"‘Factories, fossil fuels mostly to blame for climate change’", 28 March 2019

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra … blamed climate change and global warming on greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industrial factories and the burning of fossil fuels in developed countries. He said deforestation is only a small contributing factor.

Pheaktra was speaking … at the Council of Ministers entitled The Impact of Climate Change during the Dry Season and the Public Health Care Response to publicise measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and maintain public health during the dry season.

One factor, he said, was simply Earth’s cyclical nature. But in addition to this, global warming and climate change were the results of greenhouse gas and fossil fuel emissions in developed countries. This, Pheaktra stressed, were the main problems.

Deforestation plays only a small part and is not a major problem in Cambodia, and the ministry had been actively curbing it, he stressed…

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said there are two Ministries – the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology – that monitor global warming using scientific equipment and satellite imagery…

Pen Bonna, a senior land and natural resources officer for rights group Adhoc, broadly agreed with the Ministry of Environment but stressed the role of forestland.

“Forests play an important role in protecting the ozone layer and removing toxins from factory smoke. Climate change is definitely related to deforestation. The world has long declared the importance of the ozone layer. Forests are essential,” he said.