From left: Dr. Neth Barom, Vice Rector, RUPP; Dr. Ranjith Perera, SEA-UEMA Project Director; H.E. Dr Mok Mareth, Minister of Environment, Cambodia; Prof. ATM Nurul Amin, AIT President's Representative; Mr. Somphone Phanousith, WEP, Lao PDR
CIDA-AIT holds Professional Training Program, International Conference and Networks Meeting
The CIDA-AIT Partnership / SEA-UEMA Project facilitated by the UEM FoS, AIT recently held the International Conference on Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) in Southeast Asian Cities. The event was held at Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The Conference was held in collaboration with the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and the Waste Econ Program (WEP) of Canada, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam.
Hon. Trac Thai Sieng delivers his keynote address on Quality Environment
H.E. Dr. Mok Mareth, the Cambodian Minister of Environment inaugurated the Conference after the welcome of the participants by Dr. Neth Barom, Vice Rector of RUPP. The first keynote address by Hon. Trac Thai Sieng, Vice Governor of Phnom Penh municipality, highlighted the socio-economic management and community participation aspects of ISWM. The second keynote address by Prof. C. Visvanathan, faculty member of SERD AIT focused on the Mechanical-Biological Treatment of solid waste to enhance resource recovery and to minimize environmental impacts on the ecosystem and reduce health risks.
The keynote address by Prof. C. Visvanathan of AIT focuses on pre-treatment of solid waste before disposal for resource recovery and reduction of environmental impacts
Over a hundred people attended the Conference where 34 papers were presented by authors from academia and research, environmental technology and management, and national and local governments. The issues discussed in the plenary and parallel sessions covered regional perspectives and experiences related to composting and resource recovery, energy generation, experiences from SEA countries and community participation. Other issues of concern highlighted during the Conference were economic and financial aspects, waste minimization, clean technology, community/municipality level solid waste management, environmental impact assessment and audit systems, standards, hazardous wastes and land filling. As a cross cutting theme of the project, gender issues in relation to SWM were also discussed at the Conference.
The Conference was preceded by a Professional Training Program (PTP) on ISWM on 4-5 July 2005 for participants primarily involved in project activities and/or belong to the project's sub-sector networks. The PTP was a platform of sharing of experiences and lessons learned from each of the SEA countries. More than 50 participants and resource persons including the members of host organizations attended the training which culminated in a joint field trip with the participants of the Conference to observe SWM practice in primary school and waste facilities at the Angkor complex. All the participants in the training also attended the Conference which was concluded in the early afternoon of 7 July.
The SEA-UEMA Project's third event called the Second Annual Sub-sector Networks Meeting was held on 8 July 2005 in collaboration with its facilitating partner, RUPP. Prior to the event, a partners' consultative meeting was held to discuss strategies for the networks planning. The Networks Meeting reviewed plans and strategies to expand the existing network to more focus cities and participate in extensive action research, demonstration and pilot projects, and share lessons learned. It emphasized on ways to build a wider network on water and sanitation, solid waste and air pollution. The presence of a large number of AIT alumni in the network meeting enabled a meeting of the alumni to discuss areas of cooperation for a better and improved environment in the region.