Awareness raising regarding acid rain and its impacts

Introduction

Acid rain has had a severe impact on the water environment in Cambodia. The phenomenon of the acid rain has been widely recognised from 35 years ago when anglers started noticing a declining number of fish populations in many lakes in Sweden, Ontario, and the Adirondack Mountains of upper New York State. Swedish Scientists identified that it was caused by the increasing acidity of the lake water, and the increasing acidity link to the low pH deposition in the lakes. The Ministry of Environment of Cambodia has dealt with a matter of acid rain in the environmental policy.

The Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) includes 13 member countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and the Royal Government of Cambodia joined EANET in 2001).

As a member of EANET, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been conducting a acid rain monitoring programme through some activities such as hosting the 4th Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC4) and 6th Session of Inter-Governments (IG6) on Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia in Angkor Wat territory, Siem Reap Province in November 2004.

The EANET Secretariat and Acid Deposition Oxidant Research Center (ADORC) paid more attention to supporting the newly participating countries, Cambodia and Lao PDR, since there is a lack of expert staff at the relevant facilities for sampling and analysis.

Dissemination of the programme

The Department of Environmental Pollution Control got support from the Joetsu Environmental Science Center (JOESC) and ADORC, to prepare the Brochure on Acid Deposition Control, with a fund 1,200,000 JPY. The brochure, titled “We intercept and phase out the Acid Deposition Together,” was produced to be disseminated throughout the country.

Picture 1:Cover page of the brochure, Department of Environmnetal Pollution Control 2005

The objectives of the programme are to raise public awareness on minimizing level of acid deposition’s creation and encourage their participation in a close collaboration with other government institutions concerned. Approximately 19,500 sets of brochures were printed and distributed to public/private sectors, relevant institutions, local NGOs, schools/ institutes, and local communities.

The brochure was exhibited at the National Environmental Conference in 2004. The Department of Environmental Pollution Control distributed the brochure to respective Provincial/Municipal Environmental Departments for dissemination of acid rain and its effects to the local institutions/communities concerned.

The staff at the Department of Environmental Pollution Control have also conducted a dissemination programme about the issues related to acid rain and its effects in Siem Reap Province, Battambang Province, and Sihanoukville City. There were 156 participants from various institutions, such as community representatives, relevant provincial/municipal institutions and line agencies, school teachers, NGOs, the private sector, Council of Communes, and local authorities.

The objectives of the seminar were:

• to increase a general awareness about acid deposition, and its harmful effects on environment, ecology, human health, and cultural assets.
• to introduce simple and applicable mechanisms and activities to minimise and phase out the pollution.
• to increase public participation in a future programme for minimising the acid deposition
• to increase the strong support and participation from decision-makers

Conclusion

The officers in charge concluded that the institutions concerned at a local level have gained a basic understanding of the acid rain occurrence and its negative consequences on the environment including aquatic environment. On the other hand, further efforts are needed for local communities to understand this matter. Hence, it will take time for the staff at the Provincial/Municipal Environmental Departments to disseminate information to and/or educate them.

Source
1) Department of Environmental Pollution Control’s report 2004-2005
2) Brochure “We intercept and phase out the Acid Deposition Together”; Department of Environmental Pollution Control, 19 January 2005
3) Ministry of Environment’s Magazine 2005
4) Acid Deposition Dissemination 2005