ANGKOR and I
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122 vanishing of historical landscapes and so on, have roused an ecological crisis for the Angkor archaeological site that is unprecedented and grave. The global community and UNESCO have expressed great concern regarding this ecological crisis linked to the ruins. Nonetheless the number of tourists continues to rise, and the purchase of admission tickets has exponentially increased. What could be done to tackle such ecological issues that continue to worsen? Although ten years had elapsed since the re-gaining of independence, yet Cambodia lacked the know-how to solve such ecological crises, and neither did it have any experience in this line. The government of the Kingdom of Cambodia had indeed initiated steps against garbage disposal and maintenance of toilets, but it lacked specific goals and concepts for the solution of environmental problems. At that time, the Sophia University Angkor International Mission was amidst its first phase of restoration on the Western Approach to Angkor Wat, and we could not ignore the fact that the ruins had become a pile of garbage. Hence in May 2003, the study team initiated the “Cambodia-Japan Project for the Angkor Environmental Management (ISO 14001),” and embarked on relief activities. On the advice of the SKK Company Ltd. (President and CEO, Maeda Isao), and the cooperation of three specialized institutions, namely Japan’s International Standards Research Institute (ISRI), Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA), and Quality Assurance Research Institute (JQAI), we had repeated talks with the local APSARA Authorities. We concluded that the basic solution to the problem lay in ecological education, and in training Cambodian human resources who could deal with ecological issues. So, having as our goal the environmental management system certification of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14001), we felt assured that it was vital on our part to train human resources, and discover clues to resolve the crisis. It was thus we initiated the support of environmental education. Under the Director General of the APSARA National Authority, around 300 staff and technicians were

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