Thailand
empowering its people to protect the environment
I was based out of the graduate faculty of the Asian Institue of Technology in northern Bangkok. My impression of Thailand was of a people embracing new environmental thinking. It appeared that the King was helping to drive this and truly believes in empowering his people. A breath of fresh air in a region where dictatorship - prosperity for the ruling class appeared much more prevalent (see Cambodia to the east).
Cambodia
scratching out a living seem to fall well ahead of protecting the environment for a future meal
I went overland by bus, pickup to Batambang in south-central Cambodia. Our goal was to visit some hotels in Siem Reap, tourism base for the temple complex of Angor Wat. To get to Siem Reap, we were to cross the Tonle Sap lake (now designated as a UNEP biosphere reserve). On both ends of this water journey, we got to view first hand, Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees living off the land (or more correctly the river delta). A low ecological footprint for sure, as it was one of my first opportunities to see people who likely had never really used electricity. They were 95% reliant on what the water brought them, and for many that meant fish. Apparently, the Cambodian government/monarchy had decided to conduct extensive logging around the lake which was leading to excessive sedimentation entering the lake damaging fish resources.
I also witnessed what is now a common sight in Asia, plastic bags and bottles. Fortunately, the bottles were often being reused.
Vietnam
thermal mass of concrete buildings provide very cool interior environments in the north
The first visit to Vietnam in the summer of 2000, I zipped quickly through the south with my destination Hanoi and in particular the northern part of Vietnam, Sapa region near the Chinese border. Not only was there 'the highest mountain peak in IndoChina' but a chance to see a small village and surrounding indigenous countryside being impacted by the new gold rush or tourism.
Malaysia and Borneo
the protected island of Mt. Kinabalu
Singapore
incredible amount of trees covering what seemed like 75% of the pavement in the country...oh yeah and clean for sure
Indonesia
dense, friendly, tourism development the real impact (Kuta Beach water pollution in with the tide)
Sri Lanka
poor nation (crippled by Tamil war and Tsunami) with the education system, forethought, and will power to make environmental design changes
The final third of my visit was a professional sojourn to Sri Lanka to assist the Confifi Group Hotels assess and shift their business practices to a more sustainable path. They saw the opportunity to have an "inexpensive" grad student assist them as more than worth it. Over 3 weeks I was offered the opportunity to look inside one of the largest hospitality companies in the country.
I began by trying to understand what was driving this company and in particular this Director (Mr. F. Ansar) to embrace environmental change and promote it as feverishly as he did. He admitted that his daughter was enthralled with environmental studies at school and that sparked his interest (concluding there is power in our children). But he also told me in not as many words that the Aitken Spence Group and in particular the Kandalama Hotel had changed the market for 5 star hotels in Sri Lanka. With the arrival of the much acclaimed Kandalama in the mid 90's, European tourists and even more importantly European tour companies were beginning to demand a minimum environmental standard in the companies that they dealt with. So in this case money was talking.European vacationers were unknowingly changing an industry half a world away for the good. At the Confifi Group Hotels, although the environmental focus was to be the 5-star Eden Hotel, the trickle down effect meant that I was to examine the whole "fleet" of hotels and in fact other business units including a fish farm. To my satisfaction, not only did the director push for this holistic view of the company and the environment, but the people at the management and engineering level did as well!
In the end, over 100 managers, staff, and employees through to the gardeners and kitchen staff sat through 6 hour environmental workshops on two different occasions in 2000 and 2001. An environmental policy was developed and purchasing, engineering, and landscaping departments were beginning to formulate a management system to deal with environmental problems.
Unfortunately, the armed conflict with northern island Tamils and more recently the December 2005 Tsunami have likely slowed the evolution of the Confifi Hotel Group into a truly environmentally operated company although I have no doubt they have come a long way already.
NOTE: My thoughts are with the Confifi Staff after the first floor was inundated by the Tsunami
