Myanmar (Burma)
Cambodia
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cambodia
Overview:
Cambodia borders Thailand in the west and north, Laos in the northeast, and Vietnam to the east, with the Gulf of Thailand forming a southern coastline. Flowing south out of Laos, the Mekong River transects the eastern half of the country. An enormous lake, the Tonle Sap, is the dominate feature of Cambodia’s mostly flat, low-lying interior; this basin was the rice bowl of ancient Angkor, the largest preindustrial settlement in the world. The wild Cardamom Mountains lay in the southwest; the rugged, dry Dangrek Escarpment forms a natural boundary to the north, while to the northeast, terrain rolls up from the Mekong basin to form red-dirt upland dry-forest ecosystems in the Rattanakiri and Mondolkiri Provinces. Over 90% of Cambodia’s 14.5-million people are ethnic Khmer and Theravada Buddhist with minority Vietnamese, Chinese, Lao, and Cham groups. Many Cham follow Islam. The“Khmer Loeu,” or highland Khmer – comprising more than eight ethno-linguistically distinct tribal groups – form a majority population in the two easternmost provinces.
Colonialism, the Cold War, and civil war have left a cruel residue on Cambodia’s modern history. More recently, environmental devastation should be added to this list. The UNDP’s Human Development Index ranks Cambodia 136 of 179 countries.
- Life expectancy at birth is 58 years. One in four adult men will die before reaching 40 years. Thirty-three percent of the population is malnourished; 143 of 1,000 children born will not see their fifth birthday. Fewer than 10% of rural households have electricity.
- One out of four adults is illiterate. The rate of expenditure on education is among the lowest in the world.
- Environmental indexes rank Cambodia near the bottom. Significantly, indexes measuring corruption rank Cambodia near the top. From 2000-2005, Cambodia lost more than 25,000 square kilometers of primary forest. Illegal logging remains a significant factor.
In Cambodia, BSSPI works with community-based organizations to improve education opportunities and access to credit, enabling alternative livelihoods that reduce dependency on an overburdened environment.
You too can help. Just a little goes a long way.
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