Eang Sophalleth (middle), a personal assistant to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, attended the Second Sino-Cambodia Workshop on Water and Environmental Management Cooperation, held during Dec. 25 and 31, 2016.

The Second Sino-Cambodia Workshop on Water and Environmental Management Cooperation was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia during Dec. 25 and 31, 2016. At the invitation of the organizing committee, Prof. WU Zhenbin, Prof. HE Feng, Prof. QIU Dongru, Associate Prof. ZHOU Qiaohong and Associate Prof. XU Dong from Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) visited Cambodia and attended the workshop.    

The Second Sino-Cambodia Workshop on Water and Environmental Management Cooperation was organized by Ministry of Environment in Cambodia. More than 100 Chinese and Cambodian representatives whose research fields focused on environmental sciences, drinking water, sewage treatment and ecology participated in this workshop.    

Eang Sophalleth, a personal assistant to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, as well as Sokhan Rithikun, director general of Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and Heng Narethn, director of Department of Pollution Control at Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment attended the workshop. Tan Qingsheng, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia was also present.    

Prof. WU Zhenbin gave an oral presentation with the title of “Ecological Restoration of Polluted Water Bodies in China and the Cooperation with Cambodia”. As a representative from China, he also joined the in-depth discussion with the officials from Cambodia during the roundtable session.    

After the workshop, IHB researchers visited Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and discussed with Prof. Oum Ravy, vice president of RUPP and Chea Eliyan, executive director of the Department of Environmental Sciences at RUPP on issues regarding bilateral cooperation, personnel exchanges and feasibility of ecological restoration technology applied in water bodies such as constructed wetlands. They also visited some departments at RUPP and had a field survey on the possible site that later the restoration technology would be applied.    

IHB researchers conducted survey on water environment and water ecology with the Cambodian partners along the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap River which is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.    

The trip to Cambodia was part of the implementation of the international major project “Investigation & Evaluation of Aquatic Resources and Construction of Joint Platform in Typical Areas of GMS” which was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the meantime, it was part of the implementation of MoU between IHB and RUPP signed in November 2016.  

Sokhan Rithikun, director general of Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, communicated with IHB Prof. WU Zhenbin.

IHB Prof. WU Zhenbin an oral presentation at the Second Sino-Cambodia Workshop on Water and Environmental Management Cooperation, held during Dec. 25 and 31, 2016.

Prof. HE Feng discussed cooperation issues with Dr. Oum Ravy, vice president of RUPP.

IHB researchers visited a lab at RUPP.

IHB researchers visited a sewage treatment plant in Phnom Penh.

IHB researchers collected samples of aquatic organisms and investigated water quality of Mekong River.

IHB researchers collected samples of aquatic organisms and investigated water quality of Tonle Sap River.

IHB researchers pretreated samples of plankton collected from the Tonle Sap River.