issues, the Royal Government is
determined to expand the coverage of electricity supply network
nationwide according to its five year plan to achieve “Sustainable
Electricity for All” by 2030. Under the plan, we are already seeing
progress in increased generation of electricity from both thermal
sources (coal, oil and gas) and hydroelectric sources, and import from
neighboring countries. By 2020, every village in the country will have
electricity, provided by 9 hydropower plants and 8 coal plants, with at
least 70% of households having access to electricity by 2030. We also
continue to pay attention to renewable energy such as hydropower, wind
and solar energy generation and such to ensure energy saving and
efficiency.
Systematic development of tourism sector is
also one of the priority that can contribute to socio-economic
development, job creation, income generation, enhancement of standards
of living and poverty reduction. The tourism sector, generally known as “green gold”,
is also important component of green growth as revenue from the sector
has been immediately injected into the national economic current and has
contributed to GDP growth and trade balance. In this aspect, sustained
growth of the tourism sector will definitely contribute to the
development, protection, and conservation of cultural and historic
heritages and natural resources. In this regard, green tourism
development must consists of green tourism destinations, green services,
green tourists, green food supply and green tourism infrastructure,
green environment, green agricultural and industrial products, green
transportation as stated in one of our contests on “Clean City, Clean Resort, Good Services”
In addition, the Royal Government also pays very high attention to promoting “gender equity”
by streamlining it into all sectors. At present, women are encouraged
to participate in all levels of decision making process of economic,
social, cultural and environmental affairs, as reflected through this
year’s theme of the 102nd International Women’s Day: “equal rights, equal opportunity for accelerating development”.
Indeed, the tasks undertaken in the past along with our future tasks
constitute the broad basis for green development in Cambodia.
The National Policy on Green Development and the National Strategic
Plan on Green Development 2013-2030 disseminated in this event is our
roadmap for national green development which will act as soft green
infrastructure, create favourable environment and condition for private
investment in green development such as green agriculture, green
industry, green infrastructure and transport, green tourism, green
building, green energy, green telecommunication, green credit and green
financial market. In this sense, we strongly believe that both documents
will help propel Cambodian economy toward green development, centering
on the efficient use of natural resources, sustainability of the
environment, green employment, green technologies and economic reform.
Moreover, green incentives such as green tax, green finance, especially
green credit, green microfinance and green investment will bring about
social development and harmony, improved quality of life, opportunity of
green employment for the people and safety for the ecological system
through green development that helps maintain the balance between the
ecological system and the supporting capacity of the earth.
In fact, the opportunity of green employment has to be created
through the utilization of green technologies and promotion of green
investment. The green investment refers to the either technical or
financial investment on development and conservation in all sectors by
ensuring the reduction of impact on the environment and natural
resources, in other words, a contribution to improve the environmental
quality, maintain ecological system, conserve bio-diversity, and reduce
energy consumption and natural resources, carbon emission and
environmental pollution. Besides, green agriculture is to ensure food
security, food safety and sanitation, thus, the green agriculture will
encourage the private sector and all farmers to use natural organic
fertilizers, minimize the use of agricultural pesticides and chemical
substances, implement crop intensification and promote awareness on
green technology for agriculture. Moreover, there must be plans for
sustainable use of land, the agro-industry crops, forest management,
management of protected areas, creation of forest communities and
protected area communities, and private sector investment. In addition,
we need to accelerate the registration of state land in protected
areas, coastal areas, protected forest area, industrial areas, tourism
sites and other uses of land for the public needs by cooperating closely
with related ministries-institutions and all levels of local
authorities.
We have to continue paying attention to the promotion of green social
safety to ensure the management of natural resources, water, land,
forest, fisheries, mines and energy to be more sustainable and
long-lasting for our next generation. This safety refers to the
socio-economic development based on the least carbon emission,
environmental sustainability, natural resource sustainability and safety
of ecological system, adaptation to and resilience to the climate
change by using social protection system, and means of green
development, green economy along with the green technology.
This safety will be based on the pillars of national development,
especially the green youth, green mothers and green general public with
gender equality. Besides, we will continue upgrading the social
protection as well as the green culture society based on the quality of
life and environmental health and the promotion of welfare of women,
children, youth, the disabled, farmers, ethnic minorities, elderly, and
the community through green economic growth and green social safety net.
Taking this opportunity, in order to ensure the effectiveness and
success of green development with broad participation from all relevant
parties, I would like to provide a number of recommendations as follows:
First: the National Council
for Green Development must strengthen the capacity of both the
institution and implementing officials as well as the management
mechanism in order to achieve effectiveness.
Second: the National Council
for Green Development must increase cooperation with the concerned
stakeholders in order to accomplish its mission and vision. At the same
time, related ministries-agencies must provide support to the National
Council for Green Development to help accelerate green development in
Cambodia.
Third: the National Council
for Green Development must pay high attention to the green development
at the national and international level in order to ensure the
effectiveness of Cambodia’s deepened integration into ASEAN.
Fourth: the National Council
for Green Development must broadly disseminate the concept of green
development to the private sector, civil society and general public with
the objective to promote awareness and participation from all
stakeholders.
Fifth: the National Council
for Green Development must mobilize financial support for the
implementation of national policy and national strategic plan from
development partners and stakeholders.
Sixth: the National Council
for Green Development must monitor and evaluate the implementation of
the each sector in order to reflect the progress and shortcomings of its
implementation and works of all related institutions.
Before ending, I would like to emphasize that in order to reach the
objectives of green development, we need to have active participation
from all related stakeholders either in public or private sector through
the implementation of national policy and national strategic plan on
green development in order to promote green development in Cambodia
towards the green culture society and prosperity, making green
development to be recognized as foundation means for economic
development, environmental protection, conservation and protection of
national cultural heritages including tangible and intangible cultural
heritages.
In this regard, I would like to appeal to all ministries-institutions
at the national and sub-national levels, local and international
development partners, private sector and all people to support and take
part in the implementation of the Royal Decree on the organization and
functioning of the National Council for Green Development, Sub-decree on
the organization and functioning of the Secretariat of the National
Green Development Council, National Policy on Green Development and
National Strategic Plan on Green Development 2013-2030.
At the end, together with the official inauguration of the “National Council for Green Development and the Dissemination of the National Policy on Green Development and National Strategic Plan on Green Development 2013-2030” today, I would like to wish Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen and all Participants the four gems of Buddhism blessing: Longevity, Nobility, Healthiness, and Strength./.
ឯកឧត្តមបណ្ឌិតសភាចារ្យ សុខ អាន
ឧបនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីទទួលបន្ទុកទីស្តីការគណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី
តំណាងដ៏ខ្ពង់ខ្ពស់របស់សម្តេចអគ្គមហាសេនាបតីតេជោ ហ៊ុន សែន
បានប្រគល់ប័ណ្ណកម្មសិទ្ធិដីធ្លី
ដែលជាសមិទ្ធផលសម្រេចឡើងដោយវីរៈយុវជនស្ម័គ្រចិត្តសម្តេចតេជោនាយក
រដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ក្រោមគោលនយោបាយចាស់សកម្មភាពថ្មី
ជូនប្រជាពលរដ្ឋនៅឃុំសំរោង និងឃុំត្រពាំងធំខាងត្បូង
ស្រុកត្រាំកក់ ខេត្តតាកែវ ចំនួន ៧៦៨គ្រួសារ ដោយផ្ទាល់ដៃ
នាព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី១៩ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១៣។ នេះជាលើកទី៣
ដែលឯកឧត្តមបណ្ឌិតសភាចារ្យ សុខ អាន
បានអញ្ជើញជាអធិបតីក្នុងពិធីប្រគល់ប័ណ្ណកម្មសិទ្ធិដីធ្លី
ជូនប្រជាពលរដ្ឋក្នុងខេត្តតាកែវ។
