Greetings to You All
I am very pleased to share with you all the cyberspace communication to address the urgent issues of our fragile world today ranging from economics, the depletion of natural resources, society, food security to human life. We are now at a real peril as each nation or country is trying very hard to develop their economies without concrete mechanisms to deal with the externalities from economic growth and expansionary trade worldwide. When there is no linkage amongst capitalism, globalism, information technology, economics, social science and political science, the human atrocity definitely emerges out of the uncontrollable ecological and environmental problems.
If it is for the sake of charity, cooperation, harmony and humanity, our planet and earth can no longer sustain our present human social and economic activities for the sake of high competition dictated by the market economy, crony capitalism, economic development without ecological conscience and the developed world keeping providing instructions and orders to the less developed one, as well as the predominant diverse national interests rising above our collective efforts of mankind for the better together.
In order to well address the issues of climate change, there should be a permanent institution composed of budgets, funds and measures. From the advanced countries, they should provide some sorts of funds for the developing world to properly deal with the side effects of climate change. The motto of the world should stay within the ecological premise that nature loves us as we love it. The destruction of environment for the ultimate aims of social and economic development brings in the calamity for us as citizens of the world.
I do see Information Communication and Technology as very essential and strategic to the closed caring of our fragile ecological system. Also, I do believe that the ICT for development and poverty reduction becomes key to the developing and less developed countries to keep pace up with the developed one in terms of better living conditions and balanced growth with sound environmental management. In this way, sustainable and clean environment does match the principal concept of sustainable development for everyone.
The globalized seminar on ICT and environment is somehow a useful tool for the debate among the participants to raise concerns about the high exposure of ecology to climate change, global warming and the destruction of the nature by all kinds of means and human actions.
The workshop, I hope, will equip us with awareness and knowledge in the role of ICT for the simultaneous development with healthy and sound environment. Experiences in the domain from specialists and experts of all strata of life do definitely contribute to the mobilized force of ecological and environmental conscience. I also anticipate the technological and electronic divide among the haves, the have-nots and the inaccessible to be bridged significantly. Then, ICT starts to turn itself into a new phase of social and economic development inclusive of clean and good environment.
On this occasion, I am very pleased to partake in the workshop on ICT and Environment to be organized by the Swedish University of Agriculture in coordination with the SPIDER Center. We highly appreciate SPIDER, in particular its director, Dr. Afzal Sher and the Swedish University of Agriculture as well as other involved Swedish stakeholders for having extended the invitation to us to this very crucial event.
I look forward to having active cooperation among all participants.
Thank you for your collaboration and attention.
PHNOM PENH, 03rd March 2008
By Dr. CHHUN Vannak
Associate Dean of Graduate School of Management,
and Academic Professor of Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC),
Advisor to the Ministry of Environment &
to H.E. Dr. MOK Mareth, Senior Minister and Minister of Environment
KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
