Save our Planet, Educate our Children

Beside supporting PeopleStories, our volunteer / writer Bok Hoon is passionate about environmental matters.  As she was cleaning up a beach on the World Ocean Day in Singapore, she said to herself, “It seems a futile attempt to keep going and keep picking up the trash contributed by people from the neighbouring countries.  The currents bring the trash to us in Singapore on a regular basis. The world is a village, ‘it’s not in my backyard’ mentality cannot solve the problem.”  
 
Bok Hoon’s thought pushed us to think a bit deeper, “How can people be made aware of the environmental effects of their actions?”  The answer is simple, “It all starts with education!”. 

Let’s have a greater understanding of ‘Tonle Sap’ - located in the middle of Cambodia and is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia (10,360 square km at rainy season).  What kind of environmental crisis is it facing?  More importantly, what can people do to improve the situation? 
 
A few of our partner schools are located near Tonle Sap and many families rely on fishing for living.  In fact, one of our partner schools is located in the floating village as part of Tonle Sap.  Our founder Victoria shared, “At Kampong Phulk Secondary & High school, students come to school by bicycles during dry season but you will see them arriving in boats during rainy season.  Such an interesting fact!” 
 
In 2016, the Global Nature Fund, however, named Tonle Sap as the world’s most threatened lake. The lake’s rich fishery is at risk because of (1) Overfishing, (2) Pollution (3) Hydroelectric Dams and (4) Rapid Loss of Forest.   ​

Overfishing in Tonle Sap  
Tonle Sap’s water drains from Tonle Sap into Mekong and  vice versa as a result of an annual phenomenon.  It is home to hundreds of species of fish that provide Cambodia with up to 60% of its protein.  People had to fish for a living and overfishing is inevitable due to the exponential increase in population.  Cambodia’s population has almost quadrupled from 4.4 million in 1950 to 16.9 million in 2020.   
 
To make matter worse, Covid-19 has almost killed the tourism industry in Siem Reap Province and even the price of produce.  People used to be able to migrate to Thailand to work but not now. Hence, more people are turning to fishing for a living. 

​Water Pollution  
Apparently, there is no waste collection in the rural villages.  Hence, the waste would most likely end up in the lake or get burned. The floating villages and dense population of people living around the lake generate a huge amount of waste, causing water pollution.  
 
When speaking with teacher Socheat who also lives in the floating village, she shared, “The biggest environmental problem in Tonle Sap is defecation without toilets!”.  Many houses in the village do not have sewage or piping system to collect their human waste.   
 
Most Cambodia rural families practise subsistence farming, where family members awake before dawn, work is done before noon to avoid the heat. 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of rice paddy is used to provide for a family of 5.   The use of chemicals and pesticides for agriculture has also led to water pollution that eventually runs to Tonle Sap. 

Hydroelectric Dams 
Building of hydroelectric dams within Cambodia and neighbouring countries is devastating to the fishes as the breeding cycles of many fish involves migration between Mekong and Tonle Sap. 
 
Loss of Forest 
Another worrying trend is the rapid loss of forest. According to Protected Planet, about 26 percent of land in Cambodia is designated as a protected area, in which development is prohibited or limited for ecological or cultural conservation. However, data on GFW shows that between 2001 and 2018, Cambodia’s protected areas lost 557,000 hectares of tree cover, about 11.7 percent of the total protected area in Cambodia. ​​

So, what can we do to protect our environment?  Perhaps we can reflect on the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”  As individuals, we can all practise minimalist living, buying only what we need.  For example, there are people who keep buying clothes, shoes and bags.  But do they really use all that they buy?  Very often, things end up being ‘white elephants’ and eventually contribute to the trash level. 
 
As much as we love food, making a conscious effort to eat less meat and more fruits, vegetables and grains can help save our planet. It is healthier and produces less carbon footprints. A win-win situation for all!  How about practising ‘Refuse’?- Refuse to buy things that we do not need, refuse to accept free gifts or any form of hand me downs that we will not be using.  When we do this sufficiently, we do not even need to go to ‘reduce’, ‘recycle’ and ‘reuse’.  Choose to  ‘refuse’ as the top priority of our sustainability efforts. 
 
What is something you will start doing to play a part to save our planet? 

PeopleStories is embarking on a ‘Zero Waste’ Competition as a start.  You can also be part of the PeopleStories’ efforts to save our planet through educating the children.  ​

​Written by: Bok Hoon ONG