The Cambodian government recently announced its plans to implement ISO 14001 to protect the temples of Angkor, one of the world’s oldest and most beautiful historic sites. Angkor, which was built between 879 and 1191, is listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. It’s inundated with up to 500,000 tourists every year, which has made it increasingly important to protect the environmentally sensitive, fragile area where the temples are located.

“Following a(n)… increase in road and hotel construction and in garbage and waste water from daily living, we at the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap realized that something had to be done to address the problem of the environmental deterioration of Angkor,” says Bun Narith, APSARA president and executive director.

APSARA hasn’t previously had a formal environmental management system for Angkor. It was introduced to ISO 14001 by Yoshiaki Ishizawa, a professor at Sophia University in Japan. The implementation of ISO 14001 in Angkor is enthusiastically supported by Hun Sen, prime minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and other Cambodian government leaders.

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