Environment officials, provincial and district governors receive safe village-commune awards from ministry secretary of state Neth Pheaktra (centre, in suit) on October 19. NETH PHEAKTRA VIA FACEBOOK
Twenty communes collected awards in the “Safe village-commune” competition, which focused on beauty, public hygiene and a clean environment. The October 19 award ceremony was presided over by Neth Pheaktra, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Environment.
Pheaktra said the “Environmentally Friendly Encouragement Programme” and the Safe Village-Commune awards are a way of changing people’s mindsets and spreading awareness about the environment the need for the public to participate in its protection.
He explained that the competition was judged on beauty, public hygiene and a clean environment, and aimed to encourage village and commune authorities to promote these values. The ministry believed this would increase the harmony of the communes, attracting more tourists and improving people’s wellbeing.
“Effective, well-organised communes must have incinerators, garbage trucks, and hot and cold water filters in public and private schools and pagodas. Protecting public order and people’s well-being, while providing necessary public services, is crucial. Educating people so they pay closer attention to the environment is also necessary, as this will ensure everyone’s participation, and lead to a cleaner, more prosperous Cambodia,” he said.
He added that the competition part of the Green Belt development in Cambodia to make towns and urban centres more attractive.
“A clean Cambodia is the future that we want. This is closely linked to eco-tourism and agro-tourism. If we are successful, it will also promote the Kingdom’s agricultural products,” he said.
Pheaktra added the ministry had provided the knowledge, materials and funds to improve all three of the criteria which the competition was judged on.
Ken Serey Ratha, head of the ministry’s General Department of Environmental Knowledge and Information, said 54 communes from 25 capital and provinces had entered the competition. After careful examination of each of the entrants – by a dedicated team of ministry specialists – 20 communes were selected as winners.
The ministry also awarded 330 certificates of environmental friendliness to 159 individuals and 171 legal entities, which ranged from state institutions, to NGOs, to pagodas.
