Cambodia:

Toward an Environmental Ethic in Southeast Asia

From 5-7 November 1997 the Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh held a regional Seminar 'Toward an Environmental Ethic in Southeast Asia'. It was attended by some 50 people from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The seminar was organized in cooperation with the Heinrich-Boell-Foundation (Germany) and the UNDP's Environmental Technical Advisory Programme (ETAP) at the Centre for Culture and Vipassana in Prek Ho, Takhmao (Kandal Province). The purpose was to contribute to the development of a holistic, ecology-based environmental ethic drawing on the indigenous and Eastern belief systems and cultures of peoples in the region. The seminar sought to develop the outlines of a social ethic relevant to the peoples and cultures of the region in order to assist educators, policy-makers, businessmen, academics, the media as well as the general public. It considered Buddhist, Islamic and indigenous/highland peoples' perspectives on the environment and the environmental crisis in an attempt to synthesize and provide a framework for future action.

Based on the premise that environmental ethics is a way of life and not merely a concept, the participants formulated and adopted the following working ethical principles for environmental action:

Realise and be mindful that the entire universe is inter-related and inter-woven;
Further the emerging pattern of social change from a model of individual self-interest to a society based on meeting basic human needs;
Promote responsive moral leadership on environmental issues by representatives of religious and indigenous communities;
Recognise and encourage the special role of women infostering environmental ethics through initiatives in their communities;
Cultivate caring and nurturing qualities in human beings as against dominating and exploitative behaviour;
Integrate ethical and environmental concerns into all forms of education, including and especially community learning;
Promote reciprocity as a tool for mutual aid and community action as building blocks for a cooperative society;
Reclaim indigenous knowledge and wisdom for all humanity;
Develop an inner ecology of the mind through integral human development;
Celebrate the similarities which connect people as well as the diversity that reinforces their cultural identities;
Investigate and analyse causes of the environmental crisis as a means to explore directions that point to transformation for a sustainable future;
Promote and conduct further inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue on environmental ethics.

Source: The Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh