Community Action
Clean-ups and local participation, planned around the rise and fall of Tonle Sap.
Villages clean their own shores.
Most floating villages have no waste collection. Plastic is burned or thrown in the water. Community Action brings families, village leaders, local authorities and volunteers together to remove it and to change habits.
Clean-ups are timed with the lake. In the wet season, plastic hangs in the flooded trees. In the dry season, it is left on the ground when the water recedes.
Moments from the work.
2018
Water Rising and Water Falling
From December 2018, with Ocean Recovery Alliance and other partners: festivals every six months with mass clean-ups and awareness events.
2021
Mechrey keeps going
Covid stopped the festival, but families in Mechrey kept collecting. Plastic was stored in a village "plastic barn" built in 2020.
2023
Clean families
In Kampong Phluk, families who keep a clean home and sort their plastic are recognised as "clean families".
2024
Six months on the lake
A dry-season campaign moves from Kampong Khleang to Kampong Phluk, Chong Khneas and Mechrey.
Sources: Cambodianess, 20/08/21; Cambodianess, 04/02/24; Phnom Penh Post, 26/06/23.
On the water.
