PHNOM PENH: On October 5, Minister of Environment Eang Sophalleth met with German Ambassador Stefan Messerer where the two discussed cooperation on environmental issues. Messerer said that Germany will contribute to strengthening Cambodia’s environmental sector in terms of solid and liquid waste management and waste recycling techniques.

The German diplomat congratulated Eang Sophalleth on his appointment as Minister of Environment and pledged continued bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, the minister thanked the Germany for its special attention to regional and global environmental issues, particularly climate change, plastic pollution reduction and building a circular economy that reduces waste.

He told the ambassador that his ministry’s campaign to reduce plastic bag use had reached over 1.4 million students so far, which he hopes will make a positive change in attitudes of the younger generations in the fight against plastic waste.

Cambodia-Germany bilateral cooperation supports Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) through the ASEAN project, the One Health project on Tonle Sap Lake, natural resource and coastal zone management, climate-resilient agriculture, and solid waste management.

In April, EAC News spoke to team members from German NGO Everwave, who had teamed up with Cambodia’s Ocean River Cleanup to remove plastics from Cambodia’s river. In one year, the project had collected 400 hundred tons of waste from the Mekong, Tonlé Sap and Bassac Rivers.