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Bangkok (UPI) Oct 6, 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)
The World Wildlife Fund called for Asia's first regional climate change adaptation agreement in the Greater Mekong region.
The area -- which comprises Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and southwest provinces of China -- is already strongly affected by climate change, and a lack of immediate action will come at great cost to the Mekong nations, states a WWF report released Monday in Bangkok, while the U.N. climate change talks were still in progress.
The WWF report, "The Greater Mekong And Climate Change: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Development at Risk," says the region, covering an area of 600,000 square kilometers, is to undergo major changes caused by climate change.
"Greater regional cooperation and coordination among Mekong nations is necessary to best cope with the impacts of climate change," said Geoffrey Blate, Climate Change Coordinator for the WWF Greater Mekong Program, Xinhua reports.
Over the last 50 years, average daily temperatures across Southeast Asia have increased between 0.5 and 1.5 centigrade. By the end of this century, the report says, temperatures in the Greater Mekong region are predicted to rise between 2 to 4 centigrade. WWF said that the region's coastal communities are threatened by a rise in sea levels, and changes to the climate are stressing ecosystems.
The region is home to more than 300 million people. Also known for its rich biodiversity, some 1,000 new species were discovered in Mekong during the last 10 years.
Land is being lost in coastal zones of the Greater Mekong, WWF said, and glacial melting in the Himalayas may impact the region's major rivers. Wetlands will either dry up or become flooded out, WWF predicts.
The WWF report calls for implementing a regional climate change adaptation agreement and for a reduction in non-climate stresses such as unsustainable infrastructure.
"There is a leadership opportunity here to champion what would be Asia's first regional climate change adaptation agreement to help Greater Mekong nations prepare for the inevitable impacts of climate change," said Blate.
WWF also called for decisive action on a global scale to avoid the consequences of climate change. It urged world leaders to strike an ambitious and fair agreement on a climate treaty at the U.N.-backed talks in Copenhagen in December.
"Rich and developed nations must make deep emission cuts and commit to significant financial help to assist vulnerable regions such as the Greater Mekong," said Kim Carstensen, who heads up WWF's Global Climate Initiative, Xinhua reports.
Go wild in Phnom Penh
Amok frog
Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary entrance
Local selling peanuts
Monkey's roam freely at Tamao
Feeding fish to the otters
Deer
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)
Nestled within the southern jungles of Phnom Penh lies the Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia's leading sanctuary for animals seized from smugglers or traps set up by poachers.
Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary was founded by the father of a famous Cambodian actress and is now sponsored by the government as well as other non-government organisations.
On the 44km drive from central Phnom Penh to the sanctuary, travellers should take the opportunity to visit Or Phea Sang Village Ka Deung Commune located 3km from Tamao Mountain.
The village is dedicated to farming frogs, which are then used to create Amok Frog - a skinned and cooked frog stuffed with lemongrass on a skewer. The main road is lined on each side with local stalls cooking and selling the specialty.
Travellers then only need to drive for another ten minutes before reaching Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary where they will be greeted by locals selling peanuts and bananas that can be used to feed the animals
Local tour guides are also there to assist visitors and take them around the enormous sanctuary which gives ample caging space for its furry residents.
Animals at the sanctuary include yellow-throated martens, mongoose, peacocks, flying squirrels, turtles, tigers, cranes, gibbons and monkeys just to name a few.
The majority of the animals may never be returned to the wild as the price on their head is high.
You can feed almost all of the animals and if you're unsure you can ask the tour guide if the animal is friendly or not - the free roaming monkeys usually come straight up to you to grab a peanut or banana.
For US$1 you can get a bundle of fish or six hard-boiled eggs to feed the otters which literally scream when they see your hand full of food. You can even buy a coconut and feed the elephants or the bears.
It takes less than two hours to see all the animals with the last stop at the elephant enclosure where visitors are given the chance to see an elephant paint.
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