It is easy to blame marginalized communities in poorer Countries for not being better stewards of the Planet. But if you are living on a floating or stilted house on or along the Tonle Sap in Cambodia with no infrastructure and worrying about feeding your family, plastic is not at the top of your list as part of your survival. It is NGO2 Bambooshoot's commitment to bridge this gap with education and simple infrastructure that will improve the sustainability of the Lake and the conditions for those that make their homes there.
NGO2 BambooShoot was established in 2009 and was founded to empower rural Cambodian girls through education. The focus of the organization shifted in 2018 to concentrate on education, awareness raising and problem solving the issue of plastic in the communities that live on and along the shores of Lake Tonle Sap in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
As the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia the Tonle Sap is one of the most biodiverse and unique bodies of water in the World. During Cambodia's monsoon season the Lake expands and deepens by double its size due to the reversal of the Mekong and provides a breeding ground for fish and birds. When the river changes direction again and the water levels recede, and leaves behind nutrient rich lands for growing but also leaves behind significant amounts of plastic. The Tonle Sap is large food source in Cambodia and the deterioration of fish breeding grounds due to all environmental issues leaves already "at risk" communities at further risk to health issues and malnutrition.
None of the floating water communities in this area have infrastructure to remove plastic and waste from their villages meaning that plastic finds its way into the Lake or is burned. Climate change, upstream damming and plastic pollution are threatening the health of the Lake and the people who live there. NGO2 BambooShoot has been working at the grassroots level to raise awareness, organize, encourage and provide support to local governments, youth groups and communities to do regular clean ups of plastic. Water Falling and Water Rising Festivals were created as annual awareness raising events to promote community involvement and empowerment. To date approximately 2000 tons of plastic has been removed during organized events with additional plastic removed during locally organized clean ups.
But if there is no infrastructure, how do we break the cycle of plastic entering the Lake? Step 1) is continued education and Step 2) is implementation of a program to collect and remove all plastic from each household. With proper funding we can provide a full circle system of Education - Collection - Removal - Recycle in the form of a Harvest Plastic program. Based on the Ministry and Waste management company average waste numbers per household in Cambodia, this program can prevent 500 tons of plastic from entering the Lake per year.
There are multiple ways donations can contribute and all your funds go directly to implement programs to educate, support regular clean ups and ongoing removal of plastic from the Lake. Below are some examples of where your dollars can make a difference. EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!
$100 Eco warriors to visit households weekly
$200 Monthly waste removal from community to
recyclers (for one community)
$300 Tonle Sap Eco warriors monthly outreach education (for one community)
$500 Eco Warrior Workshop training for household to household outreach
$1500 Education, Collection and Removal for an entire village for one month
$2000 Exclusive support for one Cleanup festival (Water Falling or Water Rising Festival)
$18,000 Exclusive sponsorship for the Harvest plastic program for one
entire year
