Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia, with around 15 million of inhabitants, is crossed by the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers, the main fishing resources. Having emerged from 30 years of civil war in 1991, the country has greatly improved its infrastructure and is experiencing a wave of property development, even though the main "pillars" of sound development (education, administration, health, etc.) still need reinforcement.  One third of the population lives in great poverty (less than 1$ a day).  The country lives mainly of international aid, subsistence farming and its main industries: clothing and tourism. Every year, Cambodia suffers serious flooding causing substantial economic losses and a considerable impact on the environment.  The country also faces severe deforestation mainly due to illegal selling of wood and development of farmland.

GERES in Cambodia

Since 1994, GERES has been working in Cambodia to develop energy-efficient solutions designed to conserve the environment and improve the living conditions of the Cambodian population. In 2006, GERES Cambodia was the first project developer in the world to put forward an improved cooking stove project to trade on the carbon market.  The "New Lao Stove" saves a considerable quantity of charcoal in relation to traditional stoves and reduces CO2 emissions. The 60-strong GERES Cambodia team offers various forms of consultancy services to companies and organizations in the fields of biomass management, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon and energy audits, as well as research projects and studies on social and environmental topics.

GERES Cambodia projects:

• Improving small-scale palm sugar processing [Energy saving and efficiency]

• Dissemination of improved domestic cook stoves [Energy saving and efficiency]

• Manufacturing "green" charcoal [Clean energy production]

• Recycling combustible waste to make charcoal briquettes [Clean energy production]

• Establishment of renewable biomass energy [Clean energy production]