I wish first of all to pay my tributes to the Venerable Buddhist Monks. My respect and thanks go also to Samdech, students, and all of you, ladies and gentlemen, my beloved fellow compatriots, for attending the present magnificent Tree Planting Day of 9 July, in this superb province of Kompong Chhnang.

Today is a most auspicious day, the day I have the great pleasure and distinct honor to speak to you on behalf of His Majesty, Preach Bat Norodom Sihanouk, our sacred King and Her Majesty the Queen, the most respected Samdech Preah Reach Akka-Mohesei.

I wish to pay my deepest gratitude to the Royal Government, especially to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, and to the officials in Kompong Chhnang, along with your colleagues, for the organization of this Tree Planting Ceremony, to serve one of the highest interests of our nation.

On the one hand, the tradition of our tree planting which we observe today bears a great meaning for the awareness raising amongst our people and amongst our government officials throughout the country. It serves to encourage them to like trees, to participate in tree planting and preservation, to upholding the interest of our people in their living by producing agricultural products for the well- being of their families. This is also helpful for the environment.

On the other hand, the observation of the tree planting ceremony means the following of the policy of His Majesty, King Norodom Sihanouk and Samdech Preah Akka-Mohesei. Their Majesties have always been concerned with the forests and tree plantings and have presided frequently over these planting ceremonies.

In the new and current step of our policy of national reconciliation and peace, the image of planting a young tree can be looked upon as a symbol for the celebration of other successful efforts. This 9 July 1999 tree planting will stand as a symbol for the preservation and maintenance of our timber resources.

This ceremony also reflects the effort made by the Royal Government, led by Samdech Hun Sen, in the implementation of a dynamic policy of forest conservation, by using the international standards set up by international organizations such as the ITTO and the FSC. The policy encourages a large participation by other components of the community in the management and planting of trees which will provide a variety of life- sustaining means as well as supporting development, economy and the society itself. Our forestry resources are not only valuable economically, but also possess other values in regard to the environment, culture, history, tourism, and academic research. Trees also prevent erosion for the common good, and provide shelters for men and animals.

Along this line, today's participation at this tree-planting ceremony shows the popular support from every milieu for the tree planning movement. As this current event is looked upon, this movement can be considered as a major obligation tightly linked to the life of the people in earning a living and in providing a green and comfortable coverage to our land. Besides, pagodas and our venerable monks are participating in a dynamic manner in this happy and benevolent movement.

In sum, this morning's ceremony once again reflects the timely awareness of our entire people in regard to the prosperity of our timber resources. It shakes up the conscience of those responsible for the future of our Motherland. For our present generation as well as for the next, and for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we need to focus on regular tree replanting. We should systematically pursue this enterprise in order to make it possible for our nation to preserve a certain stability, to protect the environment and keep the green beauty of our trees.

Venerable Monks,

Samdech, Excellencies,

Students and my very dear fellow countrymen,

War and instability during the past three decades, and especially for the past several years, logging and the abuses thereof as well as abuses on the law of environment and the law governing forestry have accelerated.

This sort of devastation has spread negative influence on the environment of our society. It hurts the restoration and development of our land now and in the future. Such a devastating practice has put the nation under frequent threat from nature such as floods, drought and erosion causing land to collapse. If we do not take corrective action now, the sources of rivers, lakes and canals will diminish. Wildlife habitats will be lost. Climatic change will occur. Fish and their habitats in the Tonle Sap, a great lake providing food for our people, will be lost

Anarchy surrounding forestry has become chronic and complex. It is deeply rooted in our society. But the Royal Government, in its 2nd term, headed by Samdech Hun Sen as Prime Minister, adopted with all its might vigorous measures which resulted in progressively reducing or totally eliminating abuses of all types in logging and will make the administration of our forests durable.

From this time on, in order to achieve concrete results in the restoration and development of forests and return it to the normal situation, we will have to adopt a clear logging policy, fulfilling efficiently all conditions. This policy must respond to the evolution in our present society. At the same time, it will be imperative to develop material, technical, human and financial competence which will oblige the government to do all it can to secure international aid to help support this program.

Along with the main goals, and in order to achieve political goals of logging, citizens must not stand idly by. Every citizen must not think of tree replanting and the preservation of forests and the protection of timber resource as only the duty of another individual or institution. On the contrary, tree planting is now the duty of each and every Cambodian citizen, including the military organizations, police, students, Buddhist monks, government officials of all levels, all ranks, all institutions throughout the Kingdom of Cambodia. Besides the annual tradition of tree replanting, each citizen must volunteer and plant trees around courtyards, around the houses, around temples and pagodas, along public streets and roads, around hospitals and schools in order to create a beauty and charm to our homes and villages. At the same time, each one of us must create a habit of planting at least a tree of our own for every newly-wed couple as a symbol of true love between the new husband and wife, a symbol which will be attractive to other villagers as well.

I have the firm belief that, because of the common dynamic effort we will all make together, a new atmosphere will be created in our country, and a new sense of responsibility will arise in the projection of forest and environment in our land.

I wish to take this opportunity to pay our deepest gratitude to friendly countries, to international organizations and to a number of non-government organization which are concerned in helping the Royal Cambodian Government protect its natural resources, especially forestry and wildlife. These are vital problems bearing highest values for the restoration and development of the present and future society. The continuation of the provision of aid in this field will have to last long into the future, for it is of the highest value for Cambodia.

At the same time, I wish to appeal to my fellow-countrymen who are living on illegal logging and destruction of forests, to please stop immediately these unconscionable operations, for the earning from illegal logging constitutes a serious abuse in contradiction to the benefit of our nation. In particular, the environmental damage caused by the destruction of forests will bear harmful effects for a very long time to come for our society, which also includes also the very abusers and their families.

In this case, not only must we avoid destroying the forests, but also we must adopt together a new view of saving, in our daily use, forest by-products of all kind. We must also adopt the energetic spirit of law-abiding citizens in order to share in the building of the Kingdom of Cambodia into a true legal state.

On this auspicious occasion, when our people throughout the country undertake to maintain the spirit of long-term preservation and protection of our national forest resources, I wish to appeal to all local authorities and to people in every place, to please cooperate in the preservation of our young trees. These young trees have been just planted, they need special care in order to grow rapidly. Please make sure they will not be lost due to negligence and lack of concern.

Finally, I wish to formulate the very best Buddhist wishes to the Venerable Members of the Buddhist Clergy present on this tribune of honor today. These wishes also go to you, Samdech, Excellencies, students, teachers and all of you, ladies and gentlemen, my very dear fellow Cambodians.

Thank you.

Translated by Senator Chhang Song

Distributed by the Cabinet of Samdech Chea Sim

Located in the Chamkar Mon Senate Compound