EMS to help protect Angkor-'Crown Jewel' of Cambodia

摘要

Cambodia's World Heritage site of Angkor is endangered by rapidly increasing tourism, road and hotel construction, and waste. The Cambodian Government, with the support of Japanese institutions, is undertaking a programme of protective measures that will include ISO 14001 implementation. The historic temples of Angkor Wat and Bayon are symbols of Cambodia and the pride of Cambodians. However, with a dramatic increase in tourism, it is becoming increasingly important to protect the environment around these World Cultural Heritage sites, so they can be preserved for subsequent generations. Following a similar increase in road and hotel construction and in garbage and waste water from daily living, we at the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA Authority) realized that something had to be done to address the problem of the environmental deterioration of Angkor. In this endeavour, Professor Yoshiaki Ishizawa, of Sophia University, Japan, highly respected by Cambodians and Japanese alike for his untiring efforts to protect the Angkor heritage site, introduced to us to the concept of environmental management systems (EMS) and ISO 14001.