4Vol.

March 2018

Table of ContentsVol. 4 issued March 2018

I. Preface ......................................................................................................................... 1
II. Articles ....................................................................................................................... 3
1. Yasunaka, Kayo “View of Labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes:
From the Perspective of Biblical Studies” .......................................................... 3
2. Takimoto, Kanako “A Study on Happiness in Bhutan:
From Data of the 2005 AsiaBarometer” ............................................................. 15
III. Research Note .......................................................................................................... 45
Pumaneratkul, Chayadit “A Review on Energy Situation in Slovenia” ................. 45
IV. Course Reports ......................................................................................................... 59
1 2016 On-Site Practice II ..................................................................................... 59- Chen, YanShuang..................................................................................... 59- Chen, Yan................................................................................................. 63- Gines, Arnold Rey B. .............................................................................. 67- Chi, Lirong............................................................................................... 72- Liu, Xiao .................................................................................................. 76- Ohashi, Tasuku ........................................................................................ 77- Sumi, Yu .................................................................................................. 81
2 2017 Joint Seminar II ......................................................................................... 85
2.1 Group A...................................................................................................... 85- Mukayama, Tomoyuki ............................................................................. 85- Khalili, Mostafa ....................................................................................... 90- Takimoto, Kanako.................................................................................... 95- Chen, YanShuang................................................................................... 100
2.2 Group B.................................................................................................... 105- Gines, Arnold Rey B.............................................................................. 105- Sato, Yutaro.............................................................................................111- Cho, Hyungbeom ................................................................................... 117- Yang, Huimin ......................................................................................... 122

2.3 Group C.................................................................................................... 130- Chen, Yan............................................................................................... 130- Umemoto, Asuka ................................................................................... 138- Zhang, Fan ............................................................................................. 141
3 2017 Fieldwork B ............................................................................................. 145
3.1 Group 1 .................................................................................................... 145- Mukayama, Tomoyuki ........................................................................... 145
3.2 Group 3 .................................................................................................... 151- Shimabukuro, Yuji ................................................................................. 151
3.3 Group 4 .................................................................................................... 156- Yoshioka, Kentaro.................................................................................. 156- Hajjaj, Mohammed Awad ...................................................................... 160
3.4 Group 5 .................................................................................................... 167- Masaki, Shingo ...................................................................................... 167

Preface

Editor’s Preface
Anne Gonon
Chief Editor, GRM Journal
Professor, Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University
It is my great honor and pleasure to announce the publication of the fourth volume of the
Global Resource Management (GRM) Journal.
The next issue will be published online to fit with the main academic trend, but also toreceive more papers and new readers.
From the first issue published in 2014, many changes have occurred to reflect students’
academic interests. Apart selected student’s papers, a large part is now dedicated to
student participation in various academic and practical projects through fieldworks andthe discoveries of other countries (on site trainee).
The present issue is also representative of the GRM Program that combines practice andtheory. Students are becoming increasingly involved in many different types of researchand it is fascinating to discover the great diversity of their interests. From Cambodia to
Europe, from development to new technologies and environmental problems, now more
students than ever are prepared to adopt a social science perspective. They point out
some of the most serious problems as environmental destruction.
I am pleased to see that they are also concerned about the European situation and visit
countries such as Germany and Slovenia which is very progressive in the academic
world. However, their reports on fieldwork show us that they are also open todeveloping the relationship between sustainability and new technologies.
They also learn group work and are engaged into multicultural communication throughacademic exchange with students from other universities including those in foreigncountries.
The entire issue is testament to the success of the GRM Program in developing humanresources as well as a critical perspective on the environment.
What has not changed is the importance accorded to good articles and the strict peer
review has authorized only two papers in the present issue which allows us tounderstand the great diversity of the research conducted by GRM Program students. One
concerns Labor, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, relying on the discourse analysis method
and the other, adopting data analysis, analyses A Study on Happiness in Bhutan.
We can see that the GRM Journal is rich in its openness to the world’s opinions.

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View of Labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes:
From the Perspective of Biblical Studies
Kayo Yasunaka
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Theology, Doshisha University(GRM QE Student)

Abstract:
Problems of slavery have not come to an end and continue as modern slavery. Labor
issues including modern slavery seem to be caused by the existing system of
employment: laboring with others. Should we not labor together with others? I attempt toapproach the problems from the perspective of Biblical Studies. The Book of Ecclesiastes
is one of the books in the Hebrew Bible / the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes is full of life’s
wisdom, which provides us with clues to dealing with life challenges, and has a uniqueview of labor. Labor in Ecclesiastes is expressed by the word “toil” (ʻāmāl). Toil is done
“under the sun.” “Under the sun” is a place of vanity, and all toil is also essentially vanity.
Ecclesiastes describes two types of vanity: that caused by death and that caused bysuccessor. According to another description, toil becomes vanity when it is related to fourthings: envy, idleness, overwork, or solitude. Toil accompanied by envy or solitude isvanity, but toil is better than idleness and overwork. Even much better is toil incollaboration. There are two conditions to make toil useful: to collaborate with others andto utilize toil for eating and drinking with fear before God. Though all things including
toil are vanity, human beings “toil under the sun,” eat and drink, sometimes collaborate
with each other as far as possible, and enjoy pleasure as God’s gift until death. We cancollaborate with others in accordance with the view of labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes,and can enjoy pleasure by laboring and sharing the result of labor in this world.
Keywords: labor, work, vanity, collaboration, the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew
Bible
Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. The Book of Ecclesiastes
III. Labor in Ecclesiastes: “Toil under the sun” (ʻāmāl taḥat haššāmeš)IV. Vanity of Toil
V. Utility of Toil
VI. Conclusion: View of Labor in Ecclesiastes

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Main Text:
I. Introduction
Problems of slavery have not come to an end. As estimated in the latest statistics,1
45.8 million people are still living in slavery: forced labor, debt bondage, human traffic,
servile marriage, and child labor. Such situation is recognized as “modern slavery.”Several governments and organizations have been taking action against modern slavery
and, in 2015, the United Kingdom enacted the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Nowadays inJapan, the government is moving forward with “work-style reforms” (Hatarakikatakaikaku) and is aiming to improve the labor situation including death by overwork(Karoshi), bullying, harassment, and prejudice. This Japanese situation is not yet
regarded as a part of modern slavery, but both situations would come from the same
origin; the strong oppress and exploit the weak. There is naturally a difference inpeople’s power, and so it could be said that it is inevitable that one oppresses andexploits others. The problems seem to be caused by laboring with others because both
UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 and Japan’s “work-style reforms” aim mainly to
improve the relationship between laborers and companies. It might be better to quit theexisting system of employment so as not to be oppressed or exploited by laboring
together with others. Should we not labor together with others?
However, the problems are not so simple. There are numerous reasons and many
facets: history, geography, economics, politics, nation, religion, ecology, psychology, andso on. Therefore, it is necessary to make suggestions from an interdisciplinary viewpoint
in order to approach the problems. As one of these examples, I make a suggestion fromthe perspective of my major, Biblical Studies.
In the Hebrew Bible,2 there is a collection known as “Wisdom Literature.” This
collection contains the Books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. All of theseexamples of “Wisdom Literature” provide those who open the Bible with clues todealing with life challenges, as if a sage is guiding people with his wisdom. The Book of
Ecclesiastes is also full of life’s wisdom and, further, has many references to labor andshows a unique view of labor. According to the view of labor in the Book of
Ecclesiastes, how should we labor?

1

2

See the Walk Free Foundation, Global Slavery Index 2016, 4, accessed November 1, 2017,https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/. According to ILO’s statistics, 40.3 million people are
estimated to be in forced labor and forced marriage (see the International Labour Office,Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage, 9, accessed
November 1, 2017, http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm).
The term “Hebrew Bible” is a reference to the “Old Testament,” also known as the “Tanakh.”
These are different names for the same Text.

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II. The Book of Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes is also often called the Book of Qoheleth or the Words of) is originally a
Qoheleth, which may be more familiar titles to you. Qoheleth (Hebrew word and means a teacher or a preacher. The author of this book refers himself
as Qoheleth: “The words of Teacher [Qoheleth], the son of David, king in Jerusalem”(Ecclesiastes 1:1).3 Qoheleth is regarded as a kind of title rather than the actual author’sname. The word “Ecclesiastes” is a Latinized form of the Greek translation of Qoheleth.4
It is generally agreed that the writings that became the Book of Ecclesiastes wereassembled between 300 BCE and 200 BCE.5 From the perspective of language and style,this book might have been influenced by Persia,6 Phoenicia,7 Babylonia, and Egypt.8
Therefore, many researchers consider it an important common heritage of wisdom
literature of the Ancient Near East.9
3
4

5

6

7
8

9

All the translations of the Hebrew Bible in this article are quoted from the New RevisedStandard Version.
For the title of this book, there are many further discussions (see Toshiaki Nishimura,“Qoheleth no Kotoba” Chukai [Commentary on the Book of Qoheleth] (Tokyo: Board of
Publications the United Church of Christ in Japan, 2012), 21-30; C. L. Seow, Ecclesiastes:
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 3638; R. N. Whybray, Ecclesiastes: Based on the Revised Standard Version (Grand Rapids;
London: Eerdmans; Marshall, 1989), 2-3), but I just refer to Qoheleth as the author and to
Ecclesiastes as the title of the book in this article.
Ecclesiastes is alluded to in the book of Ben-Shirah, a book written around 180 BCE. See
Wesley J. Fuerst, The Books of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Lamentations:
The Five Scrolls (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), 97. For the backgroundto Ecclesiastes, there is another opinion that speaks of “an unprecedented era of commercial
expansion rife with entrepreneurial opportunities yet overwhelmed with incalculable risks”(William P. Brown, “‘Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do’: Qoheleth’s Work Ethic,”
Interpretation 55, no. 3 (July 2001): 272).
For example, the Hebrew word parḏes () in Ecclesiastes 2:5, which means a park or aforest, comes from Persia (Fuerst, 97; Seow, 12). Zimmerli comments that such description
might come from the ideal of the imperial culture at that time (Helmer Ringgren andWalther Zimmerli, Spruche, Prediger [Proverbs, Ecclesiastes], (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht, 1962), 158).
Fuerst, 97.
The form from Babylonia and Egypt has the feature whereby the author provides a selfintroduction at the beginning and the old person passes his life-experience, often together
with his office, to the next generation (Ringgren and Zimmerli, 151-152).
See also Seow, 305-6; William P. Brown, Ecclesiastes (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2000),
52. They point out the relationship with the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, for the
relationship among places or documents, there is also a deliberate opinion that says, “Thediffusion of information and materials in those days makes it impossible for us to speak of5

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The main theme of Ecclesiastes is “All is vanity,” which is written at the beginningof the book (Ecclesiastes 1:2). “Vanity” is translated from the Hebrew word heḇel ( ),10and it means “worthlessness,” “lack of real value,” “hollowness,” “void,” and“emptiness.” The theme “All is vanity” is repeatedly described together with theobservations and experiences of the author himself everywhere in Ecclesiastes.
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. (1:2)
I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun, follow that youth who
replaced the king; there was no end to all those people whom he led. Yet those
who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing
after wind. (4:15-16)
All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while
one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt. Then I saw the
wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praisedin the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. (8:9-10)
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity. (12:8)
As quoted above, one theme is repeated again and again. Such repetition isexpressed as “his [the author’s] thoughts returned in a pattern, first small, and then like
concentric circles in a large and all-embracing arc back to his starting-point.”11
Everything is vanity, worthless, or empty in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
The book has twelve chapters as a whole. It is comparatively small among thedifferent books of the Hebrew Bible. Although the size is small and the theme is simple,
both the structure and the contents are highly complicated.12 In particular, the contents
dependence or influence unless the evidence is clearer and more plentiful” (Fuerst, 100).
The word heḇel has the same origin as the name of Abel, who is well known as the brotherof the first murderer, Cain, in the Book of Genesis. Heḇel is also an especially importantconcept in Genesis.
11 Fuerst, 95.
12 Many researchers agree that the authors of 1:1-12:8 and 12:9 ff. are completely different andthat 12:9 ff. is an addition to 1:1-12:8. There are various opinions about the authors of theaddition. For example, Fuerst says that it is an addition by at least three authors because
12:9-10 are written in the third person, 12:11 is written in the second person, and 12:13-14
provide “a conclusion quite foreign to the primary thrusts of Ecclesiastes” (ibid., 98),
whereas Loader supposes that 12:9-11 were added by a pupil of the original author of 1:112:8, and that 12:12-14 were added by a critic. See J. A. Loader, Dendo no Sho: Qoheleth
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have been regarded as difficult to understand. The book keeps repeating that everythingis vanity, but what does vanity mean? Is it something good or bad? Happy or sad? Someinterpreters state that this book expresses the distress of an old sage who was tired ofliving; other interpreters comment that it tells the truth of life and encourages humanbeings to live. It is certain that the Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most confusing
books in the Hebrew Bible. Such a complex book as this has a complex view of labor.
III. Labor in Ecclesiastes: “Toil under the sun” (ʻāmāl taḥat haššāmeš)In the Book of Ecclesiastes, all things concerned with labor are expressed by a
Hebrew word that has the letters ʻāmāl ( ) as its root. Words that have ʻāmāl as the root
are also found in many other Semitic languages.13 This word ʻāmāl is translated into
“toil” in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The basic meanings of ʻāmālare “to be tired,” “to be exhausted,” “to be earning,” and so on. It is regarded as a wordthat covers the definition of labor in a wide range.14
The word ʻāmāl has two significant features as follows:
The first feature is to be used exclusively in the Book of Ecclesiastes. When issues),
related to labor are described in the Hebrew Bible, words like lā’ḵ ( ) / mĕlā’ḵâ (15ʻāḇaḏ ( ), and ʻāśâ ( ) are often used, but these words are hardly found in
Ecclesiastes.16 On the other hand, the word ʻāmāl occurs 76 times in the whole Hebrew
Bible. About 40% of those, 35 times, occur in Ecclesiastes.17 Regarding the rate of

13

14

15

16

17

no Kotoba [The Book of Ecclesiastes: The Book of Qoheleth], trans. Katano Aguri (Tokyo:
Kyobunkwan, 1994), 264.
G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, eds., Theological
Dictionary of the Old Testament: 10, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 196.
“Work,” “effort,” “what to be gained as a result,” “pain and suffering,” “expression of humanbeings’ trouble and suffering,” “evil and false behavior” (for the above, see Nishimura, 67),
“labor,” “fruit of labor” (for the above, see Ringgren and Zimmerli, 162-163; Nishimura,164), “task,” “travail” (for the above, see Fuerst, 106).
For the Hebrew words that are translated as “labor” or “work” in the Hebrew Bible as awhole, lā’ḵ / mĕlā’ḵâ occurs 65 times, ʻāḇaḏ occurs 26 times, and ʻāśâ occurs 11 times. If
either meaning or translation is not limited, lā’ḵ / mĕlā’ḵâ occurs 166 times, ʻāḇaḏ occurs
1,239 times, and ʻāśâ occurs 2,847 times as a whole.
lā’ḵ / mĕlā’ḵâ never occurs, ʻāḇaḏ occurs 7 times, and ʻāśâ occurs 43 times. However, ʻāḇaḏmeans “to be a slave” and ʻāśâ simply means “to do”; therefore, these meanings are beyond
labor.
The remainder of the occurrences is as follows in ascending order: Psalms, 13 times; Job, 11
times; Proverbs, 4 times; Isaiah, 3 times; Judges, 2 times; Habakkuk, 2 times; Genesis, 1
time; Numbers, 1 time; Deuteronomy, 1 time; Jeremiah, 1 time; Jonah, 1 time; I Chronicles,
1 time.

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occurrence, ʻāmāl is a kind of term for labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes.18
The second feature is to be often connected with the phrase “under the sun” (taḥat
). “Under the sun” occurs 27 times in Ecclesiastes and 10 times of
haššāmeš,those occur together with ʻāmāl. The phrase “under the sun” is also found in Phoenician
documents,19 but it is not found in the Hebrew Bible except in Ecclesiastes.20 Some ofthese examples in Ecclesiastes are as follows:
What do people gain from all the toil [ʻāmāl] at which they toil [ʻāmāl] under
the sun? (1:3)
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil [ʻāmāl] I had spentin doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there wasnothing to be gained under the sun. (2:11)
Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness wasthere, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. (3:16)
Again, I saw vanity under the sun: the case of solitary individuals, withoutsons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil [ʻāmāl], and their eyes arenever satisfied with riches. (4:7-8)
This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes toeveryone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts
while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (9:3)
In Ecclesiastes, “under the sun” is a place of ʻāmāl (1:3, 2:11, 2:18-22, 5:17, 8:15,
8:17), a place where all things happen, especially where evil and misfortune happen (1:9,18

See also Nishimura, 67; Brown, “‘Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do’: Qoheleth’s Work
Ethic,” 272.
19 Fuerst, 103. In the Ancient Near East, the sun was traditionally regarded as the sun-god, thegod of justice, and people had to act honestly in trade under the sun-god (see Christopher
Mountfort Monroe, Scales of Fate: Trade, Tradition, and Transformation in the Eastern
Mediterranean ca. 1350-1175 BCE (Münster: Ugarit Verlag, 2009), 40-47).
20 The phrase “on the ground,” an opposite expression to “under the sun,” occurs over 100
times in the whole Hebrew Bible (see Nishimura, 70), but, in Ecclesiastes, it occurs only in
5:1, 8:14, 8:16, 10:7, 11:2, 11:3, and 12:7. The phrase “under heaven” (taḥat haššāmaim,), a similar expression to “under the sun,” occurs 18 times in the whole Hebrew
Bible, just 3 times of which is in Ecclesiastes (1:13, 2:3, and 3:1). This phrase is also foundin the Phoenician inscriptions and the Elam documents of the 12th century BCE (ibid., 70).

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3:16, 4:1, 4:3, 4:15, 5:12, 6:1, 8:9, 9:3, 9:6, 9:11, 9:13, 10:5), and a place that symbolizes
vanity (1:14, 2:17, 4:7, 6:12, 9:9).
The above is summarized as follows:
Labor in Ecclesiastes is expressed by the word “toil” (ʻāmāl). Toil is done “under
the sun” and, there, iniquity such as evil or misfortune arises as well. “Under the sun” isvanity, as is “toil under the sun.”
IV. Vanity of Toil
As mentioned above, the theme of Ecclesiastes is vanity. Toil is also vanity, which
is no exception to this book. The vanity of toil is described in Chapters 2 and 4 in detail.
In Chapter 2, the practice and the result of toil are relayed (verses 1-15). The authorof Ecclesiastes practiced everything: he did much toil, built a mansion with large
gardens, kept many servants, gathered silver and gold, and became the greatest andrichest one. But the result was still vanity. There is nothing to be gained “under the sun.”This is because the same fate befalls everyone. Whatever a person may do, whether aperson be wise or not, everyone dies. Therefore, all is vanity; and, of course, toil is also
vanity. Of such vanity, it is the latter half of Chapter 2 that gives a clear explanation by
two causes.
For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in thedays to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just likefools? So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me;
for all is vanity and a chasing after wind. I hated all my toil in which I had
toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me.
(Verses 16-18)
There are two types of vanity, which are caused by death (verses 16-17) and causedby successor (verses 18-23). No matter how hard a person toils, every human being dies
eventually, and so loses a place to save the result of toil; it is vanity. And even if one
leaves the result of toil to a successor in one’s will, the successor will not necessarily
have the qualities to manage it sufficiently and, moreover, the successor dies eventually
as well; so, it is vanity. Ecclesiastes repeats that all is vanity like a chasing after wind(verses 11, 17, 26). Here, this book not only refers to the vanity of life and toil, but also
scorns the value of family and the prosperity of descendants. As some scholars point out,
there is no reference to the value of the connection within a family or a clan.21 The otherbooks of the Hebrew Bible often encourage human beings to make a family, and say that21

See Ringgren and Zimmerli, 163-164.

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everyone can live in perpetuity through their descendants. Also, from this point, it isclear that Ecclesiastes has a unique view.
Chapter 4 still admits that toil is essentially vanity, but it talks of vanity fromanother point of view.
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy ofanother. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Fools fold their hands
and consume their own flesh. Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls
with toil, and a chasing after wind. . . . the case of solitary individuals, withoutsons or brother; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are neversatisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving
myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. (Verses 4-8)
Toil becomes vanity when it is related to envy (verse 4), idleness (verse 5),
overwork (verse 6), or solitude (verses 7 ff.). Toil caused by envy toward others isvanity, no matter how much and how skillful. However that may be, doing no toil isvanity, too. To live in idleness without skill, that is, to make nothing, leads not only to bepoor and hungry, but also finally to eat one’s own flesh, that is, “self-destruction.”22 But,
still, too much toil is vanity, even though there is no idleness. No one can receive theresult of toil beyond one’s hand. As described in Chapter 2, there is the vanity caused bysuccessor, but it is vanity and unhappy to have no one to share the result of toil with.
Therefore, toil accompanied by envy or solitude is vanity, but toil is better than idlenessand overwork.23
However, the preaching of Chapter 4 continues as follows:
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. (Verse9)
Remarkable here, in verses 9-12, are references to the utility of toil although it must
be vanity. The book preaches that toil will be much better when there is collaboration
with others, which is an opposite state to solitude.
V. Utility of Toil
Toil is essentially vanity in the Book of Ecclesiastes. However, such toil can escapefrom vanity depending on the conditions. Ecclesiastes indicates two conditions to make22
23

Seow, 187.
Loader expresses the idea that labor loses its meaning by envy, that it is relatively superior toidleness, and that it loses its value by solitude. See Loader, 100 ff.

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toil useful.
The first condition is collaboration as mentioned above. If a person collaborates
with others, that person can take opportunities to engage the companions’ help (verse
10), to bring about actual profits (verse 11), and to withstand the enemy (verse 12).
For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls
and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm;
but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against
another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
(Verses 10-12)
If toiling alone, a person will just fall when something goes wrong; ifaccompanying someone else, a person might easily recover from the damage with thecompanion’s help. Toiling together with the companion brings the necessities more
quickly and efficiently than toiling alone. The more companions a person collaborates
with, the more strongly and the longer they can stand against failure, damage, or theirrivals’ attacks. That is to say, even vain toil produces benefits by collaborating withothers. Here, this book talks about a great advantage of collaboration although humanbeings toil in vain and live in vain.24 Furthermore, some researchers point out that
Ecclesiastes suggests here “the theological value of community,”25 that is, the value ofworship, which is wrought by collaboration.
The second condition is to utilize toil for eating and drinking with fear before God.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, it is repeatedly said that both life and toil are vanity; but, atthe same time, it is often said that there is happiness in utilizing the result of toil in orderto eat and drink, enjoy oneself, be satisfied, and accept these pleasures as God’s gift.
There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment intheir toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. (2:24)
I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy
themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat
and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. (3:12-13)
So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sunthan to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their24
25

See also Loader, 106-107. He says that everyone draws common benefits from collaboration,
which is the only reason that human beings concentrate their labor.
Brown, Ecclesiastes, 53.

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toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun. (8:15)
Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are
given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at
which you toil under the sun. (9:9)
It is pleasure to utilize toil for eating and drinking together with companions whileliving with fear before God.26 As mentioned in the former section, when toil is related toenvy, idleness, overwork, or solitude, the result is vanity. However, if toil is related topleasure, that is, if human beings find pleasure in toil in collaboration, it will obtain
utility. Ecclesiastes proposes eating and drinking as a practical measure. It is the only
sure way that human beings can follow in their vain life.
The second condition for the utility of toil is described throughout the Book of
Ecclesiastes, and is a kind of conclusion to the main theme “All is vanity.” Though allthings including toil are vanity, it might be valuable to collaborate with other people andenjoy the pleasure of living in gratitude to God.
VI. Conclusion: View of Labor in Ecclesiastes
Should we not collaborate, that is, labor together with others? To this question
arising in the introduction to this article, I have attempted to find an answer throughanalyzing the descriptions of Ecclesiastes. In conclusion, the following points became
clear.
A. According to the Book of Ecclesiastes, collaboration is much better in the world where
all is vanity.
To summarize this article, the Book of Ecclesiastes shows the view of labor as
follows (see also Figure 1):
Labor is toil (ʻāmāl), and toil is done “under the sun.” “Under the sun” is a place ofvanity, and all toil is also essentially vanity. The result of toil is vanity because of death(2:16-17), successor (2:18-23), being related to envy (4:4), or being related to solitude(4:7-12), but such toil is better than idleness (4:5) and overwork (4:6). Even much betteris toil in collaboration. There are two conditions to make toil useful: to collaborate withothers and to utilize toil for eating and drinking with fear before God. Though all isvanity, human beings “toil under the sun,” eat and drink, sometimes collaborate with
26

Brown calls this place for eating and drinking “Qoheleth’s Café” (“‘Whatever Your Hand
Finds to Do’: Qoheleth’s Work Ethic,” 283). He reads there an implication of the Eucharist(Ecclesiastes, 129 ff.). See also Robert Davidson, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon(Philadelphia: Westminster Press; Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press 1986), 3.

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13

each other to the extent possible, and enjoy the pleasure as God’s gift until the end ofone’s life.

Under the sun = vanity

worseessentiallyvanitymuchbetterToil = vanity• collaboration

eat and drink• toil• қdeath• қsuccessor• ѱenvy• ѱsolitude• idleness / overwork

Figure 1: View of Labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes grapples “from start to finish with the problem of death,”27 andindicates that toil will end with death.28 From this perspective, the view of labor in
Ecclesiastes may lead to a view of life, and a view of human beings. Although it points
out the vanity of toil, the book sheds light on the possibility that toil will obtain utility
and the advantages of human beings collaborating with each other. Moreover, it suggests
the best and most practicable solution to be the way of eating and drinking. This is anoteworthy concept of Ecclesiastes.
B. It is valuable to labor together with others in order to share the result of labor.
The Book of Ecclesiastes seems to be absurd and pessimistic at first sight. For it
excessively repeats that all is vanity. However, as stated in this article, the book has arealistic view. It is a vain reality that human beings die at last. As well as this, it is also a
reality that everyone lives among others and needs to eat and drink in order to live. So,
to find value in collaboration with others and labor for eating and drinking is a realistic
way of life. A form of collaboration is often interpreted as a community in the modern

27
28

Fuerst, 156.
Brown says, “Death, paradoxically, serves as the ultimate impulse for work.” See his“‘Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do’: Qoheleth’s Work Ethic,” 282.

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world.29 People will enjoy pleasure by laboring and sharing the result of labor within acommunity.
C. We have to keep reconsidering our relationship and discussing with the balance oflabor and apportionment.
Needless to say, there is room for reconsideration and discussion. For example,
when the result of labor is apportioned among companions, the portions might not beappropriate. In other cases where a community falls into a dysfunctional state forpolitical or economic reasons, the community itself might prevent the collaboration fromincreasing in value. In such cases, it is necessary to reconsider the relationship among
members within a community and to discuss the ideal balance of labor andapportionment of each. To reconsider and discuss is the task of all of us: those who areliving in this world.
Considering the above-mentioned points A to C, we can collaborate with others inaccordance with the view of labor in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

29

See Brown, “‘Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do’: Qoheleth’s Work Ethic,” 283 ff.

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A Study on Happiness in Bhutan:
From Data of the 2005 AsiaBarometer
Kanako Takimoto
Doctoral Program in Policy and Management, Doshisha University

I.
II.
III.
IV.

Introduction
Survey Results in Bhutan
Methodology and Results
Conclusion

Abstract
Income is not the only component of happiness. Many studies suggest that the happinessfactor remains constant despite a considerable increase in income. Our analyses reveal
the main components of happiness. The Kingdom of Bhutan is the only country to haveadopted a happiness policy in its development goals since the early 1970s. To illustrate
the actual situation in Bhutan, we consider future developments not only in developing
countries, but also in developed countries. Using the data from the 2005 AsiaBarometer,
we mainly focus on the following three questions: 1) Is the Happiness Paradox observedin Bhutan?; 2) Is happiness affected by basic infrastructure?; and 3) Are the basic
components of happiness the same in European countries and the U.S.? One of the main
results of our regression analysis is that higher education (e.g. high school, professional
school and university) is a negative contributor to happiness compared to lower
education (e.g. no formal education, elementary school and junior high school). This
paper suggests possible both sides of positive and negative contributors to happiness in
Bhutan.
Keywords: happiness, income, infrastructure, Bhutan
I. Introduction
A. Overview of Bhutan
Bhutan is not a big country, both geographically and economically, located in south Asia
between two giants, India and China. The total population is almost 800,000; they live ina 38,394km² area in the Himalayas with significant differences in the terrain. According
to the World Bank, the GDP was 2.237 billion USD in 2016, and the main industries are
agriculture, forestry and hydropower generation. The official religion is Buddhism; themajority of Bhutanese are of Tibetan origin. In contrast, one of Bhutan’s minority groups

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is of Nepalese origin; most of them follow the Hindu faith. In the late 1980s to 1990s,
many Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin were forced to flee because of interethnic
conflict. In 2007 over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees were living in UNHCR refugee
camps in Nepal; in 2015 fewer than 18,000 refugees remained in the camps in Nepal(UNHCR 2015). In 2008, the political system of Bhutan changed from an absolute to a
constitutional monarchy. At the time of this political system change, a new constitution
was drafted and adopted. As one of its requirements, Article 9 of this new constitution
embraces GNH values: “The State shall strive to promote those conditions that will
enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness” (GNH Centre Bhutan).
B. The Background to GNH
Since the creation of Gross Domestic Product, the development and progress of acountry has been measured by only one standard GDP; however, Bhutan measures its
development and progress by GNH. In the early 1970s, His Majesty Jigme Singye
Wangchuck, the fourth King of Bhutan, suggested the concept of GNH. GNH is definedfrom the standpoint of four pillars with nine domains of happiness components.
According to the GNH Centre Bhutan, these four pillars are as follows: The first is Good
Governance: “Good Governance is considered a pillar of happiness because it
determines the conditions in which the Bhutanese thrive. While policies and programs
that are developed in Bhutan are generally in line with the values of GNH, there is also a
number of tools and processes employed to ensure the values are indeed embedded insocial policy.” The second represents Sustainable Socio-economic Development: “A
thriving GNH economy must value social and economic contributions of households andfamilies, free time and leisure given the roles of these factors in Happiness” (GNH
Centre Bhutan). The third pillar is the Preservation and Promotion of Culture. To
preserve and promote the Bhutanese culture supports happiness: “Developing culturalresilience, which can be understood as the culture’s capacity to maintain and develop
cultural identity, knowledge and practices, and able to overcome challenges anddifficulties from other norms and ideals” (GNH Centre Bhutan). Finally, the fourth pillar,
Environmental Conservation, is considered one of the key contributors to GNH.
Providing critical services such as water and energy is also a key contributor to GNH.
The environment is considered to contribute to aesthetic and other stimuli that could bedirectly healing for people, by their enjoyment of nature’s vivid colors, light and air. The
nine domains consist of Living standards, Education, Health, Environment, Community
vitality, Time-use, Psychological well-being, Good governance and Cultural resilienceand promotion. The nine domains are then measured by 38 sub-indexes, which include
72 indicators and 151 variables. An analysis of Bhutan provides the key to areconsideration of the development goals and progress for the people.

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C. Literature Reviews
Easterlin (1974) is a pioneer of happiness studies in the economic field. The
contradiction between individual income and happiness levels has been observed since
1946-70 in the United States; therefore, it is called the “Easterlin Paradox” or“Happiness Paradox.” The fact that higher income did not mean greater happiness in thesurveys in the U.S. is attributed to the standard or norm. Easterlin (1974) describes thatpeople tend to judge their happiness in reference to standards or social norms rather thanactual economic situations such as individual income.
Economists of happiness studies agree with the importance of the economic situation in
the early phase of economic development. For instance, Diener and Seligman (2004)
argued that “the fulfillment of basic needs was the main issue” in the early stage of
economic development, thus the economic indicators become more important. After that,
economic factors become less important than psychological factors such as mental
disorders and positive social relationships. Diener and Seligman (2004) review
happiness researches by dividing them into six areas: Societal conditions, Income, Work,
Physical health, Mental disorders and Social relationships. As pointed out in a paper by
Diener and Seligman (2004), the measurement issues of happiness and well-being need
to be addressed: different surveys are based on different concepts in different ways. For
this reason, it is difficult to make cross-national comparisons.
Despite the measurement issue, happiness research from the economic viewpoint is ofgreat significance. Di Tella, MacCulloch and Oswald (2006) analyzed the effects ofpublic policies on social welfare. They addressed the most important issue of: “Arehappiness surveys related to true utility?” If happiness surveys did not relate to true
utility, on this point researchers could not use the data in some economic fields;
certainly, there are a few situations, in which happiness scores are correlated with othervariables. However, Stevenson and Wolfers (2003) imply that the happiness surveys,
including suicide rates, are correlated with true utility, and thus such situations are of an
acceptable level.
Another methodology of happiness measurement is the collection of information aboutlife domains such as personal relationships, etc. Table 1 shows the basic life domains,which cover 15 areas, reported by the OECD (2013). Most of the indexes are based on
the Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi commission (SSF). The commission on the measurement of
economic performance and social progress (SSF) was created by the ex-president of theFrench republic, Nicholas Sarkozy in 2008. According to Table 1, the commission
identified nine domains: Material conditions, Economic insecurity, Personal activities,

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Health, Education, Social connections, Political voice and governance, Personal
insecurity and Environmental conditions. The Better Life Index (BLI) by the OECD
adds SSF to Housing, Jobs and earnings and Subjective well-being. The Office for
National Statistics (ONS) in the U.K. includes almost the same SSF domains except
Individual well-being. The New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) is similar to
GNH, in this respect, defining “Cultural identity.” The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI)
by the International Wellbeing Group is modeled on the results of extensive factor
analysis. As some of these indices overlap each other, they can be categorized into 10
main topics: Standard of living, Health status, Achievement in life, Personal
relationships, Personal safety, Being part of a community, Future security, Time topursue enjoyable activities, Quality of the environment and Your job (for the employed).
TABLE 1 A COMPARISON OF LIFE DOMAINS

Source: OECD (2013), OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, OECD Publishing. p.169.

D. Research Questions
People’s happiness is one of the goals of the policies and development of countries. On
one hand, income such as the GDP and GNP equals happiness itself in a roundabout way(Hubbard 2006). For instance, many newspapers report GDP growth every quarter, andthen a high growth rate means achieving high happiness. Thus, if the incomes do notcorrelate with happiness, the GDP cannot be the only measurement of happiness.
Therefore, we mainly focus on the correlation between happiness and income. In
addition, we investigate the components of happiness in Bhutan.
First, is the Happiness Paradox observed in Bhutan? Since Easterlin’s research, theexistence of the Easterlin and other paradoxes has remained a topic of discussion. In
addition, the question has remained unanswered regarding whether “the income
saturation point” is observed. The GNH strategy states that income is not the only
component of happiness; it is only one of the factors affecting happiness in Bhutan. As

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the happiness of the Bhutanese consists of material and spiritual aspects, GNH is
measured by the four pillars and nine domains. By using the data of the AsiaBarometer,
the presence or absence of the Happiness Paradox and “the income saturation point” areclarified.
Second, is happiness affected by basic infrastructure? Diener and Seligman (2004)
pointed out that happiness and basic needs are deeply connected, and therefore, theeconomic indicators are more important in the early stage of development. In addition,
the OECD Better Life Index in 2017 determined that basic needs consist of 11 areas:
Housing, Jobs, Education, Civic Engagement, Life Satisfaction, Work-Life Balance,
Income, Community, Environment, Health and Safety. Two areas are directly connectedwith basic infrastructure such as the Housing index, which contains Dwellings withbasic facilities, and the Environment index, which contains water quality. Their
happiness is not directly affected by other areas; however, people’s daily lives are
expected to be indirectly affected by areas such as Education and Life satisfaction. The
accessibility to basic infrastructure is one of the keys to happiness in people’s lives.
Third, Bhutan is considered to be a unique country from the viewpoint of the national
development plan. In this connection, the government policy prioritizes the conservationof its rich biodiversity such as forest preservation rather than forest development. One of
the unique policies about forest protection is that at least 60% of the country’s land mustbe forest for all eternity. This policy is established by the constitution. The other uniquepolicy concerns tourism and its regulation. Tourism is becoming one of the mainindustries of Bhutan; however, the government tightly controls tourism by restricting
admission to protect its unspoiled beauty and its community. The other unique policy is
the regulation of the sale of tobacco. Bhutan is the only country that has completely
banned the sale of tobacco. If you wish to import tobacco for personal use, then you
have to pay a 100% tax. These large differences indicate how their happiness is affected.
Are the basic components of happiness similar to those of European countries and theU.S.?
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the survey results in
Bhutan. Section III analyses the methodology and results of our regression, and thus we
focus on the components of happiness in Bhutan in this paper. Lastly, Section IV
provides the results and future possibilities.

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II. Survey Results in Bhutan
A. AsiaBarometer
Our main data source is the 2005 AsiaBarometer, which asks a series of questions
covering six areas: Social infrastructure development, Economic conditions, Life values
and satisfactions, Social actions, customs, and rules, Identity and Politicalconsciousness. This data has been mainly used in political fields such as the comparative
studies of the political situation in Asia and European countries (Blondel and Inoguchi2006). In the economic field, Manabe (2006) analyzed the correlation between thehappiness and the GDP per capita by using the 2004 AsiaBarometer second wave; thehappiness of each country is converted from (1 “Very happy” to 5 “Very unhappy”) to(+2 “Very happy” to -2 “Very unhappy”) and then, the average scores are used for the
cross-sectional regression analysis. They reveal that the increase of the GDP per capita
leads to higher happiness. However, the survey is limited to the correlation between
happiness and income. Moreover, other data at the country level use World Development
Indicators by the World Bank and the World Fact Book by the CIA.
Question 5 in the 2005 AsiaBarometer concerns life value and satisfaction: “All things
considered, would you say that you are happy these days?” The answer is evaluated on ascale of 1 to 5: “1 Very happy,” “2 Quite happy,” “3 Neither happy nor unhappy,” “4 Not
too happy” and “5 Very unhappy.” The survey targets people aged 20-69, and the sample
size is 801. As we use data on a large number of personal characteristics, a complete setof data is available for all variables (664 observations, 83%).
The survey method used here is a face-to-face interview. This survey was conducted in
English; however, the official language in Bhutan is Dzongkha. Therefore, we should
focus on the potential for bias. In addition, biased samples are not the only issue among
the target people, but also the research location is problematic in this survey. As thissurvey was conducted in English, the target people are limited to English speakers only.
Dorji Penjore stated that there are issues with the AsiaBarometer method: the method islimited and the sample is biased. For instance, the period of the survey is only one month(10th September 2005 - 10th October 2005), thus the research location is only the nation’s
capital of Thimphu. He pointed out that the gap in the literacy rate is over 35% between
the sample of the AsiaBarometer and the national statistics. Moreover, the occupation
rate is also biased; Question F6 concerns the occupation: “What is your occupation?
Please select one of the following responses.” 44.9% of people answered “13 Other
worker,” meaning that almost half the sample is made up of civil servants (Inoguchi
2009, 50).

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The proportion of employment is completely different at the country level. According to
the World Bank, of the total employment, employment in agriculture is 43.6% in 2005,
although in the agriculture sector in the AsiaBarometer survey, “1 Self-employed inagriculture, forestry or fisheries” is only 2.13% (Table 8). This indicates that the
AsiaBarometer survey in Bhutan focuses on the urban situation; however most of
Bhutan is rural. We must focus on these biases of the AsiaBarometer; therefore, ourresult is limited to Thimphu only. However, as Thimphu is the capital and the mostdeveloped area in Bhutan, the analysis of Thimphu is becoming an important indicator
for the future possibilities of Bhutan.
There are some issues with the scale of household income. Question F8 concerns
individual income: “What was the total gross annual income of your household lastyear?” Answers are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 11. Table 2 explains the scale in detailand the answers. For example, the minimum amount is given as 1: up to 2,500 Indian
Rupees (57 U.S. dollars) and the maximum amount is 11: above 25,001 Indian Rupees(567 U.S. dollars)1. The national currency of Bhutan is Ngultrum (BTN), and BTN ispegged to the Indian rupee: 1BTN equals 1INR.
According to the World Bank, the income per capita in 2005 in Bhutan was 1,172 USD.
The mean income according to Question F8 is 14,984 Indian Rupees (340 U.S. dollars).
Question F8 concerned household income, thus it was compared with income per capita
by the World Bank. In relation to this, we convert household income to individual
income. The result of the calculation, the mean of individual income, is 4,563 Indian
Rupees (104 U.S. dollars). A comparison of the two averages of individual income
reveals an almost 11-fold gap between the World Bank (1,172 USD) and the
AsiaBarometer (104 U.S. dollars). The AsiaBarometer defines annual income; incontrast, however, the figure seems to be monthly income. One of the reasons for thisgap can be attributed to the scales. Question F8 concerns income at the annual level;
however, the responses were at the monthly level. In our regression analysis, the scaleposes no major difficulties. Using income quartiles and the scale number allowed us toaccount for these difficulties.

1

The exchange rate in 2005 was 1 USD = 45.07 INR, 1 INR = 0.022683 USD by Principal Global
Indicators(http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/?sk=E30FAADE-77D0-4F8E-953C-C48DD9D
14735) [Accessed 15/10/2017]

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TABLE 2 ANNUAL INCOME

Scale

Household Income[IN Rupees]

Midpoint[IN Rupees]

Midpoint[U.S. dollars]

1

Up to 2,500

1,250

28

2

2,501 – 5,000

3,750

85

3

5,001 – 7,500

6,250

142

4

7,501 – 10,000

8,750

198

5

10,001 – 12,500

11,250255

612,501 – 15,000

13,750312

715,001 – 17,500

16,250369

817,501 – 20,000

18,750425

920,001 – 22,500

21,250482

1022,501 – 25,000

23,750539

1125,001 above

26,250595

Note: [1] Income question is F8: “What was the total gross annual income of your household last year?”[2] The exchange rate is 1 Indian rupee = 0.022683 U.S. dollars in 2005 by Principal Global Indicators.

B. Survey Results(1) Income and Happiness
Table 3 shows the proportion of happiness by each category. According to this table,
there are differences in the proportion of reported happiness scores between personal
income and absolute (household) income.
First, of the top 25% of people in the personal income position, 42.59% responded with
“Very happy.” This is a higher percentage compared with the total average of 35.23%. In
contrast, of the top quartile in the absolute income position, 35.42% responded with
“Very happy”. One of the causes of this gap can be attributed to the number of family
members. The total family members of average households in this survey are 4.54
persons. The former group of the top quartile in the personal income position andhappiness mainly consists of a single household or a two-person household, and theaverage household is 1.86 persons. The latter group of the top quartile in the absoluteincome position and happiness mainly consists of six-person households, and theaverage household is 4.96 persons. One interpretation of the relationship between
happiness and income in the group of the highest personal income position is that asmaller family is happier than a larger family.
Next, we focus on the bottom 25% of people in both personal and absolute income
position. As Table 3 indicates, the bottom quartile in the personal income position, who
responded with “Neither happy nor unhappy,” is 10.92%. The bottom quartile in theArticles

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absolute income position, who responded with “Neither happy nor unhappy,” is 16.18%.
Compared with the total average, the former is lower and the latter is higher: 10.92% <12.63% < 16.18%. One reason for these differences can also be attributed to the numberof families. The former group, the bottom quartile in the personal income position andthird happiness position, is mainly four-person households and six-person households,
and the average household is 5.89 persons. The latter group of the bottom quartile in thehousehold income position and third happiness position mainly consists of single
households, and the average household is 3.32 persons. As far as the group of the lowest
personal income position is concerned, a larger family is happier than a smaller family.
Therefore, people who are in a single or two-person household in the highest income
group are happier than people in a big family. On the contrary, in the lowest income
group, people who live in a big family are happier than people in a small family.
TABLE 3 INCOME QUARTILES

Income Percapita Quartiles
Reprted Happiness

All

1st
(Lowest)

2nd

3rd

4th
(Highest)

Very Happy

35.23

37.93

33.14

33.14

42.59

Quite Happy

47.60

47.13

50.00

54.29

41.36

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

12.63

10.92

13.37

8.57

11.11

Not too Happy

4.29

4.02

3.49

4.00

4.32

Very Unhappy

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.62

100.00

Reprted HappinessAll(Frequency)

House Hold Income Quartiles
1st(Lowest)

2nd

3rd

4th
(Highest)

Very Happy

279

36.42

39.80

34.12

35.42

Quite Happy

377

41.62

48.47

50.00

54.17

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

100

16.18

9.18

11.76

6.25

Not too Happy

34

5.78

2.55

3.53

4.17

Very Unhappy

2

0.00

0.00

0.59

0.00

(Total792)(2) Marital Status, Sex and HappinessIn the AsiaBarometer, the total sex ratio concerning the number of males for each female
is 1.1 male (s)/female (414 males/378 females). According to the World Fact Book by
the CIA, the sex ratio of the total population is 1.09 male (s)/female, thus it is almost the24

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same ratio. Now there are four categories regarding marital status in the AsiaBarometer:
Single (25%), Married (72%), Divorced/Separated (2%) and Widowed (1%) (Appendix
1).
According to Table 4, 36.51% of females responded with “Very Happy”, and 34.06% ofmales responded with the same happiness score, compared with the total average of
35.23% (Table 3); females feel happier than males in the happiest group. In the second
happiness group that responded with “Quite happy,” 45.50% are females and 49.52% aremales, with the total average being 47.60% (Table 3); males were happier than females
in the second happiness group. The third happiness group has almost the same share with
about 12.5% in both males and females; females are happier only 0.64% more thanmales. In the total trend, females tend to be happier than males; in addition the share offemale happiness is more dispersed than male happiness.
Table 4 shows that married people are happier than single and divorced people. In thegroup that responded with “Very happy,” the happiness rate decreased by marital status
in the following order: married 37.48%, single 29.69% and divorced 28.57%. In marriedpeople by gender, females have a higher happiness score than males: male (36.30%) <female (38.81%). In single people by gender, females have a higher happiness score thanmales: male (28.71%) < female (30.77%). Moreover, in divorced people by gender, thenumbers in this group are too small to indicate all tendencies; however, one possibility isthat females have a higher happiness score than males: male (20.00%) < female(33.33%).
In females that responded “Not too happy” by marital status, single females have higherscores than married females: single female (7.69%) > married female (3.73%). In
contrast, in the females that responded with “Very happy” by marital status, marriedfemales have higher scores than single females: single female (30.77%) < marriedfemale (38.81%).
In the overall trend, married females have a higher score than single females. However,males are less likely to follow this trend; they tend to concentrate in “Quite happy,”
which accounts for almost half of them, regardless of whether they are married.

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TABLE 4 MARITAL STATUS AND SEX

Marital Status
Reprted Happiness

Sex

SingleMarriedDivorced/
Separated

Male

FemaleVery Happy

29.69

37.48

28.57

34.06

36.51

Quite Happy

48.44

47.11

50.00

49.52

45.50

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

15.10

11.56

14.29

12.32

12.96

Not too Happy

5.73

3.85

7.14

4.11

4.50

Very Unhappy

1.04

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.53

Reprted Happiness

SingleMarriedDivorced/Separated

Male

FemaleMale

FemaleMale

FemaleVery Happy

28.71

30.77

36.30

38.81

20.00

33.33

Quite Happy

50.50

46.15

49.17

44.78

40.00

55.56

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

16.83

13.19

10.56

12.69

20.00

11.11

Not too Happy

3.96

7.69

3.96

3.73

20.00

0.00

Very Unhappy

0.00

2.20

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

(3) Infrastructure and Happiness
Question 1 in the AsiaBarometer concerns infrastructures: “Which of the following
public utilities does your household have the use of?” There are seven utilities: Q1_1
The public water supply, Q1_2 Electricity, Q1_3 Liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, Q1_4
Fixed-line phone, Q1_5 Mobile phone, Q1_6 Facsimile and Q1_7 Cable TV. Possible
responses are “Have” or “Not Mentioned” We use the answer “Not Mentioned” as someinfrastructures in the analysis are not available to people.
(a) Basic Infrastructures (Water, Electricity and Liquefied Petroleum Gas)
The coverage of the water supply system in this survey is 94.46%; therefore, mostpeople have access to the public water supply. However, some of them do not, hence
their happiness is of a lower level compared with the total average happiness and thosepeople who can access the public water supply. According to Table 5, 10.71% of people
who did not have access to the public water supply responded with “Not too happy.” Therate is very high at over twice that of the total average: 4.29% (Table 3). Moreover, 25%of people in the same group, responded with “Neither happy nor unhappy.” The rate isalso twice that of the total average: 12.63% (Table 3). In contrast, only 17.86% of people
in the same public water supply group responded with “Very happy.” It is almost halfthat of the total average: 35.23% (Table 3). The coverage of electricity is near-ubiquity at
99.37% and the LPG penetration rate is also high at 97.98%. However, this is thesituation in Thimphu. A lower rate is therefore expected in rural Bhutan.

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TABLE 5 BASIC INFRASTRUCTURES

Reprted Happiness

The Public Water
SupplyElectricity

LPG

Have

Not
Mentioned

Have

Not
Mentioned

Have

Not
Mentioned

Very Happy

35.86

17.86

35.32

40.00

35.18

37.50

Quite Happy

47.64

46.43

47.65

40.00

47.81

37.50

Neither Happy nor
Unhappy

12.17

25.00

12.71

0.00

12.76

6.25

Not too Happy

4.06

10.71

4.32

0.00

4.12

12.50

Very Unhappy

0.26

0.00

0.13

20.00

0.13

6.25

[Penetration rate %][96.46 %][99.37 %](Total 764) (Total 28) (Total 787)

(Total 5)[97.98 %](Total 776) (Total 16)(b) Phones
The penetration rate of fixed-line phones is 69.70%. According to Table 6, people who
use a fixed-line phone tend to have a happier score than people who do not. People who
do not use a fixed-line phone have a higher percentage in low happiness categories:“Neither happy nor unhappy,” “Not too happy” and “Very unhappy.” In contrast, theusers of fixed-line phones have higher shares in the happiest category: 36.59% >32.08%. Does the easier connection to others make people happier? We focus on mobile
phones to obtain one of the key answers. Table 6 shows that the penetration rate ofmobile phones is 59.09%. Taking into account that the mobile phone service has been in
operation since 2003, the penetration rate has rapidly increased in only 2 years. The
happiest group suggests that there are fewer users of mobile phones than people who do
not use them: 34.19% < 36.73 percent. In the “Neither happy nor unhappy” group, theusers of mobile phones have a higher share than people who do not use them: 13.68% >11.11%.
Therefore, fixed-line phones make people happier; in contrast, mobile phones makepeople unhappier. The reason for this difference is that connecting with others makes
people happier; however, excessive connection with others becomes somewhat of aliability. It might be difficult to obtain both the value of convenience and the value of
freedom.

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TABLE 6 PHONES

Reprted Happiness

Fixed-line Phone

Mobile Phone

Have

Not Mentioned

Have

Not Mentioned

Very Happy

36.59

32.08

34.19

36.73

Quite Happy

47.28

48.33

47.86

47.22

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

11.96

14.17

13.68

11.11

Not too Happy

3.99

5.00

3.85

4.94

Very Unhappy

0.18

0.42

0.43

0.00

[Penetration Rate %][69.70%](Total 552)

(Total 240)

[59.09%](Total 468)

(Total 324)(c) Cable TV
TV broadcasting has been available since 1999 as one of the King’s modernization
programs. Bhutan was the last country in the world to get TV. At his silver jubilee
celebrations, the fourth King stated:
The introduction of television and the Internet is a reflection of the level ofprogress that we have achieved. I would like to remind our youth thattelevision and Internet provide a whole range of possibilities, which can beboth beneficial as well as negative for the individual and the society. I trustthat you will exercise your good sense and judgment in using the Internet andtelevision. It is my sincere hope that the introduction of television will bebeneficial to our people and country.
His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 2 June 1999. (Tay and Turner
2015)
How does television affect people’s happiness? According to Table 7, the cable TV
coverage is 92.80%. People who have cable TV are happier than those that do not. There
are more people who have cable TV in the happiest category than those that do not:36.19% > 22.81%. In addition, they also have a higher percentage in the second happiest
category: 48.03% > 42.11%. In contrast, in the lower happiness category, people who do
not have cable TV have a higher share: “Neither happy nor unhappy” is 26.32% and“Not too happy” is 8.77%. Having cable TV makes people happier; however, clarifying
the effect of television is complicated. This is only one aspect of people’s happiness.
Table 7 shows that the penetration rate of facsimiles is limited to only 4.67%. The
percentage of people that have a facsimile and responded “Very Happy” is higher thanthose that do not have a facsimile: 45.95% > 34.70%. However, some of the happinesscategories are reversed, thus we must pay attention to the effects.

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TABLE 7 FACSIMILE AND CABLE TV

Reprted Happiness

Facsimile

Cable TV

Have

Not Mentioned

Have

Not Mentioned

Very Happy

45.95

34.70

36.19

22.81

Quite Happy

40.54

47.95

48.03

42.11

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

8.22

12.85

11.56

26.32

Not too Happy

5.41

4.24

3.95

8.77

Very Unhappy

0.00

0.26

0.27

0.00

[Penetration Rate %][4.67%](Total 37)(Total 755)

[92.80%](Total 735)

(Total 57)(4) Employment Status and Happiness
Question F6 concerns employment: “What is your occupation? Please select one of thefollowing responses.” There are 17 categories, and details of the responses are shown
below (Table 8).
Table 8 shows that the category of occupation is classified into seven groups. First, Civil
Servant is the only group in the category of “13 other worker”; however, it had thelargest share of 45.17% of the total occupations. According to Table 9, Civil Servants
responding with “Very happy” on the happiness scale, occupy the highest share in all
categories; moreover, compared with the average percentage, it has a higher share:
41.24% > 35.23%. One possibility for this is to assume that people who are the top of
the elite can become civil servants in Bhutan. This is because there is little industry in
Bhutan, and thus there is an insufficient number of white-collar jobs; therefore, thecompetition is very intense. In addition, the government plays a role; it is the largest
company in the country. From this viewpoint, civil servants are people who survive inthe fiercest competition. In contrast, the group of civil servants that responded with “Nottoo happy,” has a higher percentage than other groups: 5.93%.
Next, according to Table 8, the group with the second largest share is the Employed. It
includes six categories: “7 Senior manager,” “8 Employed professional or specialist,” “9Clerical workers,” “10 Sales,” “11 Manual worker (including skilled and semi-skilled)”and “12 Driver,” thus the total share is 26.35%. Table 9 shows that this group’s
happiness rating is “Quite happy.” In addition, the small percentage of the “Very happy”
category is 26.44%, hence the higher proportion of the “Neither happy nor unhappy”
category shared 15.38%. People who are categorized as “Employed” do not face majorrisks such as unemployment compared with other groups except civil servants, students
and retirees. Therefore, this has the smallest share of the “Not too happy” category. At

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the same time, as it might be difficult for this group to take advantage of major
opportunities while living and following the same old routine, their happiness level
might tend to lower from “Very happy” to “Quite happy.”
Third, Table 8 shows that the group with the third largest share is Self Employed. It
includes six categories: “1 Self-employed in agriculture, forestry or fisheries,” “2Business owner in mining or manufacturing industry of an organization with up to 30
employees,” “3 Business owner of a retail organization with up to 30 employees,” “4Vendor or street trader,” “5 Business owner or manager of an organization with over 30
employees” and “6 Self-employed professional (self-employed doctors, lawyers, writers,etc.)”, thus the total share is 8.90%. According to Table 9, the proportion of happiness issimilar to the total average proportion except in the “Very unhappy” category. The
category with the least share is “5 Business owner or manager of an organization withover 30 employees” at only 1.41%. One reason is that those that are self-employed havemuch more freedom than other workers; however, their happiness is a trade-off between
freedom and risk, and such freedom may sometimes be seen as a liability.
Fourth, Table 8 indicates that the group with the fourth largest share is “Keeping Home”
at 7.78%. According to Table 9, this group has the happiest people as regards
employment status. Their responses fall within the third happiest categories, thus there
are no “Not too happy” and “Very unhappy” people; moreover, the “Neither happy nor
unhappy” people account for half of the total average percentage: 6.45% < 12.63%.
Table 8 shows that the In School group accounted for 6.78% of the total occupations.
According to Table 9, over half of them are concentrated in the “Quite happy” category
at 56.60%; however, a few of them responded with the two least favorite happinesscategories of “Very unhappy”: 1.89% and “Not too happy”: 5.66%. The survey targets
people aged 20 and above, with most students being given the opportunity to participate
in the highest level of education. At this point, they have good opportunities and are oneof the future elite groups. On the contrary, they face certain issues in the job market suchas the imbalance of supply and demand. The unemployment rate in 2015 by CIA among
youth aged 15-24 is 10.7%. Comparing the average unemployment rate, the younger
generation face serious issues in the job market in Bhutan. For instance, people who
graduated at the higher education level hope to get white-collar jobs; however, these jobs
are limited in the Bhutan economy. Thus, this might affect their happiness.
According to Table 8, 2.89% of people are categorized as Unemployed. The World Fact
Book by the CIA states that the unemployment rate is 3.2%, thus it is almost the same

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

rate at the country level. Table 9 shows that unemployed people concentrate in the
category of “Quite happy”: 56.52%, and the happiest category “Very happy” has thelowest percentage: 26.09% by comparison with other employment statuses.
Unemployment has only an effect on the group with the greatest happiness; however, it
does not affect other groups.
Lastly, Table 8 shows that the Retired group shares 2.01% of the total employment
status. Bhutanese people retire in their early 60’s. For instance, civil servants at theofficer level retire at age 58, and those at the director level retire at age 60. In addition,
the King of Bhutan also has a mandatory retirement age, and it is prescribed in thenational constitution. Article 2 of the Institution of Monarchy states that:
6. Upon reaching the age of sixty-five years, the Druk Gyalpo shall step down
and hand over the Throne to the Crown Prince or Crown Princess, provided
the Royal Heir has come of age.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Article 2.
According to Table 9, the Retired group that responded with “Neither happy nor
unhappy” is smaller than the average rate of 6.25% < 12.63%. The happiness of retired
people has an almost higher average proportion except in the third and fourth category ofhappiness, thus, the scale of their happiness increases. However, a few of them become
unhappy.
TABLE 8 OCCUPATIONS

Group
Civil Servant

Employed

Percent

Category

45.17(13) Other worker

2.01(7) Senior manager (company director, no lower in rank than amanager of a company section in a company with 300 or more
employees, or a manager of a department in a company withless than 300 employees)

14.05(8) Employed professional or specialist (hospital doctors,
employed lawyers, engineers, etc.)

4.27(9) Clerical worker

2.51(10) Sales

2.51(11) Manual worker (including skilled and semi-skilled)

1.00(12) DriverArticles

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2.13

(1) Self-employed in agriculture, forestry or fisheries

0.63(2) Business owner in mining or manufacturing industry of anorganization with up to 30 employees

0.75(3) Business owner of a retail organization with up to 30
employees

2.76(4) Vendor or street trader

2.13(5) Business owner or manager of an organization with over 30
employees

0.50(6) Self-employed professional (self-employed doctors,
lawyers, writers, etc.)

Keeping Home

7.78

(14) Homemaker

In School

6.78(15) Student

Unemployed

2.89(17) Unemployed

Retired

2.01(16) Retired

Self Employment

Note: [1] The question of occupation is “F6 What is your occupation?.”[2] The order of the groups is large percentage from the top.
[3] The category numbers are based on the survey.
[4] The category of “Unemployed others” deal with the missing value (0.13%).
TABLE 9 EMPLOYMENT STATUS

Reprted Happiness

Unemployed

Employed

Self Employed

Very Happy

26.09

26.44

33.80

Quite Happy

56.52

56.25

46.48

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

13.04

15.38

14.08

Not too Happy

4.35

1.92

4.23

Very Unhappy

0.00

0.00

1.41

Civil Servant

Keeping HomeIn School

RetiredVery Happy

41.24

40.32

30.19

37.50

Quite Happy

39.83

53.23

56.60

50.00

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

12.99

6.45

5.66

6.25

Not too Happy

5.93

0.00

5.66

6.25

Very Unhappy

0.00

0.00

1.89

0.00

Reprted Happiness(4) Religion
Question F9 concerns religion: “Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particularreligion? If yes, which?” and it is followed by a list of possible answers. The answers

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

consist of 17 categories, and details of the answers are shown in Appendix 2. Appendix 2
shows that the category of religion in Bhutan is classified into six groups. The main
religion is Buddhism (Mahayana). Appendix 2 shows that 92% of Bhutanese are
Buddhist (Mahayana and Hinayana), with only a few percent of them (6%) being Hindu.
Non-Catholic Christian represents about 1%, and Catholic and Muslim (Shiah) compriseless than 1%. Table 10 shows that the Buddhists (Mahayana) are happier than the Hindus
in the highest two categories; Buddhist (Mahayana) 35.48% > Hindu 34.69%. The otherreligions are too small for any significant comparisons to be made2.
TABLE 10 RELIGION

1 Catholic

2 Christian religion
other than

4 Muslim (Shiah)

Very Happy

0.00

0.00

100.00Quite Happy

0.00

0.00

0.00

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

0.00

0.00

0.00

Not too Happy

0.00

70.00

0.00

Very Unhappy

100.00

30.00

0.00

5 Hindu6 Buddhist(Mahayana)

7 Buddhist(Hinayana)

Very Happy

34.69

35.48

16.67

Quite Happy

44.90

47.97

50.00

Neither Happy nor Unhappy

16.33

11.78

33.33

Not too Happy

4.08

4.49

0.00

Very Unhappy

0.00

0.28

0.00

Reprted Happiness

Reprted HappinessIII. Methodology and Results
A. Methodology
Happiness model
Our basic theory follows the Happiness model by Di Tella and MacCulloch (2008), towhich we have made a minor change. The basic regression model is as follows:
Happinessist=α Microist+μist
Happinessist is the happiness of the individual i, who lives in the country s (s = Bhutan),in year t (t = 2005). The vector Microist refers to individual characteristics: Occupation,
Personal income position, Education, Sex, Age squared, Marital status and Public
utilities. The definition of the variables and basic statistics are presented in Appendix 1.
The μist refers to the error term. As described above, Question 5 concerns degree of2

The religious factor has been tested to check if they constitute determinants of happiness. Coefficientsof their dummies are not statistically significant. Please refer to Appendix 3.

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happiness: “All things considered, would you say that you are happy these days?” The
responses are evaluated on a scale from 1 to 5: “1 Very happy,” “2 Quite happy,” “3Neither happy nor unhappy,” “4 Not too happy” and “5 Very unhappy.” In addition, there
is a small number of “9 Don’t know” (9 observations), so our regression analysis takes
this missing value into account. The responses indicate the happiness of the individual isan ordinal ranking; therefore, we are unable to use an Ordinary Least Squares regression
model. From this viewpoint, the variables of happiness might define dichotomous
variables: Happinessist1 =1 if the person responds with “5 Very unhappy” and 0 otherwise;
Happinessist2 =1 if the person responds with “4 Not too happy” and 0 otherwise,
Happinessist3 =1 if the person responds with “3 Neither happy nor unhappy” and 0
otherwise; Happinessist4 =1 if the person responds with “2 Quite happy” and 0 otherwise;
Happinessist5 =1 if the person responds with “1 Very happy” and 0 otherwise. The
AsiaBarometer answer number has 1 (the happiest) to 5 (the unhappiest). Since most of
the indices such as World Values Survey and Eurobarometer are designed so that thelarge number is associated with happines (and the small number with unhappiness), weconverted the ordered number 1 (the unhappiest) to 5 (the happiest) in our regression
analysis. Then, our regression analysis is based on the Ordered Probit model. The
Ordered Probit model is considered to theoretically fit better than the Ordered Logit
Model in several cases in economic fields. Therefore, we use the Ordered Probit Model.
Appendix 1 shows the basic statistics of the variables. We mainly use eight variables inour regression analysis. Most of them are converted to dummy variables by category. For
instance, Question F5 concerns marital status: “What is your marital status?” Thus, theanswers consist of four categories: “Single,” “Married,” “Divorced/separated” and“Widowed.” The single dummy variable is that if people respond with “Single,” they are
1 and 0 otherwise (“Married,” “Divorced/separated” and “Widowed”). The othervariables are converted to dummy variables using the same methodology.
B. Results
The basic results are presented in Table 11. However, there are too many variables thatfail to meet the significance level of at least 10%. To simplify these results, we rejected
the variables in order of the increase in the significance levels, and Table 12 summarizes
the final results3. Both results are estimated in the Ordered Probit Model and the Ordered
Logit Model. As these results are similar, the regression analysis is robust.

3

We try to create a few categories in our regression model. One of the results of grouped regression isshown in Appendix 4. The dummy variables of gender and marital status cannot meet thesignificance level of at least 10%.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

TABLE 11 BASIC RESULTS
Variables

Std.Err.

Coef.

Std.Err.

0.040

0.099

0.072

0.171

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

No formal education

0.000(omitted)

0.000(omitted)

Elementary school/junior highschools/middleschool-0.5820.393-0.9660.655

High school-0.8130.411-1.274

0.688

Professional school/technicalschool-1.0610.417-1.744

0.699

University/graduate school-1.0300.422-1.6950.708

Not at all

0.000(omitted)

0.000(omitted)

Very little

0.459

0.395

0.757

0.660

I can speak it well enough to get
by in daily life

0.313

0.410

0.516

0.682

I can speak English fluently

0.368

0.417

0.597

0.693

Single0.000(omitted)

0.000(omitted)

Married

0.141

0.125

0.205

0.219

Divorced/ Separated-0.2110.358-0.297

0.636

Widowed

-0.5620.377-1.0030.669

1 Self-employed in agriculture,
forestry or fisheries

0(omitted)

0(omitted)

2 Business owner in mining or
manufacturing industry of anorganization with up to 30
employees

-0.26

0.706

-0.5581.274-0.771

0.582

-1.22

1.057

-0.2010.391-0.3530.659

5 Business owner or manager ofan organization with over 30
employees

-0.39

0.42

-0.4

0.771

6 Self-employed professional(self-employed doctors, lawyers,
writers, etc.)-0.3240.837-0.495

1.313

Age Squared age2

EnglishMarital status

Ordered Logit Model 1

Coef.

Male

Education

Ordered Probit Model 1

3 Business owner of a retail
Occupation organization with up to 30(Employment employees
Status)4 Vendor or street traderArticles

7 Senior manager (company
director, no lower in rank than amanager of a company section in
a company with 300 or more
employees, or a manager of adepartment in a company withless than 300 employees)-0.2730.427-0.4750.711

8 Employed professional or
specialist (hospital doctors,
employed lawyers, engineers,
etc.)-0.0880.327-0.118

0.555

0.169

0.357

0.273

0.611

-0.3920.39-0.7180.657

11 Manual worker (including
skilled and semi-skilled)-0.6030.436-1.0230.755

12 Driver

0.055

0.54

0.161

0.938

13 Other worker-0.006

0.299

0.072

0.508

14 Homemaker-0.015

0.346

-0.02

0.582

15 Student

0.058

0.353

0.071

0.598

16 Retired

0.106

0.437

0.213

0.743

17 Unemployed

0.04

0.405

0.041

0.69

1st (Lowest)

0.000(omitted)

0.000(omitted)

2nd-0.131

0.126-0.293

0.217

3rd

0.044

0.130

0.029

0.224

4th (Highest)

0.211

0.134

0.365

0.233

Q1_1 Water supply

0.471

0.249

0.958

0.439

Q1_2 Electricity

0.332

0.701

-0.317

1.620

Q1_3 Liquefied peroleum gas or
LPG

0.290

0.378

0.293

0.666

Q1_4 Fixed-line phome

0.220

0.106

0.347

0.183

Q1_5 Mobile phone-0.004

0.100

0.002

0.174

Q1_6 Facsimile

0.408

0.228

0.791

0.400

Q1_7 Cable TV

0.449

0.189

0.912

0.329

/cut1

-1.8640.812-5.300

2.106

/cut2

-0.5510.792-1.953

1.866

/cut3

0.189

0.791

-0.482

1.860

/cut4

1.655

0.791

1.987

1.861

Occupation(Employment 9 Clerical worker
Status)10 SalesPersonal
IncomePosition in
Quartiles

Public Utility

35

Note: [1] Bold-face is significant at 10 percent level.
[2] Orderd Probit Model1; Number of obs. = 669, LR chi2 (38) = 64.53, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0046 and Pseudo
R2 = 0.0440.
[3] Orderd Logit Model1; Number of obs. = 669, LR chi2 (38) = 66.18, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0031 and Pseudo
R2 = 0.0452.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4(1) Education
Question F3 concerns the level of education: “What is the highest level of education you
have completed?” Answers are evaluated on a scale from 1 to 6: “1 No formal
education,” “2 Elementary school/junior high school/middle school,” “3 High school,”“4 High-school-level vocational-technical school,” “5 Professional school/technicalschool” and “6 University/graduate school.” As the category, “4 High-school-level
vocational-technical school,” is not applicable here; there are only 5 responses used for
Bhutan.
In Table 11, the Ordered Probit Model 1 shows that “1 No formal education” and “2Elementary school/junior high school/middle school” have insignificant effects on the
degree of happiness. The percentage of people, categorized in the “1 No formal
education” group, is 9% of the total education level (Appendix 1). Moreover, thepercentage of people, categorized in the “2 Elementary school/junior high school/middle
school” group, is 16% of the total (Appendix 1). For these 25% of people who answered“No formal education” and “Elementary school/junior high school/middle school”, thelevel of educational attainment has no consequences on their happiness.
In Table 12, the Ordered Probit Model 2 indicates that “3 High school,” “5 Professional
school/technical school” and “6 University/graduate school” met the significance levelof less than 1%. These three groups are negative contributors to happiness. People
categorized as the “3 High school” group account for 28% of the total education level(Appendix 1). Thus, people categorized as the “5 Professional school/technical school”
group account for 18% of the total (Appendix 1). And then, people categorized as the “6University/graduate school” group account for 29% of the total (Appendix 1). One
reason for this result may be due to issues in the job market regarding the imbalance of
supply and demand. As previously stated, people who graduate at the higher educationlevel such as “6 University/graduate school” hope to obtain white-collar jobs, but suchjobs are limited in the Bhutan economy. The mismatch between supply and demand has
a negative impact on higher educated people. Inevitably, the government plays animportant role in people’s happiness. The policy of industrial development might affectpeople’s happiness through the labor market.
(2) Manual worker
Occupation is classified into 17 categories, and the details are shown in Table 8. In Table
11, the Ordered Probit Model 1 implies that most of the occupations have insignificant
effects. However, according to Table 12, in the Ordered Probit Model 2, only thecategory of “11 Manual worker (including skilled and semi-skilled)” met theArticles

significance level of 5%. Thus, the Manual worker group is a negative contributor tohappiness. The category of Manual worker is only 1% of the total occupations. Manual
work might be simple routine work. In the early nineteenth century, Sir Charles Spencer,
Charlie Chaplin, criticized routine work in his movie Modern Times; thus, routine work
might not be good for people’s mental and physical health.
(3) The Highest Quartile of Income per capita
In Table 12, the Ordered Probit Model 2 shows that only the group who are categorized
as the top 25% of the income per capita met the significance level of 5%. This
contributes to happiness, i.e. the people who are in the highest category are happier thanother categories. Our analysis has the disadvantage that we could not identify the correct
direction of the relation between cause and effect. Therefore, it can be presumed thatpeople who place a high value on income earn a lot of money; hence they are happierthan others. In contrast, one interpretation of the result is that rich people are happierthan others. More attention should be paid to the fact that the Happiness Paradox was notobserved in this result.
(4) Infrastructures
As shown in Section II in B. Survey Results, Q1_1 to Q1_7 concern infrastructures.
They ask about basic infrastructures such as “1 The public water supply,” “2 Electricity”
and “3 Liquefied Petroleum gas or LPG,” in addition, other facilities such as “4 Fixedline phone,” “5 Mobile phone,” “6 Facsimile” and “7 Cable TV.”In Table 12, the Ordered Probit Model 2 shows that “1 The public water supply” affects
people’s happiness; thus, having access to the public water supply contributes to theirhappiness at a significance level of 5%. In contrast, the other basic infrastructures, “2Electricity” and “3 Liquefied Petroleum gas or LPG,” do not affect happiness. How do
we account for this difference? One interpretation is people’s ordering of priorities.
Bhutan has rich water resources, and therefore the country exports the electricity
generated by hydropower and bottled natural mineral water to neighboring countries.
However, Bhutan also faces water shortage issues, because the water and seweragesystems are restricted, depending on areas and seasons. In Thimphu, the houses havewater storage tanks and water is supplied to the tanks only twice a day from the public
water system. Therefore, the people might appreciate the value of having a water supply.
They also might appreciate the value of “2 Electricity” and “3 Liquefied Petroleum gas
or LPG.” However, Hirayama (2005) said that some Bhutanese who were asked about
the electricity say that if they were able to access electricity, then they would want to use
it; however, if they were not able to access it, then they would not need to use it. In

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

conclusion, the first priority is the water supply, thus indicating that a water supply is
one of the requisite and satisfactory conditions for happiness. Electricity and LPG are
useful facilities; however, these are not requisite and satisfactory conditions forhappiness in 2005. As the life style situation changes dramatically in Bhutan, the result
from 2005 has limitations.
In other modern equipment, in Table 12, the Ordered Probit Model 2 indicates that “4Fixed-line phone,” “6 Facsimile” met the significance level of 10% and “7 Cable TV”
met the significance level of 1%. These facilities contribute to people’s happiness.
However, only the “5 Mobile phone” has an insignificant effect on happiness.
TABLE 12 FINAL RESULTS
Ordered Probit Model 2
Variables
High school

Coef.

Std.
Err.

z

P > |z|Ordered Logit Model 2
Coef.

Std.
Err.

z

P > |z|-0.314 0.122 -2.570 0.010-0.464 0.209 -2.230 0.026

Professional school/
Education technical school-0.562 0.138 -4.060 0.000-0.958 0.237 -4.040 0.000

University/graduate
school-0.536 0.126 -4.250 0.000-0.917 0.214 -4.290 0.000

11 Manual worker
Occupation (including skilled andsemi-skilled)-0.660 0.318 -2.080 0.038-1.167 0.559 -2.090 0.037

Personal
Income4th (Highest)
Position in
Quartiles

0.211

0.105

2.010

0.045

0.431

0.182

2.370

0.018

Q1_1 Water supply

0.493

0.241

2.040

0.041

0.918

0.422

2.180

0.030

Q1_4 Fixed-line
phome

0.185

0.099

1.860

0.063

0.311

0.170

1.830

0.067

Q1_6 Facsimile

0.360

0.217

1.660

0.097

0.691

0.375

1.850

0.065

Q1_7 Cable TV

0.492

0.182

2.710

0.007

0.937

0.317

2.960

0.003

/cut1

-2.261 0.413 -3.070 -1.452-5.126 1.114 -7.310 -2.942/cut2-1.039 0.298 -1.622 -0.455-1.779 0.529 -2.817 -0.741/cut3-0.304 0.293 -0.878 0.270-0.308 0.512 -1.310 0.695

/cut4

1.133

2.107

PublicUtility

0.295

0.554

1.711

0.520

1.087

3.127

Note: [1] Bold-face is significant at 5 percent level.
[2] Ordered Probit Model 2; Number of obs. = 675, LR chi2(9) = 43.29, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0000, Pseudo R2= 0.0293.
[3] Ordered Logit Model 2; Number of obs. = 675, LR chi2(9) = 46.79, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0000, Pseudo R2= 0.0316.

Articles

IV. Conclusion
In this study we proposed three research questions. First, is the Happiness Paradox
observed in Bhutan? Considering the results of the regression analysis, it seems natural
to conclude that the Happiness Paradox did not exist in this study. The final results ofregression analysis show that the highest income group is happier than other groups, thus
“the income saturation point” might be absent in Bhutan. However, one of thelimitations of this study is that we used panel data, thus we could not explain the correct
direction of the connection between cause and effect. The relationship between income
and happiness requires further study.
Second, is happiness affected by basic infrastructures? Our results indicate that the
public water supply, fixed-line phone, facsimile and cable TV make a positive
contribution to people’s happiness. One of the limitations of this study is that we were
not able to collect sufficient data necessary for current day Bhutan and the country in its
entirety. The situation in Bhutan has changed dramatically from 2005 until now. Further
study of these changes would be of value to the field of happiness studies.
Finally, are the basic components of happiness the same in the European countries andthe U.S.? Our results lead to the conclusion that the components of happiness might not
be similar in the European countries and the U.S. According to Di Tella and MacCulloch(2008), age, gender and marital status met the significance level; however, thesevariables were insignificant in this study. In addition, the levels of education are
different in our results. A continuous study of how these differences affect happinesswould demonstrate possible actions to be taken in the future. It is hoped that the resultspresented in this paper will contribute to a better understanding of the happiness of theKingdom of Bhutan.

39

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

APPENDIX 1 BASIC STATISTICS
Variables

Units

Male

Dummy

0.52

0.50

0

1

Age

Years

35.54

10.82

20

69

Age Squared(Years)2

1380.28858.42400

4761

No formal education

Dummy

0.09

0.28

0

1

Elementary school/junior high schools/
middleschool

Dummy

0.16

0.37

0

1

High school

Dummy

0.28

0.45

0

1

Professional school/technical school

Dummy

0.18

0.38

0

1

University/graduate school

Dummy

0.29

0.46

0

1

Not at all

Dummy

0.08

0.27

0

1

Verylittle

Dummy

0.11

0.32

0

1

I can speak it well enough to get by indaily life

Dummy

0.45

0.50

0

1

I can speak English fluently

Dummy

0.36

0.48

0

1

Single

Dummy

0.25

0.43

0

1

Married

Dummy

0.72

0.45

0

1

Divorced/ Separated

Dummy

0.02

0.13

0

1

Widowed

Dummy

0.01

0.12

0

1

Employed

Dummy

0.26

0.44

0

1

Unemployed

Dummy

0.03

0.17

0

1

Education

EnglishMarital Status

Employment
StatusMean

Std. Dev.

Min.

Max.

Self Employed

Dummy

0.09

0.28

0

1

Retired

Dummy

0.02

0.14

0

1

Keeping Home

Dummy

0.08

0.27

0

1

In School

Dummy

0.07

0.25

0

1

Otherworker (civil servant)

Dummy

0.45

0.50

0

1

1st (Lowest)
Personal Income 2nd
Position in
3rd
Quartiles
4th (Highest)
Water supply

Dummy

0.25

0.44

0

1

Dummy

0.25

0.43

0

1

Dummy

0.26

0.44

0

1

Dummy

0.24

0.43

0

1

Dummy

0.97

0.18

0

1

Electricity

Dummy

0.99

0.08

0

1

LPG

Dummy

0.98

0.14

0

1

Dummy

0.70

0.46

0

1

Mobile phone

Dummy

0.59

0.49

0

1

Facsimile

Dummy

0.05

0.22

0

1

Cable TV

Dummy

0.93

0.26

0

1

Public Utilities Fixed-line phome

Articles

41

APPENDIX 2 BASIC STATISTICS

Religion

Units

Mean

Std. Dev.

Min.

Max.

1

Catholic

Dummy

0.00

0.04

0

1

2

Christian religion other than

Dummy

0.01

0.11

0

1

3

Muslim (Sunnah)

0

4Muslim (Shiah)

Dummy

0.00

0.04

0

1

5

Hindu

Dummy

0.06

0.24

0

1

6

Buddhist (Mahayana)

Dummy

0.91

0.29

0

1

7

Buddhist (Hinayana)

Dummy

0.01

0.09

0

1

8

Confucian0

9Jewish

0

10

Sikh

0

11

Taoism

0

12

Other

Dummy

0.01

0.07

0

1

APPENDIX 3
Variables

Education

Occupation

Std. Err.

z

P > |z|High school-0.5300.127-4.1600.000

Professional school/technical school-0.5820.140-4.170

0.000

University/graduate school-0.2960.123-2.4100.016

11 Manual worker (including skilled andsemi-skilled)-0.6720.318-2.110

0.035

0.215

0.106

2.020

0.043

Q1_1 Water supply

0.478

0.243

1.970

0.049

Q1_4 Fixed-line phome

0.205

0.100

2.050

0.040

Q1_6 Facsimile

0.419

0.220

1.910

0.057

Q1_7 Cable TV

0.500

0.182

2.740

0.006

1 Catholic

4.955

177.897

0.030

0.978

2 Christian religion other than

0.033

0.383

0.090

0.932

4 Muslim (Shiah)

5.212

177.897

0.030

0.977

5 Hindu-0.2030.179-1.130

0.257

7 Buddhist (Hinayana)-0.6750.451-1.5000.134

12 Other-0.0940.772-0.1200.903

0(omitted)/cut1-2.267

0.413

/cut2

-1.049

0.299

/cut3

-0.319

0.294

/cut4

1.135

0.297

Personal Income
Position in
4th (Highest)
Quartiles

Public Utility

Religion

Ordered Probit Model 3
Coef.

6 Buddhist (Mahayana)

Note: [1] Bold-face is significant at 10 percent level.
[2] Orderd Probit Model3; Number of obs. = 673, LR chi2 (15) = 51.77, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0000 and Pseudo
R2 = 0.0352.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

APPENDIX 4
Variables

Education

Occupation

Coef.

Std. Err.

z

P > |z|High school-0.3340.127-2.6200.009

Professional school/technical school-0.5790.143-4.060

0.000

University/graduate school-0.571

0.131-4.3500.000

11 Manual worker (including skilled andsemi-skilled)-0.6070.321-1.890

0.059

0.223

0.107

2.090

0.037

Q1_1 Water supply

0.532

0.243

2.190

0.028

Q1_4 Fixed-line phome

0.206

0.100

2.050

0.040

Q1_6 Facsimile

0.341

0.218

1.570

0.117

Q1_7 Cable TV

0.484

0.183

2.650

0.008

d_maritals_sex2

0.014

0.146

0.100

0.922

d_maritals_sex3-0.6230.573-1.0900.277

d_maritals_sex4-0.6390.650-0.9800.325

d_maritals_sex5-0.2480.185-1.3400.182

d_maritals_sex6

0.003

0.150

0.020

0.982

d_maritals_sex7-0.091

0.396-0.2300.818

d_maritals_sex8-0.5020.413-1.2100.224

Personal Income
Position in
4th (Highest)
Quartiles

Public Utility

Ordered Probit Model 4

d_maritals_sex1

0(omitted)/cut1-2.296

0.439

/cut2

-1.053

0.326

/cut3

-0.312

0.321

/cut4

1.136

0.323

Note: [1] Bold-face is significant at 10 percent level.
[2] Orderd Probit Model4; Number of obs. = 674, LR chi2 (16) = 50.26, Prob. > chi2 = 0.0000 and Pseudo
R2 = 0.0340.

References:
Blondel, Jean and Inoguchi, Takashi. 2006. Political Cultures in Asia and Europe-Citizens,
States and Societal Values, New York: Routledge.
Coyle, D. 2014. GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History, Princeton University Press.
Diener, E., and Seligman, M. E. P. 2004. “Beyond Money: Towards an Economy of WellBeing.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1–31.
Di Tella, R., MacCulloch, R. J., and Oswald, A. J. 2006. “The Macroeconomics of Happiness.”
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 85 (4), 809–27.
Di Tella, R., and MacCuloch, R. J. 2008. “Gross National Happiness as an Answer to theArticles

Easterline Paradox?.” Journal of Development Economics, 86, 22-42.
Easterlin, R A. 1974. “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical
Evidence.” Nations and Households in Economic Growth, 89 (2), 89–125.
GNH Centre Bhutan. “History of GNH,” available at: http://www.gnhcentrebhutan.org/what-isgnh/history-of-gnh/ [Accessed 16/10/2017]
Hirayama, Syuichi. 2005. Gendai Bhutan wo Sirutame no 60 shou (The 60 Chapters in theModern Bhutan, Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. (In Japanese).
Hubbard R. Glenn and O’Brien Anthony Patrick. 2006. Economics, Pearson Education.
Inoguchi, Takashi. 2009. AsiaBarometer Minami Asia to Chu-ou Asia no Katikan (AsiaBarometer
the Values in South and Center of Asian countries), Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. (In Japanese).
Manabe, Kazufumi. 2006. Asia ni okeru Kouhuku to Manzoku no Bunka-AsiaBarometer Chousa
no De-ta Kaiseki (“The Culture of Happiness and Satisfaction in Asia: Data analysis of the
AsiaBarometer Surveys”). Kwansai Gakuin Sociology Department Studies, Vol.100, 55-70.
OECD. 2011. How’s Life?: Measuring well-being. OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264121164-en
OECD. 2013. OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264191655-en
Stevenson, Betsey and Justin Wolfers. 2003. “Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law: Divorce
Laws and Family Distress,” NBER Working Paper No. 10175.
Tay, J. and Turner, G. 2015. Television Histories in Asia: Issues and Contexts, Abingdon Oxon
UK: Routledge.
UNHCR. 2015. “Resettlement of Bhutanese refugees surpasses 100,000 mark.” By Deepesh Das
Shrestha; ed. Tim Gaynor, 19 November 2015, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/news/
latest/2015/11/564dded46/resettlement-bhutanese-refugees-surpasses-100000-mark.html[Accessed 16/10/2017]
Veenhoven, R. 1991. “Is Happiness Relative?” Social Indicators Research, 24 (1), 1–34.

Data sources
Central Intelligence Agency. “The World Fact Book in Bhutan,” available at: https://www.cia.
gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/bt.html [Accessed 2017/11/11]
Inoguchi, Takashi, AsiaBarometer Survey Data. 2005. AsiaBarometer Project available at: http://
www.asiabarometer.org/, [Download 23/07/2013]. AsiaBarometer is a registered trademarkof Takashi Inoguchi, President of the University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and Directorof the AsiaBarometer Project.
Principal Global Indicators, The exchange rate in 2005 is 1 USD = 45.07 INR, 1 INR =0.022683 USD available at:
http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/?sk=E30FAADE-77D0-4F8E-953C-C48DD9D
14735 [Accessed 15/10/2017]
The World Bank, available at:https://data.worldbank.org/country/bhutan [Accessed 16/10/2017]
Table 2-12 and Appendix 1-4 are made by the author.

43

Research Note

A Review of the Energy Situation in Slovenia
Chayadit Pumaneratkul
Energy Conversion Research Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University

Abstract
This paper discusses the energy situation in Slovenia, by reviewing the current
energy resources and future energy potential. The electric grid system of Slovenia isoutstanding, it covers the whole area of the country and transmits electricity fromvarious sources to the community. Slovenia has to share some electric generation andsolid fuel with Croatia due to an agreement since both were in Yugoslavia, causing thestability of the country to lower. Energy security is an important issue to be discussed
because Slovenia, where oil and gas are used in various sectors including industry andtransportation, depends 100% on imported oil and gas. To increase energy security, someresources of renewable energy are introduced and show the potential to develop in
Slovenia, and the environmental aspects are also considered. The migrant crisis in 2015is briefly discussed from the related viewpoint of energy and suitability.
Keywords: Slovenia, Energy security, Renewable energy, Energy consumption
I. Introduction
After the breakup of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia) in
1991, the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenia) seceded from Yugoslavia and was established
as independent country at that time [1]. Slovenia joined the European Union (EU) andthe Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2007 and2010, respectively, which stabilized Slovenia in term of politics, and economics as wellas energy [2-3]. However, Slovenia has fewer natural resource reserves, and the share ofenergy dependence in its energy supply is about 52.1% and, of that figure, the averageenergy dependence of the EU is 53.8% (shown in Fig. 1) [4].
Electric power generation in Slovenia is mainly divided into three difference
resources nuclear energy (34.4%), hydro energy (30.2%), and thermal energy (32.9%);others come from renewable energy resources [5]. The trend of Slovenia’s energy
security has positive changed compared with in the past [6]. It is evident that Slovenia
has high security in terms of energy; however, the country is facing a lack of selfsufficient energy supply. Slovenia also agreed in the Kyoto Protocol to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [7], which aims to

45

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Fig. 1 Energy dependency of EU member countries in 2006. Source: Eurostat [4].

achieve a greenhouse gas emission of 20% reduction by 2020 (from the base year 1986)[8].
In this paper, the current situation in energy of Slovenia is discussed, the three mainenergy resources are reviewed, and the potential for sustainable development of futureenergy resources is considered. Furthermore, this paper also discusses the energy
security of the country and other related factors, whose details will be discussed in next
session.
II. Overview of the energy structure of Slovenia
With a current population of 2.1 million, Slovenia’s gross domestic product (GDP)growth rate is on average 0.6% per year and energy consumption per capita has
increased in average 1.7% per year since the country’s independence in 1991 [9]. The
total primary energy consumption in Slovenia has been slightly above than the averageof the EU: the highest can be found in the year 2007 when it reached 7.33 Mtoe (million
tons of oil equivalent) while net imports were around 3.88 Mtoe [10], with a strong dropin the year 2009 due to the economic crisis in Europe [11].
The final energy consumption of Slovenia amounted to 4.59 Mtoe in 2014 and 4.69
Mtoe in 2015 [12], in which gasoline and diesel oil equaled 2 Mtoe, natural gas 0.5
Mtoe, and electric energy 1 Mtoe (shown in Table 1) [13].

Research Note

47

Table 1. Final Energy Consumption (2013 – 2015) - Thousand TOE (tonnes of oil equivalent) Source:
Knoema.

Product

2013

2014

2015

All products

4,795.800

4,589.300

4,688.900

Solid fuels

46.90044.40038.400

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

83.60080.30088.000Gasoline (without bio components)

482.800

452.500

442.000

Aviation gasoline

1.100

1.100

1.100

Kerosene type jet fuel (without bio components)

26.00026.00026.0001,608.600

1,582.200

1,582.200

Total fuel oil

6.700

5.700

2.900

Petroleum coke

34.20035.60024.500Natural gas

540.600

518.100

558.000

1,073.000

1,071.300

1,099.600

Gas/diesel oil (without bio components)

Electric energy

The population distribution of Slovenia is shown in Fig. 2 [14]. It can be seen thatthe population is dense almost covering the whole area of the country, except thesouthern area (Croatian border side) and northwestern area (mountainous land), whichhave low population density. Looking at an electric grid map (Fig. 3) [15], it can be seenthat the electric transmission grid of Slovenia consists of three voltage levels: 400 kV(high), 200 kV (middling) and 110 kV (low). The electric grid is connected to various
types of power stations throughout the whole country (hydro, thermal, and nuclear
power plants) and to neighboring countries for electric transmission, with total net
production of electric energy being approximately 13,000 GWh [16]. It is apparent thatthe electric grid covers the population-inhabited areas of the whole country, andaccessibility to electricity in Slovenia is 100 % of the population [17].
III. Security of energy supply
In 2015, Slovenia’s energy dependency was 48%, which is lower than the averageof the EU. For this reason, Slovenia is classified as a medium-dependent country among
EU countries [18]. Slovenia can produce more than 75% of coal for domestic
consumption, which is mostly used for electric power generation purpose [19]. Slovenia
is a net crude oil-importing country, and the import is mostly from EU countries [20].
Oil is mainly used for transportation purposes. However, Slovenia depends essentiallyon gas import from outside the EU (60% from Russia) [21], which may lead to Slovenia
facing an energy crisis, such as the 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute [22]. A map of theSouth Stream pipeline route transferring gas from Russia to Eastern Europe (Fig. 4)shows that the pipeline passes through many countries before arriving in Slovenia [23].

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Fig. 2 Population density of Slovenia. Source: Environment in the palm of your hand: Slovenia, 2008.

Fig. 3 Transmission network of Slovenia. Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The industrial production of Slovenia is very energy intensive, equaling to 26.3% of
the final energy demand in 2014, while the transportation sector, in which use of oil andgas is an important factor propelling the country’s economy, has the largest share; of
39% [24].

Research Note49

Fig. 4 South Stream route. Source: Gazprom.

IV. Primary energy resource
The energy resources of Slovenia are rather limited. The estimated energy resources
are shown in Table 2 [25]. Figure 5 shows the energy mix of Slovenia [26]. The detailsof each energy resource are shown and discussed in this session.
Table 2. Estimated Energy Reserves. Sources: WEC Survey of Energy Resources.

Estimated energy reserves (2011)(Solid and Liquid in million tons, Uranium in metric tons, Gas in billion cubic
metres, Hydro in TWhr per year)
AmountSolid (1)Liquid (2)Gas (3)

Uranium (4)Hydro (5)

223

-

-

1,700

9,145

(1) Coal including Lignite: proved recoverable reserves, the tonnage within the proved amount in placethat can be recovered in the future under present and expected local economic conditions with existingavailable technology(2) Crude oil and natural gas liquids (Oil Shale, Natural Bitumen and Extra-Heavy Oil are not included):
proved recoverable reserves, the quantity within the proved amount in place that can be recovered in the
future under present and expected local economic conditions with existing available technology(3) Natural gas: proved recoverable reserves, the volume within the proved amount in place that can berecovered in the future under present and expected local economic conditions with existing available
technology(4) Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) under < USD 130/kgU(5) Hydropower: technically exploitable capability, the amount of the gross theoretical capability that canbe exploited within the limits of current technology

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Fig. 5 Energy mix of Slovenia. Source: World Energy Council.

A. Nuclear energy
As mentioned above, in Slovenia, around 40% of electric power generation comesfrom nuclear energy, in principle, nuclear energy can be categorized as a sustainableenergy resource [27]. However, the only one nuclear power plant in Slovenia, named
Krško Nuclear Power Plant, is co-owned with Croatia and was built in 1981 when they
were both part of Yugoslavia. From this reason, half of the energy production from thepower plant must be transferred to Croatia (as shown in Fig. 3 for high-voltage
transmission) [28]. Furthermore, due to nuclear waste and issues of cleaning facilities,
Slovenia is facing difficulty in operating the nuclear power plant [29]. Slovenia isscheduled to stop operating the nuclear power plant in 2023; moreover, there is nofurther plan to build a new nuclear power plant afterward and future decisions are underdiscussion [30].
B. Thermal energy
Another main resource comes from a thermal power plant using solid fuel togenerate electric energy that serves the country amounting to 32.9%. The main solid
fuels in Slovenia are low-quality brown coal and lignite, which amount to 199 million
tonnes [25]. However, some solid fuel mines are co-owned with Croatia whose
production is shared equally by both countries [31]. Wood resource is very important forthe country to be used for space and water heating in households, especially in rural

Research Noteareas [32]. From the data, Slovenia has high enough reserves of solid fuel (80% of
domestic production); yet, it is vice versa in the case of oil, where there is 100%
dependency on imported oil [33]. In addition, the thermal power plant produces a highrate of GHG (greenhouse gas) and pollution, which directly affects the environment[34]. To resolve the issues of global warming and environment impacts, the usage ofthermal energy should be reduced by using renewable energy, which will be discussed
further.
C. Hydro energy
Slovenia is rich in hydro energy due to its terrain [35], in which hydro power plants
generating electric energy for 30.2% of primary energy consumption are locatednationwide. Slovenia has very high potential for developing hydro power plants [36].
However, there have been no further plans for new development of hydro power plants
since 2009 [37]. The reason may be conflict between cost and benefit, as well as theeffect on tourism [38]. Anyhow, small-scale hydro power plants have been promoted infighting climate change and improving the energy security of the country [39].
V. Renewable energy resources
Slovenia plans to increase electric power generation from renewable energy
resources to 25% (including hydro power) in its gross final energy consumption by 2020[40]. To achieve the goal, renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, andgeothermal are promoted.
A. Wind energy
Slovenia has a wind turbine (since 2013), which generates an electric energy
capacity of 2.3 MWe [41]. The power generated from the wind turbine is classified asclean energy compared with other resources [42]. Figure 6 shows the wind speed
distribution of Slovenia [43], and it can be seen that Slovenia has potential to develop
wind turbines in the northwestern and southwestern areas of the country, which have low
population density as well (referred to in Fig. 2). By the way, the safety factor of windturbines has to be taken into account [44].
B. Solar energy
For solar energy, Slovenia has no PV (photovoltaic) solar farms installed in the
country but PV solar cells are established and used in households [45]. Solar cells are
non-green renewable energy because of the chemical pollution in the manufacturing
process and the recycling problem [46]; however, the use of PV solar cells to generate
electric energy can be considered as the easiest way to increase the electric energy

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Fig. 6 Map of wind resources at 100 meters above ground level. Source: anemos 2010.

Fig. 7 Yearly sum of global horizontal irradiation in Slovenia [48].

Research Notepotential from renewable energy in the country [47].
A map of solar irradiation in Slovenia is shown in Fig. 7 [48], indicating that
Slovenia has potential to install solar farms in the western area due to the high solar
irradiation. Some studies on the potential of solar energy showing the high significanceof development have been carried out [49]. However, currently, there is no plan todevelop solar farms in Slovenia.
C. Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy has been used in Slovenia for a long time for space heating
purposes. There was a project of geothermal electric power generation development in
1994; unfortunately, it has not yet been realized [50]. A map of geothermal temperature
distribution with isotherms at a depth of 100 m in Slovenia (Fig. 8) shows that thegeothermal temperature is not very high [51], not enough to generate electric energy inordinary geothermal power plants (usually higher than 200°C). A technology for
generating electric energy from low-temperature geothermal heat sources should be
introduced to increase the energy security of the country [52]. In any case, the increased
use of geothermal energy for heating facilities should be promoted to replace the usageof wood for environmental reasons [53].

Fig. 8 Temperature distribution at a depth of 100 m below the surface in Slovenia. Source: GeoZS.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

VI. Issue of the migrant crisis
Another issue the author would like to consider in this report is the migrant crisis in
Slovenia in 2015, when more than 700,000 refugees from war-torn countries entered the
Schengen Area at Slovenia and passed through to other countries [54]. Even though the
refugees did not stay permanently in Slovenia, providing hospitality to the refugees costs
Slovenia much, in terms of energy consumption, too. However, there is no related reportabout this issue yet, and the statistics on energy usage in 2015-2016 will be reported thisyear (2017), which will show that the trend of energy is significantly related to themigrant crisis, as well as having an impact on the infrastructure and environment.
Slovenia is strongly recommended to prepare for these kinds of emergency issues suchas conflict or war, which also cause the country to be congested. Energy self-dependence
is the first priority to be considered.
VII. Conclusion
Slovenia’s primary energy consumption consists of three main resources (hydro,
thermal, and nuclear) and other renewable energy and waste resources. The country isable to serve the energy usage demand, which includes various sectors such as
household, infrastructure, and industry. Nevertheless, Slovenia depends on oil and gas
net imported from other countries both inside and outside the EU, which leads thecountry to low suitability in terms of energy.
In order to be sustainable in terms of energy, Slovenia has to increase its energy
generation potential along with resolving environmental issues. Moreover, the target of a
20% GHG reduction is considered to be achievable by the development of renewableenergy usage such as wind, solar, and geothermal both in electric and heat energy
generation. Renewable energy is the key to successful development, which would also
help Slovenia increase its strength in policy and economy.
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Slovenian Refugee Situation.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies (2017): 1-18.

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Course Reports

The Hurdles Refugees are Facing in The Process of Integration
into The Host Countries’ Labor Markets-Based on The Case of Germany YanShuang Chen

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. The present situation of the refugees’ economic
integration in EU countries-case of GermanyA) Huge numbers of refugeesB) Economic situationC) Islamophobia and populism (anti-Muslim)
sentimentD) Labor market system and regulations to
refugees
III. Conclusion
References
I. Introduction
Integration is a slow-moving process. Economic
integration of refugees into their host country isimportant and benefits both parties. Labor market
integration of newcomers from another country play a
key role in achieving the economic integration into thehost country society. According to experts, participationin the labor market is the most significant factor that
contributing to a long-term integration into society.
Labor market integration is also central to fiscal
contributions newcomers would make to the hostsociety1.
Related to the labor market integration of refugees2,
although a large body of literature is available on theeconomic integration of immigrants in host countries,
very few studies have been conducted specifically on theeconomic integration of refugees3(p.2).
The study about the integration of refugees which
has been conducted by the IZA and published in 2016
argues that, existing studies show that refugees have alower employment rate and income level than the family
reunion migrants and labor migrants, but that over time

1

2

3

Georg, Bolits. 2016. “Labor Market Integration of
Refugees: Strategies and good practices” Policy
Department: Economic and Scientific Policy, Institute for
Employment Research (IAB).
Refugee: A person who, owing to well-founded fear of
persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
political opinion, or membership of a particular socialgroup, is outside the country of nationality (or, in the caseof stateless persons, the country of former habitualresidence) and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwillingto avail themselves of the protection of that country.
Source: European Migration Network.2014. Asylum andMigration Glossary 3.0. Brussels: European Commission.
IZA. 2016. “Integrating Refugees into Labor Markets”,
World of Labor.

this income and employment gap diminishes ordisappears altogether. One reason for this slower
adaptation process is the depreciation of human capitaland credentials due to the asylum and skill accreditation
processes. The study proposals that policies should
improve these processes to reduce both individual andsocietal costs4.
Another study about the employment situation of
refugees who arrived at EU countries before 2014
conducted by EU LFS ad hoc module on migrants showsa result as below would be the good evidence for the
study results above5.
“Refugees represent one of the most vulnerable
groups of migrants on the labor market. Theiremployment rate is 56%, just 3 percentage points higher
than family migrants and 9 percentage points lower thannative-born persons. In addition, one in fiveeconomically active refugees is unemployed and one ineight is unemployed for 12 months or longer and about
one in fourteen was unemployed for 2 years or longer,suggesting that once unemployed, refugees havedifficulties to return to employment. On average, it takes
refugees up to 20 years to have a similar employment
rate as the native- born. In the first 5 years after arrival,
only one in four refugees is employed, the lowest of all
migrant groups. After 10 years, their employment rate
reaches 56% but it remains below the employment rate ofnative-born persons in most countries. A significant partof the difference in the employment rates between
refugees and other migrants can be explained bydifferences in their education level, i.e. that refugees are
more often found among the low-educated whose
employment rate is far below average”6.
Over the last three to four decades, EU countries
have had to deal with increasing numbers of refugees
from around the globe and some of the countries had
some success in this refugees issues.
But at the same time, as we all know, in the last two
years, more than 1 million refugees and migrants havearrived in the European Union. The large majority ofthem fleeing from war and terror in Syria and othertroubled countries. One question is what is the present
45

6

Ibid., p.3.
Jean-Christophe Dumont, Thomas Liebig, and Jörg
Peschner, Filip Tanay, Theodora Xenogiani. 2014. “Howare refugees faring on the labor market in Europe-A firstevaluation based on the 2014 EU labor Force Survey ad
hoc module”. OECD Secretariat and the DG Employment,
Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.
Ibid., p.6-7.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

situation after the refugee crisis occurred from 2015?
And what’s the biggest hurdle refugees are facing in theprocess of Integration into the host countries’ Labor
Markets?
I’d like to consider about the hurdles based on thepresent situation through the field work which had been
holding during March 7 to March 16 in Germany andSlovenia and some news reports has been published on
the WEB.
II. The present situation of the refugees’ economic
integration in EU countries-Case of GermanyA) Number of refugees
Some 1.1 million migrants have arrived inGermany, Europe’s largest economy, since the start of2015. Syrians make up the largest group of arrivals,
followed by Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, Eritreans andAlbanians, and most of whom were Muslims fleeing
Syria’s civil war. Nearly 4 million Muslims – about 5
percent of the population – live in Germany.
The number of refugees arriving in Europe dropped
dramatically last year after the EU struck a controversial
deal with Turkey aiming to prevent crossings over the
Aegean Sea, by detaining anyone arriving on Greek
islands under the threat of deportation. That had been themain route for the vast majority of migrants reaching
Germany after journeying through Balkans countries toreach Western Europe. After the EU-Turkey deal madethe main route revert to the far wider and moretreacherous Central Mediterranean Sea. More than 5,000
asylum seekers died in sea crossings, either by drowning,fuel inhalation or suffocation in overcrowded andunseaworthy boats.
B) The current economic situation in Germany
According the report of Bloomberg markets (Jan,2017), Germany’s economic expansion last quarter at theend of 2016 may have accelerated more than analysts
predicted as 2016 growth climbed to the fastest pace infive years7.
Figure1

Household consumption benefited from a drop in
the unemployment rate (3.9 percent, figure1 and figure2)
to the lowest level since the country’s reunification morethan a quarter of a century ago. At the same time,government spending was boosted by costs related to theprovision of assistance and shelter for more than 1
million refugees.
Figure2

Source: Federal Statistics office, www.Tradingeconomics.com.

German unemployment fell more than expected in
October, pushing down the jobless rate in Europe’s
biggest economy to 6.0 percent, the lowest level sinceGerman reunification in 1990, and the number of job
vacancies to a record high of 691,000.
Under the context of the economic situation, theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), a partner in
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition
which we visited showed their thought about theemployment rate of the huge numbers of refugees which
arrived Germany after 2015. The speaker said that theemployment rate 13% which has been reported in 2016 isgood figure for the refugees have arrived in Germany
just for 2 years. They seem like have not much worried
about and have confidents with the economic integration
issue even though the employment rate is depending on
the needs of the German labor market which related tothe changing economy situation.
C) Islamophobia8 and Populism9 sentimentGermany is seeing in a sentient of Islamophobia andpopulism.
According to a new study which highlights the8

Source: Bloomberg markets, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/
articles/2017-01-12/

7

Piotr Skolimowski. 2017. “German Economic Growth at
End of 2016 Probably Beat Forecast” Bloomberg markets.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-12/

9

Definition of Islamophobia: An exaggerated fear, hatred,
and hostility toward Islam and Muslims that is perpetuatedby negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination,and the marginalization and exclusion of Muslims fromsocial, political, and civic life.
Source: “Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim
Sentiment in the West”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx)
In politics, the term populism can have different meanings
depending on who is using it and what their political goals
are. At its root, populism is a belief in the power of regularpeople, and in their right to have control over theirgovernment rather than a small group of political insiders
or a wealthy elite. The word populism comes from theLatin word for “people,”.

Course Reports

tensions surrounding the recent inflow of refugees. Morethan 40 percent of residents said they believe Muslims
should be forbidden from coming to Germany10.The
study – conducted by researchers at the University ofLeipzig in co-operation with the Heinrich Boell
Foundation, the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation, and the
Otto-Brenner foundation – surveyed a total of 2,420
Germans.
Meanwhile, a study published in May found that 60
percent of citizens agreed with the idea that there is “noplace for Islam in Germany.”
Unsurprisingly, members of the far-right Alternative
for Germany (AfD) party were most likely to favor
stopping Muslims from coming to Germany. The antiimmigration party, which supports a full ban on minarets
and the burqa, has described Islam as incompatible with
the German constitution. Security concerns and worries
about how the record numbers will integrate haveboosted support for the Anti-immigrants Alternative forGermany (AfD)party.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has passionately
disagreed with such statements, championing an opendoor policy for those fleeing war and persecution. That
policy has led to widespread criticism from many, with
an April poll by FG Wahlen showing public support for
Merkel at the lowest of her third term, which began in
2013.
D) Labor market system and regulations to refugees
The dual VET-system is an integral part of thegeneral education and training system in Germany.
Germany’s dual system of vocational education andtraining (VET) is highly acknowledged and highly
recognized abroad with the lowest youth unemployment
rate in Europe. The majority of Germany’s workforce
received its high qualification through the dual VETsystem for about 5 years.
The German apprenticeship system is called a “DualSystem” because training takes place both in firms andpublic training schools. With dual education, German
companies turn apprentices into customized specialists at
low net costs through in-house training. Germany’s
apprenticeship system provides 344 certified trained
occupations, designed by the government and industry.
This means that all of the immigrants include
refugees who want to regular work in Germany, also

10

Other key characteristics include: Politics are based onemotion to generate a feeling of affective identification;
Intellectuals and experts are viewed with suspicion becauseof their ties with the elite. Their words are perceived as
skewed and biased.
IESE business school. 2017. “Why Populism Is Rising and
How To Combat it”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2017/01/24/whypopulism-is-rising-and-how-to-combat-it/#2fd9874b1d44“Islamophobia rising in Germany following influx ofMuslim refugees – study”
https://www.rt.com/news/346930-islamophobia-germanyrefugees-study/, Jun, 2016.

have no skills and work experience or can not prove thatthey have skills, should take the dual VET-system. But,
whether asylum seekers are allowed to start a vocational
training or not, depends on their residence permit. If
refugees have “Duldung” status then they can start
training straight away. But if asylum seekers have only
been granted a temporary stay then they have to wait
three months until receive residence permit. In otherwords, the employment prospects for immigrants who
has got the permit in Germany would be a not bad
system, particularly if they are well-qualified and have abasic command of the German language.But, for the
refugees seek asylum who has no qualification andcannot speak German language, it is a hard hurdle forthem.
Also, there are another regulation for refugees. It iscalled priority check. An asylum seeker who arrived inGermany may not work during the first three months
upon arrival. And then they only stand a chance if noGerman or European Union citizen is in the running forthe job. This is called the priority check.
July 2016, Germany passed a new law thatsuspended for three years the requirement that firms
must offer jobs to EU residents first. Yet even so, thesuspension will only apply in areas with low
unemployment, and states and localities can still require
discrimination against the asylum job seekers. They canalso tell asylums where they must live—which could
prevent them from following economic demand11.
It is no surprise that this system has produced
extremely high unemployment among the asylums inGermany—now almost a year after the bulk of thearrivals. Naturally, Syrians face many hurdles beyond
bureaucracy in finding work, especially language andskill acquisition. It’s clear that the regulations play animportant role in preventing employment.
III. Conclusion
Integration of refugees into the Germany society
will take a long time based on the experience that thelabor market integration of refugee who arrived inGermany before 2014.But under the Islamophobia andPopulism sentiment which is rising in Germany society,
Germany government should recognize that the hurdles
for the integration of refugees into the Germany society
is not just about the economy issues. The attitude to thedifferent ethnic, religion particularly to the Muslims, that
do not want to have any conversation and have no try tounderstand about Muslims is the biggest problem
currently. How to solve this kind of problem and what’s
the solution? It is the left problem for all of us to think in
depth in the future.

11

David, B. 2016. “Why Refugees Find Jobs Faster in the
U.S. Than Germany”, CATO institute. https://www.cato.
org/blog/why-refugees-find-jobs-faster-us-germany

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

References
1. Georg, Bolits.2016. “Labor Market Integration of
Refugees: Strategies and good practices” Policy
Department: Economic and Scientific Policy,
Institute for Employment Research (IAB).
2. European Migration Network. 2014. “Asylum andMigration Glossary 3.0”. Brussels: European
Commission.
3. IZA. 2016. “Integrating Refugees into Labor
Markets”, World of Labor.
4. Jean-Christophe Dumont, Thomas Liebig, Jörg
Peschner, Filip Tanay, Theodora Xenogiani.2014.
“How are refugees faring on the labor market inEurope-A first evaluation based on the 2014 EUlabor Force Survey ad hoc module”. OECD
Secretariat and the DG Employment, Social Affairs
and Inclusion of the European Commission.
5. Piotr, Skolimowski. 2017. “German Economic
Growth at End of 2016 Probably Beat Forecast”
Bloomberg markets. https://www.bloomberg.com/
news/articles/2017-01-12/
6. “Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim
Sentiment in the West”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobiaunderstanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx)
7. IESE business school. 2017. “Why Populism Is
Rising and How To Combat it”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2017/01/24/whypopulism-is-rising-and-how-to-combat-it/#2fd9874
b1d44
8. “Islamophobia rising in Germany following influxof Muslim refugees – study”
https://www.rt.com/news/346930-islamophobiagermany-refugees-study/, Jun, 2016.
9. David, B. 2016. “Why Refugees Find Jobs Faster in
the U.S. Than Germany”, CATO institute. https://www.cato.org/blog/why-refugees-find-jobs-fasterus-germany

Course Reports

Individual Report for GRM On-site Research Tour 2017
The Refugee Crisis in Germany1
CHEN Yan

This report is aimed at summarizing the findings in the
research tour to Slovenia and Germany from March 7th toMarch 16th, 2017. The main purpose is as follows.
1. To give a brief summary of the refugee crisis thatoriginated in Syria because of the civil war,
2. To illustrate the challenges Germany is facing
while dealing with the refugee crisis, as well as theinfluence on the German society,3. To discuss the possibility of integration of the
refugees to European society.
In regards to the European refugee crisis, whichbroke out in 2015, the GRM leading program organized
an on-site research tour to Slovenia and Germany inorder to investigate the conditions of the refugee crisis.
With the assistance of the Embassy of Slovenia in Tokyo,
the Embassy of Japan in Slovenia and some otherorganizations and institutes, a meaningful and beneficial
program was accomplished. This report is written basedon the interviews, meetings and site observations
conducted in this program.
In addition, previous experience in other Balkancountries including Serbia and Bosnia- Herzegovina,
which was visited last September in another program2,
was helpful to understand the “Balkan Route3” for the
refugees and the overall background.

1

2

3

In this refugee crisis, another term that was frequently
mentioned was migrant. This report will focus on theasylum seekers and refugees, which refers to the ones who
had been displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster,in this case mainly Syrian refugees, while migrant refers to
the ones who move abroad voluntarily for other reasons.
For instance, along with the influx of Syrian refugees, alarge amount of migrant with other nationalities fromneighboring countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq mixedin and pretend to be Syrians to take advantage of theregulation. All of them come without proper
identifications, makes it difficult to distinguish the migrantfrom the refugees.
Global Career Development Program, organized by GRM
leading program, was carried out from September 3rd to
September 16th, 2016.
The “Balkan Route” mentioned in this report refers to theone mainly taken by the refugees in the period October
2015 to March 2016, which starts from Syria and passes
Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia,
Austria and end at Germany. This route had been recordedby the Japanese journalist Sakaguchi from the Mainichi
Daily.
坂口裕彦『ルポ 難民追跡 バルカンルートを行く』
岩波新書、2016 年 10 月。

I. Introduction
Triggered by the “Arab Spring” in 2011, the conflict
between the Syria government, the Rebel groups, andother armed forces has killed 450,000 Syrians anddisplaced more than 12 million, which is half thecountry’s prewar population, from their homes4. Most of
the latter chose to seek asylum in European countries.
On August 25, 2015, Germany decided to suspend
the Dublin Procedure for Syrians. According to the
Dublin Procedure, refugees have to seek for protection in
the first EU country that they entered. Germany’s
decision facilitated the Syrian refugees to pass throughother EU member countries to seek asylum in Germany.
This action was welcomed by the refugees. The decisionitself, and images of Chancellor Angela Merkel, spreadamong the refugees through the social network.
Some other European countries, particularly thecountries located on the “Balkan Route”, worked
together to cooperate with Germany. From October 2015
to March 2016, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia,
and Austria built up a well-organized system that cantransfer the refugees who had traveled all the way from
Syria to their destination Germany in three days5. As theresult, the number of asylum seekers that arrived inGermany totaled 1.17 million during 2015 and 2016,
make it the biggest host country for Syrian refugees in
Europe6.
Soon repercussions occurred. The influx of refugees
into Germany in this short period brought a variety ofissues to German society. On the administration side,
registration, identity clarification, asylum application,and the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers calls for a
lot of administrators, as well as financial support andtime. On the other hand, the asylum seekers need shelter,accommodation, and health care. Their children alsoneed access to schooling. The German government hadto spend a large amount of their budget and manpower
resources to deal with the refugee flow, which gradually
4

5
6

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/syria-civil-warexplained-160505084119966.html
http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/Germany/statistics (29.03.2017)
坂口 op. cit., pp58-pp114.
UNHCR statistics, data updated to the end of 2016. (16.10.
2017)
http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/overview#_ga=2.198060710.
804408955.1508159935-636285073.1508159935
Interior Ministry of Germany, data updated to 11.01.2017.
(29.03.2017)
http://www.dw.com/en/sharp-drop-in-migrant-arrivals-ingermany/a-37087543

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Table 1. Statistics of asylum seekers arrived in Germany from 2012 to 2016

Notes:(1) “-” means data is not available.
(2) For the year of 2012, statistics are only available for the period of January to November.
(3) All the data in Table 1. except “Refugees of all nationalities” refers to Syrian refugees only.
Source: Michael Kalkmann, National Country Report of Germany (2013-2016), Asylum Information Database, edited by European
Council on Refugees and Exiles.

led to instability in their society.
II. Refugee crisis in Germany, with evidence from theon-site research tour
2.1 Refugees settling down in Germany
In the area around Kottbusser Tor, Berlin, the trail ofrefugees and migrations from the Middle East can befound everywhere. There are supermarkets, restaurants,
cafes, and groceries with signboards written in Arabic,
Turkish and sometimes also in German. On the balcony
or windows where refugees and migrants live, satellite
television receiving equipment is set to the TV channelsof their home countries. Sometimes national flags can beseen outside the windows.
The refugee people can be easily distinguished bytheir appearance and language. Women in chadors areseen walking crossing the street with baby carriages ortaking buses to the center of the city. Middle-aged
Muslim men are seen sitting in the Arabic coffee shopswith a water pipe in their hands. It appears that the
refugees are the majority in this area, while Europeanlooking teenagers can be seen in the crowd, walking into
the kebab restaurant and take seats next to a Muslim
couple.
The migration area is quiet in the daytime. It’s hard
to tell if there is any difference between theneighborhood with and without refugee due to a lack ofexperience with this city during that time period.
2.2 The impact on the German society from multiple
perspectives
2.2.1 Impact on national finance
The peaceful street scene in Kottbusser Tor and all
the other residential areas for refugee was supported byGermany and some other international organizations. The
German government provides free shelter and food to the
refugees, while UNCHR and NGOs provide themclothes, other daily necessities, and sometimes medical
or mental care. Immediate support to asylum seekers, aswell as education and training costs for refugees in thelong term, require significant investments.
Sakaguchi recorded the income of an Afghanistan

family that arrived in Germany in 20157. At that time, themiddle-aged couple was living with their four-year-old
daughter in an apartment, and the rent and electric bill
were paid by the German government. Besides that, theyreceived a monthly subsidy from the government, ofwhich totaled 800 Euros per month, and it was enough tocover their living expenses and transportation fees.
Furthermore, they can attend free German classes toprepare for job hunting in Germany.
The explosive increase in refugee population can beread from Table 1.
Almost all the applicants from Syria had received somekind of protection in Germany. The federal government
provides a fixed sum of 670 Euros per asylum seeker per
month8. In the case of pending applicants, the subsidy permonth is 300 Euros for adults and 200 Euros for kids9.
In 2015, Germany spent 16 billion Euros (0.5% ofGDP) on its migrants10. Since they received more asylum
applications in 2016 (745,545 in total, more than 36% of
which claimed to be Syrians), corresponding increases in
expense for refugees were seen. 42.1% of all theapplicants are identified as refugees, at the same time thepercentage of subsidiary protection and humanitarian
protection are 25.3% and 4% respectively11.
The refugee identification procedures can last for a
two-year period. The expenditure on resettling the
refugees, asylum seekers, and the legal and illegal
migrations flowing into Germany is a heavy burden to
the financial and social welfare system, which thought tobe overwhelmed even before the refugee crisis happened,though the ruling coalition has denied that is the case12.
2.2.2 Impact on domestic labor market
Those who have been granted a refugee status needs
access to the labor market so as to foster their integration
7
8
9
10
11
12

坂口 , op. cit.
OECD, Migration policy debates, Jan 2017.
http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/germany/statistics (29.03.2017) 坂口 , op. cit.
OECD, op. cit.
http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/Germany/statistics (29.03.2017)
Interview with Mr. Klaus Mindrup at the MPs’ officebuilding in the Paul-Löbe-Haus, Berlin. March 13th 2017.

Course Reports

and contribution to the host country economy. At the
beginning of the refugee crisis, the influx of refugees andmigrations had been viewed positively in Germany. They
were expected to make up for what the young labor force
could not replace in the aging German workforce.
However, this turned out to be paradoxical. There are atleast two aspects to explain why this is the issue.
First, it is not easy for refugees without skills andlanguage ability, which turns out to be the majority, tosearch for a job in Germany. Rietig pointed out fivesectors that influence the labor market integration, which
includes language, education and skill levels,
qualification recognition, legal right to work, andemployer openness13.
The former two factors had been mentioned by the
representatives of the AfD in Berlin, who use a simple
data presentation to illustrate the relatively low level of
education of the refugees from Syria14. According to thedata he introduced, the percentage of students mastering
basic skills by countries of origin is 84% (Germany),
47% (Albania) and 35% (Syria), but he didn’t give aclear definition to “students” and “basic skills”, and thedata resource is unclear. In a conversation with WEFA,
the representatives confirmed that the refugees withcertain professional skills such as teaching or medical
expertise can find a job easier in Germany15.
Meanwhile, the representatives of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany16 advocates that they aretrying their best to help the refugees to get a job byimproving their language and professional skills. This ispartly proved to be the case by Sakaguchi in his reports.
Another side of the paradox is that the skilled
refugees who join in the local labor market are seen as
taking away the limited employment opportunities fromthe native Germans. At least their presence had made thelabor market more competitive.
Now the situation is quite clear: the skilled refugees
are threatening the local labor force, while the ones who
are not employed in the labor market taking away taxes
paid by the other German citizens.
The latest data that Federal Bureau of Statistics
released footnoted this predicament17. In 2015, withnearly 26% of the total population, the people with
migration backgrounds are taking away 39% of the
13

14

15
16

17

http://www.aicgs.org/publication/burden-or-blessing-theimpact-of-refugees-on-germanys-labor-market/ (29.03.
2017)
Interview with Mr. Jörg Sobolewski and Mr. Hugh Bronson,
the representatives of AfD at the Abgeordnetenhouse of
Berlin. March 13th 2017.
Interview with Mr. Ismet Mısırlıoğlu at the Berlin Office of
WEFA. March 14th 2017.
SPD, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands in German,
which is the ruling coalition with CDU, the party
Chancellor Angela Merkel belongs to.
https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/SocietyState/
Population/MigrationIntegration/Tables_PersonsMigration
Background/MigrantStatusMainSourceOfLivelihood.html(29.03.2017)

unemployment benefit by headcount. Though this figure
cannot represent the reality in Germany at the present
time since the influx and settling down of refugees inGermany after 2015, this data can be easily used by antimigration groups and individuals, to claim that people
with migrant backgrounds are working less and taking
more. That is what is currently happening in Germansociety. It is not a preferable trend in the integration of
migrations and refugees.
2.2.3 Impact on social stability
Refugees were welcomed in most of the European
countries at first partly because of the spirit ofhumanitarianism. Gradually the trend has changed toother opinions. The friction between local residents andthe newly-arrived refugees can easily be pictured. The
information collected from the WEFA showed that thebarrier of language does exist, which makes the refugees
and the local residents have difficulty understanding eachother. In addition, the language and culture difference isattributing to the Islamophobia.
As time goes on, the local population’s patience
dampens and conflicts are escalating. Contradictions
exist in daily life, labor marsket and so on. The refugee
camps receive claims from the nearby communities, forreasons such as the children are too noisy, their living
environment had been changed by the outsiders, and they
are told they have to tolerant it. For the asylum seekers,
usually they have to wait for a certain time until they get
the refugee status. Before that, they have to endure aliving condition which usually lacks private space, andthey are not permitted to work. The dilemma of the
refugees’ employment problem had been discussed in theformer section.
The well-being of the refugees could be the originof friction too. For most of the refugees, theirexpenditures come from the federal tax. In other words,
the refugees are consuming the wealth of the country
without contributing to the national economy, thus they
are not supposed to live a better life compared to their
German counterpart. But, some of the refugees entered
the country with their own assets, especially the Syrians,
and they are observed to be relatively better off than theones from Afghanistan and Iraq. A hidden fact is thatpoor ones cannot afford the traveling expense toGermany. If the refugees are in possession of some kindof property, they are no longer weak, hence the sympathy
for them is replaced by resentment.
The terrorist event in European countries has madethe condition worse. People’s anger exploded after the2016 New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Germany18, more
and more people chose to join demonstrations to express
their dissatisfaction toward the refugees. Although mostof the perpetrators of the terror attacks turned out to besecond-generation migrants that had been born andbrought up in Europe, the resentment still remains.
18

墓田桂『難民問題 イスラム圏の動揺、EU の苦悩、
日本の課題』中公新書、2016 年 9 月。

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The opinions toward refugees experienced an
evolution from sympathy to resistance, fear and finallyrepulsion. Social media and conservative politicians
accelerated this process, the former spreading negative
feelings towards refugees and the latter take advantage ofit, resulting in the growth of populism.
2.2.4 Impact on infrastructure
The AfD representatives also mentioned about thepressure on the existing infrastructure system inGermany19. For instance, shelter. There are more than 40
gyms being used as temporary shelters for the asylum
applicants, but they need to be relocated to otheraccommodations in the long run. Public transportationsuch as subways and buses, educational facilities fromkindergarten to university, hospitals, energy supply
systems such as water, electricity, gas, and others, might
become strained. The capacity of each city may not beable to support the influx of refugees. Closer inspection
is needed for this argument.
III. Integration of refugees to Germany
Regarding the future of the refugees, the opinion ofdifferent parties is divided. In the conversation with the
AfD Berlin, the WEFA and the SPD, the AfD
representatives implied that the refugees will stay inGermany for a long time, while the WEFA representative
said that the refugees are eager to go back to their homecountries, because of the lack of a sense of belonging.
The SPD has shown their confidence in integratingrefugees into society. They took the refugees who came
via the Balkan areas in past conflicts as a previous
example to prove that German society is lenient enoughto take in a different culture. However, the crucial factor
in these two situations is fundamentally different. The
Balkan region is part of the Europe, and although it
retains its Islamic culture, it is still culturally andlinguistically linked to Europe. The current migrant crisis
stems from the culturally and linguistically different
regions of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, leading to moredifficulties in integration.
The testimony given by one of the entrepreneurs
with a Turkish migration background in Berlin indicatedthat even though he achieved certain social status in
Germany after decades of living there, he is still an
outsider who is not respected because of his original
nationality, and his son has had the same experience20.
The term “integration” implies that part of theidentity has to be sacrificed. The co-existence of different
cultures requires the ability to accept differences and livewith them.

Interview with Mr. Jörg Sobolewski and Mr. Hugh Bronson,
the representatives of AfD at the Abgeordnetenhouse of
Berlin. March 13th 2017.
20 Interview with Mr. Kaya Tığlıoğlu, the founder of ISOGON
company in Berlin. One of his sons joined the interview,too. March 14th 2017.

IV. Closing remarks
On the day Chancellor Angela Merkel declared
Germany would accept Syrian refugees, the rest of theworld showed respect to the decision and the country.
But there is a long way to go for both Germany and theEU. Facing the unprecedented challenge, the regulations
formulated decades ago, such as the Dublin Regulations
and the Schengen Regulations, were cast aside becauseof their inefficiency21. The agenda to build a temporary
order to cope with the situation was interrupted by terror
and violent activities and protest against them.
The EU made a refugee deal with Turkey,
temporarily stopping the influx of refugee to Germany.
Recently, the diplomatic friction between Turkey andsome of the EU member states is escalating, and Turkey
is threatening to cancel the refugee deal with the EU.
Again, the refugees remaining in Syria are likely to be ata dead end. European countries, especially Germany, arein a humanitarian crisis as well as political crisis, which
could be told from the result of presidential elections in
2017, witnessing the AfD gaining presence. The future isunclear, just like the future of the refugees who had
settled down in Germany.
Integration of refugees to the European society
won’t be easy. Turkey spent decades on the process tojoin the European Union, and it is still ongoing. The
influence of their Islamic cultural background cannot beignored22. It is a mirror for the integration of Muslim
refugees.
In history, Christian culture and Islamic culture bothhave assimilated a lot of other minor cultures as they
expanded. These two cultures are not likely to merge orassimilate each other in the near future. Trends ofglobalization and integration are ongoing but are
threatened by populism and calls for de-globalization.
Insecurity drives hostility towards refugees and migrants.
It is vital to work towards integration in order to preventthe future crisis. What’s more, a light should be shed on
the root cause of the refugee crisis, i.e. the Syrian civil
war. Further studies and policies need to be formed inorder to work toward global stability.

19

21

22

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/
germany/11821822/Germany-drops-EU-rules-to-allow-inSyrian-refugees.html (29.03.2017)
http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2016-07-16/doc-ifxuaiwa
7033719.shtml (29.03.2017)

Course Reports

Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development:
An Assessment of Slovenia’s Energy Policy
Arnold Rey B. Gines
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Abstract
This paper looks into the energy situation and energy
policy of Slovenia in terms of its energy efficiency (EE)and development of sustainable renewable energy
sources (RES). Currently, Slovenia’s energy importdependence is at 48%. Its energy strategies, guided by
European Union’s (EU) targets, are anchored on theconcepts of energy efficiency and sustainable
development of renewable energy sources (RES). Alongwith EU’s policies and directives, the country crafted the
National Energy Efficiency Action Plan and the National
Renewable Energy Action Plan. In addition, since 2016,
Slovenia has reduced its energy end-use by 9%. In
addition, its total energy source comprises of 22% of
RES in 2014, just 3% shy from their 2020’s RES goals.
Ongoing projects like smart grid and further
diversification of energy sources are expected to provide
more sustainable developments to Slovenia’s energy
needs.
I. Introduction
Much of the world’s energy problems arise from theever-increasing demand for energy while dealing with adeterminate supply of natural resources andtechnological challenges on renewable energy resources.
The International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) (EIA,
2016) Reference case estimates that the worlds energy
demand will continuously increase in the next twentyfive years. From 2012 to 2040, it is projected that theworld consumption will increase by up to 48%, vas
shown in Figure 1. This estimated rise in total energy
consumption is consistent with the continuous increasesince 1990. While this trend incorporates current
technologies and developmental trends as well as
existing energy policies, it does not take into accountnew or future policies that will be put in place. As such,
this projection may change with future energy proposals.
In 2014, 66% of the total global electricity productionused fossil fuel such as coal, natural gas and oil. As many
countries lack these natural resources or renewableenergy sources, their energy production must rely heavily
on imports from neighboring countries. Faced with thischallenge, most nations, along with internationalorganizations, are constantly exploring an array oftechnology- and policy-based solutions that will bringabout long-term solutions to energy. The need for a moresustainable energy source and more efficient energy
consumption is becoming more and more relevant.
For small nations with limited natural energy resources

like Slovenia, the demand for energy importation is high.
In 2015, Slovenia’s energy dependence accounts to about
48% of its total energy consumption. However, this isalready 8.8% lower than the EU-28 average. If left
unchanged, this level of dependence will increasingly
pose economic, political and social vulnerability within
Slovenia and even the EU. This remains a greatchallenge but provides an opportunity to improve on
policies that foster sustainable development.

Figure 1: World energy consumption, 1990-2040(quadrillion Btu) (EIA, 2016)
This paper examines existing energy policies of Slovenia
relative to efficiency and sustainability while also
understanding the changing energy production andconsumption landscape of the country. These aspects
were considered by Chang and Fang (2017) while
examining Singapore’s energy policy. They aim tounderstand the current state of Singapore’s energy
consumption and the resulting impact of its energy
policies in the economy and its people. This paper
applies the same concepts to Slovenia as was done inSingapore.
II. Energy Consumption and Energy Policy in
Slovenia
Slovenia is located in Central Europe between Austria on
the north, Hungary on the east, Croatia on the south and
Italy on the west as depicted in Figure 2. With Ljubljana
as capital, it is situated in the heart of Europe serving as acrossroad route on all directions around the continent. It
is home to two million people and has a land area of
20,000 sq. km.
Like most EU member countries, Slovenia has a

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developed economy owing to its highly-educated andskilled population and a robust manufacturing industry. It
is known for its export production in automotive,
chemical and pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronics,
ICT, metalworking and machining and wood-processing.
It also fosters more traditional industries like agriculture
and forestry.

Figure 3: Final energy consumption of Slovenia
in 2015 (SURS, 2016).

Figure 2: Map of Slovenia surroundedby neighboring countries (Operation World)
In 2015, Slovenia’s total energy consumption sums up toalmost 199,000TJ, with households consuming 23% of
the total. An increase in geothermal and solar energy
consumption was observed in this year (14%).The
establishment new small power producers accounts forthis. A little less than half of the total consumption was in
the form of petroleum products (46%), followed byelectricity (23%), renewables (14%), natural gas (12%),
heat (4%) and solid fuels (1%), as shown in Figure 3.
Among the various energy sources consumed withinhouseholds, 42% of the energy consumed in households
were from solid fuels. Among solid fuels, wood remains
to be one of the most prevailing natural product used due
to its immediate abundance throughout Slovenia. (SURS,
2016).
Slovenia produced 16.3 TWh of energy mainly fromhydroelectric power plants, nuclear power plants,
thermal power plants and other renewable sources in2015. Almost 70% of which is consumed by businessconsumers while the rest is distributed amonghouseholds. From the total power generation, 5.3TWh
was produced by a single nuclear plant which is jointly
co-owned by Croatia since 1981. This is 23% of the total
supply comprising almost half of the total domesticenergy source together with almost the whole of therenewable energy source (RES) (17%) which has
considerably increased since the previous year marked
by the emergence of a few small local producers.
Imported sources account for less than half of the total
supply with all of the petroleum products (34%) andnatural gas (10%) being fully imported (SURS, 2016).
Figure 4 shows the corresponding total power supply.

Figure 4: Total primary energy supply of Slovenia
in 2015 (SURS, 2016)
1. Current energy policies in Slovenia
At present, two leading policy concepts around the world
are energy efficiency (EE) and sustainable developmentof renewable energy sources (RES). Since a huge sum ofinvestment is needed for energy production,
consumption efficency is central in all aspects of theworld economy. Various research and development
activities are in place to create next generation
technologies that can either produce cleaner and cheaperenergy or consume energy at a rate that produces higher
product output for every unit of energy. The twoconcepts are pervasive in all aspects of energy
management. So to speak, these two concepts are sotightly related that the full realization of policies
addressing the world’s energy will not exist without one
or the other.
EU Policy and Strategy
Since its integration into the EU in 2004, Slovenia ismandated to fulfill all of EU policies and directives. At
present, EU’s energy policy has three main goals: supply
security, competitiveness and sustainability. EU currently
achieved more than half of its energy by importing fromcountries in Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus
countries. These imports comprise of traditional energy
sources like fossil fuels or natural gas. These
consumptions are huge contributors of greenhouse gases.
The strategy aims to secure competitive and secureenergy source by promoting private investments on

Course Reports

energy infrastructures like pipelines, electricity networks
and technologies with less carbon footprint.
The goals are attained through the 2030 Energy Strategy
framework. To tackle climate and energy issues, EU set
policy objectives for the period between 2020 and 2030.
These aims are ultimately geared towards attaining the2050 greenhouse gas reduction target. For 2030, EU is
expected to cut its greenhouse gas emission by 40%
using baseline level in 1990. The union is also expected
to provide for 27% of its energy consumption fromrenewable sources while increasing its EE by 27%.
A. Efficiency: Slovenia’s energy consumption
In general, EE can be achieved either by reducing energy
consumption or by increasing the output per unit ofenergy consumed. However, the increasing economic
activities of a growing industrialized nation such as
Slovenia demand for higher energy use to attainproduction targets. Therefore, to marginally improve EE,
efficient technologies that improve and sustain
production needs and services is highlighted.
The EU Directive introduction of policies on efficientenergy use in the household level have marked anincrease in patented energy-efficient inventions (Girod,
Stucki & Woerter, 2017). Even in energy production,
policies that promote efficient production are very
common with aims of increasing energy production
sustainably while decreasing dependence on energy
imported from other countries. However, much is yet tobe achieved in improving the efficiency of powertransmissions linking marketed energy sources to streetlevel consumption.
For the period of 2008-2016, Slovenia was able toachieve a 9% end-use energy savings target which isbased on the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan
2008-2016 (AN URE 1).
National Energy Efficiency Action Plan
Slovenia targets to attain a 20% improvement in energy
efficiency by 2020. This corresponds to EU’s Directive
2012/27/EU or the Energy Efficiency Directive. In detail,the target says that primary energy consumption must not
go beyond 7.125 million toe by 2020. Energy efficiency
can be achieved by improving the general infrastructuresof the country. This means that existing structures ofaround 22 million sq. meter floor space must undergorenovations. They are divided into three sectors, that is,households, public, and commerce and transport.
Renovations are being implemented with 3% of the total
renovations being done on central government buildings.
The resulting upgrade will amount to a 10% reduction inenergy consumption. This undertaking is expected todeliver economic growth amounting to EUR 500 millionof possible investment yearly. In the meantime, funds forthis project are expected to come from EE contribution,
Rural Development Programme, and Climate Fund.
(Ministry of Infrastructure, Slovenia, 2016)

B. Sustainable development: Slovenia’s renewableenergy source (RES) goals
Sustainability of energy source can be attained by
efficient energy consumption and development of RES.
Since Slovenia heavily relies on the import of raw
materials to feed its conventional power production, it
realizes the need to support the development of its RES.
This not only reduces energy dependence but also
pollution compared to the more popular fossil fuels. A
second nuclear reactor was proposed by GEN Energija in
January 2010 and is currently under consideration taking
into account the power needs, financing and popularsentiments among Slovenes on safety.
By 2020, EU aims to lower CO2eqv emissions by 20%
while increasing RES by 20%. These goals, also known
as the 20/20/20, are incorporated in EU’s REC Directive
2009/28/EC. The target is set arbitrarily for each member
depending on their current situation and infrastructure
capabilities. As for Slovenia, it targets to achieve 25% of
its gross final energy consumption energy fromrenewable sources by 2020. It includes further
introduction of RES to various sectors such as
households, transport, and manufacturing. This is not far
from its 22% energy consumption from renewables since2014.
Biomass, hydroenergy, solar and biogas encompass
Slovenia’s current RES. While still in stages ofdevelopment, these RES can potentially be further
diversified by wind and geothermal energy. However,
especially in the case of wind, they put little attention on
its development as its potential is not very significant ascompared to the others.
Key players in sustainable development in the fields ofpolicy, research, and public are important actors in thisenergy transition. Although EU’s objectives are clear,
there is a lack of concrete strategy plan in the EU level.
As such, each member is expected to plan for and carryout their respective strategy and organize their own
implementation within their jurisdiction. This allows fora more attuned approach to each country’s specificrequirements relative to their existing infrastructures andnetwork systems as well as current potentials.
National Renewable Energy Action Plan
For Slovenia, the national strategy is covered by the
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (Ministry of
Economy) and National Energy Programme (IJS).
However, it has been pointed out that there are no
detailed implementation measures to attain the set goals
and no consideration on the increase in number of RES
and EE with respect to the long-term energy industry
development.
Smart Grid and Smart Community
The goal towards sustainable development in energy
production and consumption has long been realized since
the conception of energy policies. An increasing demandfor power across all industries means that the current grid
system is overburdened. In fact, it has not evolved

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significantly since its initial stages of development.
Blackouts and brownouts are a result of the slow
response of the grid system to changing power demands.
These result in delays of economic activities and services
and potential wastage of resources.
Among the existing energy infrastructures and facilities,
the grid system is the most outdated section in terms oftechnology advancement. According to the European
Wind Energy Association, grid operation will require an
upgrade when wind and solar power are to be integrated
further by as much as 20% of the total power handled.
That is, energy management techniques need upgrade tohandle a diversified energy source. This prospective
improvement will not require major efforts on the side ofresearch and development as the upgrade taps into
existing technologies already in use.
Present grids, though deemed smart enough, are at risk of
security, climate change threats and rising costs. In
addition, data on potential revenue losses are often
incalculable with the present grid system. Because of
these, it is ineffective to couple EE and RES measures toexisting grids.
The introduction of a smart grid will provide a more
flexible response to all consumer needs while providing
more accessibility into the network. It is also deemed
more cost-efficient and more reliable as the systemconstantly analyzes the power demands and dynamicallymanages all power sources connected to the grid.
The smart grid project also invests into new
infrastructures including advanced metering systems. On
the consumer level, it provides information that will give
power users the freedom to choose when to subscribe to
the grid. During peak hours when pricing is high,consumers can adjust their power usage to lower costs
and help decongest the power network.
To circumvent further potential loses, on November
2016, the Ministry of Economic Development andTechnology of Slovenia and New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of
Japan made an agreement and signed a memorandum ofcooperation (MOC) to conduct a research and pilot
demonstration on smart grid and smart community
system. NEDO also made agreements with Slovenia’s
Ministry of Infrastructure and ELES, d.o.o., a stateowned transmission system company of Slovenia. The
demonstration project is expected to be completed by
October 2019 (NEDO, 2016).

Figure 5: Overview of smart gridin a smart community (NEDO, 2016)
Cost analysis made by University of Ljubljana, Facultyof Electrical Engineering and Milan Vidmar Electronic
Power Institute on the development of the smart gridprojects that EUR 320 million worth of investment isneeded to fully support the success of all operations. In
Figure 6, this is lower than if investments are poured into
the maintenance of current grid networks (KC SURE,
2016).

Figure 6: Investment projections for smart gridversus without grids. (KC SURE, 2016)
III. Conclusion
As examined in this report, the energy policy of Slovenia
was discussed through the concepts of energy efficiency
and sustainable development of renewable energy
sources. The major existing policies are derived fromEU’s strategies on energy. These EU policies do notprovide implementation plans such that each member
state is free to provide their own implementation andaction plans. Slovenia’s implementations areencompassed in the National Energy Efficiency Action
Plan and National Renewable Energy Action Plan. So far,
EE target goals have been met until 2016 at end-use
energy savings of 9% while the development of RES is at
22% of the total energy sources since 2014.
In addition to these action plans, a demonstration projecton smart grid is being conducted and is expected to becompleted by last quarter of 2019. This project promotes
further enhancement of the action plans as energy
management is expected to be handled more efficiently
with the introduction of grid network systems.

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These findings reflect the current efforts of Slovenia not
only in complying with EU’s directives but also inlooking for long-term solutions to energy challenges ofcountries with inadequate locally-sourced energy supply.
Current projections reveal that the long-term gain ofinvesting in energy infrastructures will lead to eventual
savings and a more secure, competitive andsustainability.
References
Faoud Al-Mansour (2011). Energy efficiency trends andpolicy in Slovenia. Energy 36, 1868-1877.
B. Girod, Tobias Stucki & M. Woerter (2017). How dopolicies for efficient energy use in the household
sector induce energy-efficiency innovation? An
evaluation of European countries. Energy Policy,
Volume 103, 223-237.
Litos Strategic Communication. The Smart grid: an
introduction. U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved
from: https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/oeprod/
DocumentsandMedia/DOE_SG_Book_Single_
Pages%281%29.pdf
M. Obrecht and M. Denac (2013). A sustainable energy
policy for Slovenia: Considering the potential ofrenewables and investment costs. Journal of
Renewable and Sustainable Energy 5, 032301.
American Institute of Physics.
Ministry of Infrastructure of Slovenia (2015). National
Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2014-2020 (AN URE2020). Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/NEAPSLOVENIA_
en.pdf
Ministry of Economy (2010). National Renewable
Energy Action Plan 2010-2020 (NREAP). Retrieved
from: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/
20182/96176/national_renewable_energy_action_
plan_slovenia_en.pdf/b4a26cf1-8a03-480f-8adbbcd0491648f6
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (2016). Government of Slovenia and
NEDO Sign a MOC for a Smart Grid and Smart
Community Action. Retrieved from: http://www.
nedo.go.jp/english/news/AA5en_100136.html.
Operation World. Slovenia Map. Retrieved from: http://
www.operationworld.org/files/ow/maps/lgmap/
slvn-MMAP-md.png
Smart Grids Implementation Plan for the Slovenian
Distribution Networks. KC SURE. Retrieved from:http://www.sure.si/en/dosezki/item/125-smartgrids-implementation-plan-for-the-sloveniandistribution-networks
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Data.
Retrieved from http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/enTomaž Božič, Teja Rutar, Mojca Suvorov, Jože Zalar(2016). Statistical Office of the Republic ofSlovenia. Retrieved from: http://www.stat.si/
StatWeb/en/show-news?id=6254.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (2016).
International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016).

Retrieved from: www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/pdf/0484(2016).pdf.
Y. Chang & Z. Fang (2017). Efficient, equitable andsustainable energy policy in a small open economy:
Concepts and assessments. Energy Policy 105, 493501.

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The Integration of Refugees and Migrants in EU―On-site Practice Study in Slovenia and Germany―
Lirong Chi

I Introduction
In 2015, more than one million refugees flowed into
Europe, raising various reaction and tangles in European
society. It is called 2015 the European Migrant Crisis or2015 European Refugee Crisis. European Union (EU)countries struggled to cope with the influx, and createddivision in the EU over how best to deal with theresettlement of migrants and refugees. Understanding thesituation of the refugee crisis, and making a proposal toface it is necessary. Although Japan and China have notaccepted one refugee till now, it doesn’t mean there are
no issues of refugees (and migrants) at all in the near
future. In this sense, gaining the suggestions from
European countries also has momentous significance.
From March 7th to March 16th, we had an On-site
Practice Study Tour in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Berlin(Germany), focusing on the conditions and issues of the
refugee crisis, integration of Europe and the smart city
design. We visited Ljubljana University, Faculty ofSocial Sciences, President Office, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure, the refugee facilities
on the border in Ljubljana (Slovenia), and also visited
AFD · SPD political party, WEFA (NGO), and acompany founded by a Turkish immigrant in Berlin(Germany). Based on the conversation with thesedifferent stakeholders, this article tries to clarify theconditions of refugees in Slovenia and Germany, makerecommendations to manage refugees and migrants
better, and strengthen integration of refugees andmigrants in EU.
II Background of the Refugee Crisis
1. The definition of refugee
The UN 1951 Refugee Convention adopted thefollowing definition of “refugee” to apply to any person
who is : “owing to well-founded fear of being persecutedfor reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of aparticular social group or political opinion, is outside thecountry of his nationality and is unable or, owing to suchfear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of thatcountry; or who, not having a nationality and beingoutside the country of his former habitual residence as aresult of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, isunwilling to return to it.”1
2. The situation of the 2015 European refugee crisis
The European migrant crisis or the European
1

Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees,
Geneva, Switzerland: Office of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Communications
and Public Information Service, 1967

refugee crisis began in 2015, when rising numbers ofpeople arrived undocumented into the EU, travelling
across the Mediterranean Sea or overland throughSoutheast Europe. These people included not only
asylums seeking to apply for a refugee status and theright of asylum in claims to be individually determined
as genuine or not, but also encompassed various otherssuch as economic migrants, and a small number ofhostile agents including “Islamic State militants”.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, the top three nationalities of entrants of theover one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals between
January 2015 and March 2016 were Syrian (46.7%),
Afghan (20.9%) and Iraqi (9.4%).2

Fig. 1: Asylum applications in EU and EFTA states
between 1 January and 30 June 2015
according to Eurostat data.
Source: European migrant crisis, Wikipedia

III Conditions of refugees in Slovenia and Germany
1. Slovenia
Slovenia is a nation state in southern Central
Europe, located at the crossroads of main European
cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to thewest, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast,
Croatia to the south and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea
to the southwest. It covers 20,273 square kilometers andhas a population of 2.06 million. It is a parliamentary
republic and a member of the United Nations, European
2Monthly Arrivals by Nationality to Greece, Italy and Spain.
Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response - Mediterranean.
31 March 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016

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Union, and NATO. The capital and largest city is
Ljubljana.3
Even though Slovenia is a small and “young”(independence in 1991) country, it plays an importantrole in Europe. Slovenia is very sensitive to changes for
globalization and emergency problems. After Hungry
sealed the border, Slovenia strived to have 500,000
refugees passing by smoothly. However, in order tomaintain this sustainably safe and secure life, enhancing
the potential capacity of the country is necessary.

but at the same time they feel their as Voice is notcounted in EU. Dr Miro Haček, a full professor ofpolitical science at the Faculty of Social Sciences gave
both positive and negative consequences ofEuropeanization processes. Positive consequences
include drawing of the EU funds (especially during andafter the economic crisis seeking important financial
resource, even more important for local communities),
and the fight against corruption (adoption of highest
international standards and procedures but lack of full
implementation). About negative aspects, he mentioned
four points. The first is the former authoritarian politicalculture being largely unaffected since nostalgia towards
former political and especially social system still remain.
The second is a lack of big, uniting goals after theaccession to the EU and NATO. The third is the lack ofsovereignty, especially over fiscal matters. And thefourth is politicians often using EU as an excuse forcertain procedures.
2. Germany
Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in
central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states,
covers an area of 357,021 square kilometers, and has alargely temperate seasonal climate. With about 82
million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous
member state of the European Union. After the UnitedStates, it is the second most popular immigration
destination in the world.5 Germany’s capital and largest
metropolis is Berlin.

Fig. 2: The statistic data of the Migrants crossing
Slovenia.
Source: www.vlada.si / Helping refugees (Government of the
Republic of Slovenia)

Slovenia economy having enjoyed robust growthsince its 1 May 2004 accession to the EU, Slovenia’s
GDP per capita has already reached about 80 percent of
the EU-27 average, ahead of Portugal and all other new
members from Central and Eastern Europe 4 .
Nevertheless Slovenian citizens’ satisfaction of being amember of EU has decreased over the years. People feel
free to use Euro to travel or study in other EU countries,
3

4

About Slovenia: Republic of Slovenia. Vlada.si.
Government of Slovenia, Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved
25 November 2012.
Slovenia’s road to the EU - Slovenia - ESI

Fig. 3: Main migrant route to Germany
Source: BBC.com

5

Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 Revision.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, Population Division. 2015.

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In the 21st century, Germany is a great power andhas the world’s fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP,as well as the fifth-largest by PPP (Purchasing Power
Parity). As a global leader in several industrial andtechnological sectors, it is both the world’s third-largest
exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a developed
country with a very high standard of living sustained by askilled and productive society. It upholds a social
security and universal health care system, environmental
protection and a tuition-free university education6.
However, various complicated problems surround thislarge welfare state. One of these problems is refugee
crisis. From the Fig.3 we could notice that most of the
migrants passed by Turkey, Slovenia, Austria, and finallysettled in Germay.
One of the right-wing political parties, Alternative
for Germany (AFD) rejects refugees. The AFD’s Berlin
regional manager mentioned, due to the low basic skill(reading, writing, and mathematical skills), refugees will
never be able to find a job within the city. This is the corereason of the migrants and refugees depend on welfare in
Germany. He also repeatedly brought up the phrase “PutGermany First”; migrants cannot solve Germany’s
problems but increase them, so building refugee camps
outside Germany and in their own home country could bebetter.
On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party ofGermany (SPD) political party accepts refugees. One
German politician of the SPD said that making a system
to support the migrants to work would be beneficial for
integration. They plan to assess immigration applications
based on age, education, work experience, language
skills and ability to integrate into the German society.
Besides the political parties, we also visited
independent organizations. Weltweiter Einsatz für Arme
(WEFA) is an International Humanitarian Aid
Organization reaching out to all regardless of theirreligion, spoken language, ethnicity, race, and region;and to help those around the world in hardship, hungry,
or left wounded, homeless or disabled due to natural
disasters or war. WEFA was founded in 2006, and hasreached out to 70 different countries and regions withhumanitarian aid in a short amount of time, to lessen theemotions of humility for the recipients. A woman who isplaying an important role as a volunteer worker for theorganization mentioned that the refugee children need
love, hug, and family more than food. They want to be apart of this society.
IV Four recommendations to manage refugees andmigrants better
1. Policy making
European politicians need to start seeing migrants
and refugees as a resource rather than as a problem. In
order to do this, European countries need to improve thegovernance for human mobility and make policy changes
to support the refugees or migrants to benefit the host6

From Wikipedia, Germany

communities.
It is necessary to increase the opportunities forlanguage lessons and work skills training so that refugees
and migrants can participate in the labor market. This not
only helps them ease the transition for new arrivals,
increase their capacity to support themselves, but also
help EU countries to ensure the security and stability ofsocieties as a whole.
At the same time, new strategies about refugee
acceptation, integration of refugees into society, andillegal migrant’s issues are required.
2. Seeking Cooperation
Cooperation includes the cooperation inside of thecountry as well as outside of the country.
Inside of the country, the government needs to workwith other stakeholders to deal with the refugees andmigrants’ issue, such as, university, NGO, and enterprise.
Outside of the country, cooperation with othercountries is important, especially, the EU countries.
Making dialogue could be the core to build good
relationships. EU countries should know and trust eachother, understand the EU’s joint value, and clarify eachother’s characteristics and responsibilities. For EU units,
the refugee (migration) issue is a matter that the EU
countries need to settle jointly and it is unexpected torely on only a few countries. Besides the EU countries,
cooperation with African countries is also important, inthe hope of reducing the reasons to migrate to Europe.
3. Integration community building
The key is to integrate the refugees and migrants
into the community as a whole. Try to understand eachother’s culture and respect diversity. It is important tochange the ideological perception of refugees (migrants),
give them humanitarian support, and to recognize themas a member of the community.
4. Smart city design
Humankind must address the issues in the years
ahead, including those relating to the environment,
energy, food and health.
Smart City is a city that can efficiently manage andoperate basic infrastructure services by using hightechnology, enhancing the quality of people’s lives whileconsidering the environmental sustainability. Although it
is a concept where we can solve social problems (such asaging and environmental pollution problems) more
efficiently, the high cost and life security still remains to
be unsettled.
V Conclusion
Facing the 2015 European refugee crisis, both
Slovenia and Germany had great effect on transferring
and accepting refugees. However, there are still
uncountable complex problems that need to beconsidered. Challenges bring chance. Through thisrefugee crisis, Slovenia and Germany gained a chance tomake the change to be a more sustainable country,

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including the integration of refugees and migrants.
“Integration” has various definitions. It is generally
defined as the process of mutual adaptation between hostsociety and migrants. Integration not only means to be
the same, but on the contrary, it is about retaining thedifferences based on the sense of obligation and respectof common value and common purpose that bind
migrants and their host communities together. Integration
becomes more essential these days because of
globalization.
Globalization brings economic growth andpopulation flow; which brings challenges to every
country. Some EU countries are not ready for the
migration and are afraid due to unpredictable terrorism
upon their citizens. Refugees have already suffered war,sorrow, and fear through their dangerous journeys toEurope; relying on the hopes of improving the lives of
their families. However, after they arrive in Europe mostof them have received discriminatory treatment; they
can’t work, and they can’t earn money to keep for thesake of their lives. No matter how many refugees the EU
has accepted, resettlement of refugees could not be more
important. As the spokesperson for Amnesty
International said, “We need to see better risk
assessments, more protection at certain locations andprosecutions of these appalling racist crimes”7. This is
not only an effort to help the refugees, but also an
opportunity to improve the society for all.
References
1. Helping refugees Government of the Republic ofSlovenia
http://www.vlada.si/en/helping_refugees/
2. Refugee, European refugee crisis, Slovenia,
Germany from Wikipedia
3. Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained inseven charts. BBC, March 4, 2016.
4. Long Skeptical of Foreigners, Slovenia Struggles toNavigate the Refugee Crisis. Klemen Ploštajner,
December 18, 2015.

7

Germany: Thousands of migrants targeted in attacks lastyear. Simon Cullen and Susannah Cullinane, CNN.
February 27, 2017.

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Report of On-Site Practice II
Xiao Liu
Doctoral Program in Commercial Science, Doshisha University

Our On-Site Practice II’s topics are (1) Refugees,(2) EU, and (3) Smart City this time.
First, the situations in Slovenia and Germany are
different in receiving refugees. Although over 700,000
refugees came to Slovenia, most of them just passed
through and went to Germany or Austria. According to aprofessor from University of Ljubljana, only 300
refugees are accepted by Slovenia whose population isaround 2,000,000, which means the ratio of refugees isjust 0.015%. On the other hand, Germany has received
over 1,000,000 refugees. The population of Germany isaround 80,000,000, the ratio of refugees is beyond 1%.
However, German political parties, AfD and SPD
showed different opinions on receiving refugees. AfD
pointed out that the education skill of refugees is nothigh. The priority should be increasing the birthrate ofGerman, rather than receiving refugees. SPD argued that
German government is providing language and education
programs for refugees, which means SPD is trying totransfer refugees to labor force. SPD also mentioned thefavorable business climate in Germany these days.
Second, in the background of Brexit and some
European countries’ antiforeignism, we can learn a lot
from Slovenia’s efforts and attitude. Just as Professor
Naito from Doshisha University said that although
Slovenia is a small country, Slovenia did not threaten
other countries or take the direction of nationalism.
Slovenia is trying to keep the unity of EU. Besides, theprofessor from University of Ljubljana shared the data ofsatisfaction of Slovenians with EU membership and lifein the EU. When Slovenians were asked ‘What the EUmeans to Slovene citizens personally’ (July 2014), 48%
answered ‘freedom to travel, study and work’, 35% ‘theEuro’, 33% ‘peace’. Only 8% of participants answered
loss of national identity, 7% with not enough control atexternal borders and only 8% with social protection.
Third, there are both advantages and disadvantages
on Smart City. Smart City integrates multiple
information and communication technology and Internetof things solutions to manage a city’s assets. It enables abetter quality of life and reduces the waste of energy.
However, the security of Smart City should be paid
attention to. Besides, it would be a kind of policy gamebecause of the unequal distribution, which means thephenomenon of ‘more businessmen, less engineers’
would exacerbate.
The core question of our On-Site Practice II is ‘why
refugees are moving to Europe’. We cannot deny that theexistence of economic migrant among refugees.
However, it seems that there would be a gap between
refugees’ need and German government’s activities ontransferring refugees to labor force. We heard the voicesthat refugees would like to go back home when the war isover. They have to seek safety in Europe, not for a job.
What’s more, there is also a wall between Muslim andGerman society. For example, Mr. Kesici comes from
Islamrat, a Muslim supporting organization in Germany
told us German do not listen to their voice, therelationship is worsening compared to 10 years ago.
Through this On-Site Practice, I have learned not
only the professional knowledge, but also (1) trying tolisten and ask different parties directly, (2) trying to
attract people’s attention and draw their words during theinterview, and (3) avoiding the dividing line. Actually,
the line of ‘refugees’ is complicated. If we divide the lineof refugees related to crime, economic migrant, global
talent and labor force, we may not understand therefugees’ situation clearly.

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Behind the Scenes of Emerging Syrian Refugee Crisis in Europe-In Central and Northern European Countries
Tasuku OHASHI
Doshisha University Graduate School of Global Studies
Advanced Doctoral Program in Global Resource Management (GRM)
Final Paper of GRM On-site Program II Submit to the GRM Journal

1. Activity Outline of GRM On-site Practice II
Doshisha University Advanced Doctoral Program in
Global Resource Management (GRM) is consisted byseveral selected graduate schools in Doshisha University
from both social science and natural science courses totackle on emerging global issues (e.g. natural disaster,
regional conflict, environmental destruction etc.). The
class titled “GRM On-site Practice II” is prepared toevery doctoral students in GRM to provide them
opportunities to have practical on-site field research inseveral selected countries where those issues occurring.
Based on previous experiences in Turkey and thePhilippines, this year GRM prepared the class in the
Republic of Slovenia and the Federal Republic of
Germany for a baseline research fieldwork about
following topics; (1) Refugee Crisis and its Danger for
Integration of Europe (2) Islamophobia and Populism (3)Small Country’s Dilemma for Integrated Europe (4)Energy Policies in a Small Country.
Based on outcomes from the field research in thesecountries, in this article, the author will clarify present
situation in these two countries. From the interview toseveral government officials, researchers, civil society
organizations, and business companies, we were noticed
the risks of collapse of European Societies.
2. Grass-roots Effort for Supporting Refugees in
Slovenia
After the Syrian Refugee Crisis had occurred
between the Syrian Government and the Anti-Regime
Groups, enormous numbers of Syrian people have tried
to evacuate to European countries as refugees. Since theChancellor Angela Merkel had stated that her country
will accept millions of refugees based on their clause in
the German Constitution, countless numbers of people
have aimed to evacuate to Germany through the othersouthern and central European countries. Mostly,
refugees have tried to move to Germany through thenational borders between Turkey, Greece, Macedonia,
Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Austria. Slovenia
is one of countries which was counted as an available
country for refugees to move to Austria. Currently,
national borders in these countries are rapidly closed fortheir diplomatic positions and limited capacity for
acceptance of refugees, however, at first countries andthe people supported refugees actively in terms ofprotection of human security.
In this field research, in Slovenia, in addition to the

Ljubljana University, the president Office and the
National Council, we have visited to the refugee facilities
and police station in Dobova city where close to thenational border between Croatia. Dobova was a firstplace for refugees who moved from neighbor countries
Croatia to Slovenia. In Dobova Police Station, we hadinterview survey to a police inspector and a city officer
who belongs to the bureau of disaster risk reduction in
Dobova City. This police inspector and city officer werefirst two public officers who worked on flows of refugee
people in Dobova City. Needless to say, the risks andfacing issues of the Syrian Refugee Crisis was known to
the Government officials and people in Slovenia,
however, in Dobova City, people and the city
government did not expect that such huge numbers ofpeople flows into Slovenia at once through Dobova City.
Because of more than expected flows of the Syrian
refugees to Dobova City, the capacity of acceptance ofrefugees in Dobova city was immediately filled. Since
the city government was not given enough time forpreparation, at first, only these two officers were placed
into the situation for supporting refugees. The police
inspector had told us that he faced much of difficulties
when they started his work on registration of refugees
and negotiation with the central government of Slovenia.
And the city officer mentioned that she has tried tosupport the refugees based on her experiences as aofficers to disaster risk reduction, however, there wasmany difficulties in her support to their livelihood andmental health care. Until the situation calmed, thesepeople have tried to support refugees within cooperation
with their central government, some civil society
organizations, and international organizations. Thissituation and their work on the crisis was unusual eventfor them, however, people in Slovenia have tried active
support for refugees with no frightened. The city officer
mentioned us that perhaps because Slovenia had
experienced the Yugoslav Wars before, people could
recognize refugee’s situation rapidly and made theirefforts to acceptance quickly.
3. The Issues in Integration of European Countries
Based on our activities in GRM On-site Practice II,
including author, several GRM students were invited to
an international conference which was held in Bled Cityin Slovenia on September 2017. The conference “BledStrategic Forum” and “Young Bled Strategic Forum”
were created by Slovenian Government to provide

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opportunities for discuss international and global issues
between government officials, staffs in civil society
organization, people from private business companies,
and researchers from all over the world. As a firstdelegate from Japanese University, thanks to the
Embassy of Japan in Slovenia and Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in Slovenia, we have attended the conference. In
this year, in addition to the ministers of the governmentof Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, Hungary and theEuropean Union, Director General of International
Atomic Energy Agency were attended to the conference.
Because the conference mainly aims to discuss
issues of human rights and environmental protection
between European countries, main topic of this year was
how to solve and take practical action to the issues of the
Syrian Refugee Crisis and emerging populism with
Islamophobia. Based on the topic and a chairperson from
BBC, all ministers are required to clarify their statement
and opinion with communicate to the audiences. One ofoutcomes from the conference is that we noticed danger
and risks of collapse of European Unions based on theirfacing situation in the crisis. Since Germany, Turkey andSlovenia required more support for refugees, on the other
hand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, forexample, he mentioned that the refugees are not counted
as “refugee” but they are “illegal migrants”. Hungary is
one of countries who closed their national borders fromflows of refugees into their country. The statement of theminister clarified the difference of governmental attitude
toward acceptance of refugees. These difference theexistence of national borders brought emerging issues
and danger of collapse of integrated European Unions.
Because of straggle between countries facing refugee
crisis, out of disorder is currently occupying European
societies and their peaceful long history which was
created after the World War II is now facing its collapse.
Presently still numerous numbers of refugees are moving
into European countries and some of them were stopped
because of closed national borders. The Bled Strategic
Forum is one of limited opportunities to seek possibility
for solving issues.
4. Emerging Populism and Islamophobia in Germany
In this course, GRM students and professors havevisited to the Berlin House of Representatives, the houseof the councilors and federal council of Germany. In
addition, we have interview to several civil organizations
and private business companies about the issues of
emerging populism and islamophobia against refugees
and migrants from countries which are facing
humanitarian crisis. In the Berlin House ofRepresentatives, the House of the Councilors, and theFederal Council, we could meet with several politiciansand officers of some political parties in Germany.
“Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)” is one of parties
who known for their radical populism in German Society
and have strong opinion to stop acceptance of refugees in
the country. Before we have visited to politicians andstaffs of AfD in the Berlin House of Representatives, I

could not understand the causes of their strong negative
attitude and principles against acceptance of the Syrian
Refugee Crisis. In our interview, one of representatives
from AfD mentioned us that they are truly understandthat the Syrian Civil War made numerous numbers ofrefugees and they are facing in complex humanitariancrisis. People in AfD understood that the refugees are
now in serious situation of in terms of human security.
The politician continued that on the other hand, Germansociety is already filled with numerous numbers ofimmigrants and they are taking opportunities of jobs
from “Alternative German People”. Strong negative
attitude of AfD to acceptance of refugees is deeply
rooted in the labor situation and historical issues in social
welfare in Germany Society.
5. Creating Livelihood in Germany as an Immigrants
In this field research program, professors andstudents could meet one of president of private businesscompanies in their factory office in city of Berlin. The
president told us his story as an immigrant from Turkey,
and how he has developed his own business company. In
addition, he mentioned us current situation of migrants,
immigrants, and refugees in city of Berlin. When he wasyoung, he moved from Turkey for various reasons, andstarted his life in Germany. It was for him for truly twists
and turns with trial and error. Before he started his glass
factory business, he studies hard in several engineeringschools for taking a license as a professional engineer.
Simultaneously, he mentioned and experienced thatstarting new life and seeking job is now considered truly
difficulty especially for refugees who evacuated toGermany from mid-east countries. As one ofrepresentatives who started his business in Germany,
now he started his support activity for refugees, however,
because of rapidly emerging issues of populism
movement and radical islamophobia, he continuously
told us that immigrants and refugees will face moredifficulty and danger even their population is now
dramatically increasing in German society.
6. Emerging Populism and Issues of Radical
Islamophobia
In city of Berlin, the delegate from GRM havevisited to several international non-governmentalorganizations for having interview survey about theissues of emerging populism movement and radical
islamophobia against migrants, immigrants, and refugees
from the other countries to German society. WEFA
funded by IHH and the Islamische Föderation in Berlin
are two famous international non-governmentalorganizations who supports dairy life and livelihood ofMuslim immigrants and refugees mainly in Berlin.
Especially after the Syrian Refugee Crisis have occurredand influenced in European countries and the society,they started to support those refugees based on grassroots efforts. However, in present society in Germany,
now they are facing newly challenges.
As author mentioned continuously, emerging

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populism movement and issues of radical Islamophobia
brought newly difficult situation to all staffs of theseorganizations and numerous people who evacuated fromcountries where complex humanitarian emergencies areundergoing. Not only in Germany, however currently
populism and radical Islamophobia movement are now
gradually occupying European societies and its divided
people in the country for two parts. Like country ofGermany was divided almost half a century after theWorld War Second from the Soviet Union (Communism
countries) and the Western countries (Democratic
countries), now the Federal Republic of Germany and thepeople are gradually divided whether they will accept
refugees or not. Even the Chauncelor Merkel opened herstatement for acceptance and support to refugees, on theother hand several parties and people strongly disagreed
her policies and required their federal government to not
accept refugees in German society. Historically speaking,divided societies always made internal conflict andstraggle within the society and social relationships insidepeople in the countries. In this case, especially forrefugees who had evacuated from Syria, their situation is
becoming worth and worth day by day. Numerous
numbers of persecution are reported to us.
WEFA and the Islamische Föderation areorganizations we have visited in this field trip. In ourinterview to officers in these organizations, both officers
reported us that numerous numbers of serious
persecution are now occurring against the Syrian
Refugees in German society. These persecution incidents
are not occurring between adult, also occurring inchildren in both situation of their education and their
daily public life. In some cases, women were robbed
their hijab, and injured by sexual assault. In sports event
which held at community place for Muslim refugee
people, the heads of the pigs were imperceptiblydisplayed as for persecution for them. In addition to theirexperience in the Wars, now people who evacuated toGermany is currently suffering from the post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD) since they were persecuted fromsome radical anti-refugee groups. Officers in theIslamische Föderation mentioned us that, previously
persecution was existed in German society especiallyagainst Muslim immigrants and migrants from the othercountries, however, especially after the Syrian refugee
Crisis occurred and refugees flowed into Germany, inthese years, persecution incidents are rapidly anddramatically increased and numerous numbers of
atrocious incidents were reported (From WEFA’s cases,
the numbers of those incidents in Berlin are reported
already several thousands in a year especially against
refugee children).
After the World War II, German society and thepeople has been sought a multi-cultural co-existence intheir country. After once the Syrian Refugee Crisis had
occurred between the mid-east countries and whole
European countries, their society is now divided for twogroups again, and complex humanitarian emergencies
with serious risks of human security are now occupying

the society with bringing radical populism and serious
Islamophobia against Muslim people and the society.
However, these issues are not occurring inside ofGermany and several European countries. The Syrian
Refugee Crisis already brought countless influence to all
European countries and the issues are now spread over
the whole world.
7. Seeking Grass-roots Effort or Supporting Refugees
Historically speaking, once wars or conflicts
occurred, until diplomatic negotiation for settlement andceasefire between parties in the incidents took countlesstime and efforts. Therefore, especially from the late of
the 20th century, the role of civil society organizations
was considered important for supporting citizens in theirprimary stage for survive from the complex humanitarian
emergency. WEFA is known for one of famousinternational non-governmental organizations who
support refugees in wars and conflicts. Historically, thisnon-governmental organization had their aid projects inall over the world (e.g.in the Yugoslav Wars, several
humanitarian emergencies in Asian and Mid-east
countries). In this case, GRM and several private
business companies (these companies are publishers)
started their new project for supporting refugees(especially targeted refugee children of the Syrian Civil
War) under the cooperation with WEFA and IHH (WEFA
is one of auxiliary organizations of IHH).
GRM and the private companies had asked
cooperation to several foreign students who can use
Arabic to translate one of Japanese famous and popular
comics “Captain Tsubasa” in Arabic. Not only in people
in Japan, this comic (topic of the comic is football) has
long history in the world, and influenced numerous
numbers people including huge numbers of famous
football players. Since the comic is also famous forchildren in Mid-east countries, in this case GRM and
WEFA prepared Arabic version of “Captain Tsubasa” andhave tried to distribute it to children who evacuated as
refugees to Germany. In the class of On-site Practice II,
in an office of WEFA, after the explanation of activitiesof their organization, GRM professors and students
handed hundreds of comics (from version one to two of“Captain Tsubasa”) for staffs of WEFA. In addition,
including author, several students of GRM again visited
WEFA in Berlin on September 2017, and prepared,
provided version three of “Captain Tsubasa” for peopleof the office and children in Berlin who evacuated toGermany. Currently, the private companies and GRM
decided to publish and continue the aid project until
version eight of the comic. Efforts and practical activity
projects of WEFA, and our aid project are reported inseveral media press and TV including BBC, Turkish
Newspaper, and several other medias. In case of the
Syrian Civil War and the Syrian Refugee Crisis, thesettlement and its ceasefire should take long time andnumerous efforts of people in the world, however, thesekinds of grass-roots efforts will support people incomplex humanitarian emergency under the surface of

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the water in the crisis which we had never experienced
and influence us as unprecedented incidents.
8. Conclusion of GRM On-site Practice II in 2017
In this year, students, and professors of GRM were
noticed that long peaceful history of European societies
after the World War II is now facing danger of its
collapse since the Syrian Civil War and the Syrian
Refugee Crisis occurred and influenced seriously in not
only in Mid-east countries also in all European countries
and the world. In southern and central European
societies, their governments and people are now required
to make decision whether they will open or close theirborders and society to the people who evacuated fromserious and terrible wars in Syria. In Germany,
unfortunately their society is now divided to twosocieties in the issues of the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Even
after the World War II, people and the society had beensought multi-cultural and co-existence environment
inside their country, gradually their society is now facing
new crisis because of emerging radical populism andserious persecution in the movement of Islamophobia. As
one of researchers in an advanced doctoral program, we
will try to seek more grass-roots efforts and possibility
for supporting people in the complex humanitarian
emergency from the point of view of humanitarian aid.

Course Reports

The 2015 Migrant Crisis as the Turn Point of the EU-Based on the On-site Practice II Study Tour in Slovenia and GermanyYu Sumi

I. The Goal of the Excursion
In November of 2016, Germany had reached the
new monthly record of 206,101 migrants entering its
country making it the top European nation for people
escaping conflict in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Upon there migrants most were asylum seekers fleeing
from Syria when Germany had implemented the opendoor policy. Although this policy seemed like a god send,
two years after the implementation, the doors are slowly
starting to close as reports of high crime rates within andoutside refugee camps have risen due to disputes
between refugees and host communities.
In this report, we examine the views of bothgovernmental bodies and (academic) citizen bodies in
Slovenia and Germany, based on the On-Site PracticeTour of the Global Resource Management which was
executed from March 7th to March 16th, 2017 and cope toclarify the issues in the discourse of refugees and asylum
seekers in these countries. In this excursion, thedelegates of Doshisha had visited the Ljubljana
University, Faculty of Social Sciences, President Office,Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure,
the refugee facilities on the border in Ljubljana(Slovenia), and also visited AFD · SPD political party,
WEFA (NGO), and a company founded by a Turkish
immigrant in Berlin (Germany) to understand thesituation and future issues..

discourse of refugees and set terms, the refugee status
must obtain these three essential elements:① there must be a form of harm rising to the level ofpersecution, inflicted by a government or byindividuals or a group that the government cannot
or will not control2;② the person’s fear of such harm must be well-founded— e.g. the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a fear
can be well-founded if there is a one-in-ten
likelihood of its occurring;③ the harm, or persecution, must be inflicted upon the
person for reasons related to the person’s race,
religion, nationality, political opinion ormembership in a particular social group (the nexus).
In association to the term refugees, asylum seekers
are people who haven’t been accepted by the hostcountry or have strictly not fulfilled the terms mentioned
in the 1951 Convention. Many of which are migratingfrom country to country in seek of a protection status by
the local authorities. In the current international
discourse, although the divide of definition mainly
depends on the laws of the hosting community, refugees
usually are those who have been granted permission toenter and be protected before entering the hostcommunity, whereas asylum seekers are those applying
on the border, waiting for their protection status to be
granted.

II. The “Migrant” Crisis
1. Who are the refugees and asylum seekers?
In dependence upon the The 1951 Geneva Refugee
Convention where refugees where first brought todiscussion, refugees are defined as a person owing towell-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons ofrace, religion, nationality, membership of a particularsocial group or political opinion, is outside the countryof his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, isunwilling to avail himself of the protection of thatcountry; or who, not having a nationality and beingoutside the country of his former habitual residence as aresult of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, isunwilling to return to it… Adding to this, later in the
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1967
defined the terms of the 1951 protocol by including
individuals from outside the European States1. Given the

2. The Driver of Migrants
Although the issues of migrants and asylum seekers
have been a topic on the table since the 70s, theEuropean Migrant Crisis of 2015 had taken EU countries
by surprise when over twice the numbers of migrants
have travelled across the Mediterranean Sea or by landthrough Southeast Europe. The largest body of migrants
was asylum seekers desiring protection from persecutionof the conflict in Syria. Next to come are refugees fleeing
from the disorder in Afghanistan and Iraq, and economic
migrants from Kosovo and African Nations (as seen in
the graph1).

1

Although some countries abide by the geographicalrestrictions of the 1951 definition, since those countries are
members of the high committee such as the UNHCR’s
Executive committee, and with the pressure of theinternational voice and watch, they are now in the midst ofa turn point of reviewing their definition of refugees or2asylum seekers.
The definition of refugees stated under UNESCO’s term ofinternational migration

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Graph1: Countries of origin of (non-EU) asylum seekers in the EU-28 Member States, 2015 and 2016
(Eurostat, 2017)

III. The Comprehension of the Crisis in Slovenia andGermany
1. Slovenia
With the population of 2.06 million, the nation stateof Slovenia and its citizens are at the crossroads of how
to paint their view on international relations, given thestill occurring migrant crisis. From September 17th, 2015
to March 6th, 2016, over 750,000 migrants and asylum
seekers have passed through the Southern border on
trains, petrifying the 11,000 members (5,000 police
officials and 6,000 militant officials) of defense with nopresident or manual to look back to. The officials,
primarily through the confusion, set a former route tolead the migrants to the hastily made camps as most havecrossed rivers between the borders under frigid
circumstances. Under the Dublin Ⅲ Regulation, without
humanitarian reasons, the responsibility of (in this case,“illegal”) migrants are set upon the first EU country they
enter. This is to prevent asylum orbiting and multiple
registrations for refuge by a single individual. Referringto the regulations this may be true, but local authorities
aiding the illegal migrants and the citizens of Slovenia
have now come to realize that wasn’t the case on the
ground. Later, to cope with future possibilities of such an
incident and to continue its aid for asylum seekers
crossing the border, the Slovenian government had set
foot in constructing Asylum home near the Southernboarders where nearly 300 refugees have alreadyregistered (at March of 2017). This was also
administered by the fear for future migrants being tied
down between the borders of Slovenia and Croatia incase Austria had closed their borders. This act had
opened a new set of mindsets for Slovenian Citizens,which also led to the growing distrust in the European
Union itself.
Joining the EU in 2003, they hoped of fighting

domestic corruption and gaining citizen involvement,
and gaining financial aid for development in exchange ofthe authoritarian political culture that come from theirformer socialist systems. Although this was on its way,with the concern of Slovenia’s loss of voice in the EU
and the fear of France, a one of the founding members of
the EU, leaving the EU (before the French Presidential
Election of 2017), the opinion of the Slovenian citizen toleave the EU had overcome the ones in favor ofremaining. Within those leaning towards withdrawal
from the EU, still in the fear of another migrant crisis
where the aid towards Slovenia by the EU isn’t at play,
are also leaning towards the populist views proposed bymany politicians such as the Netherlands’ politician
Geert Wilders. To counter such tendencies and assure
Slovenian citizens of their national security, thegovernment had put up a fence around the national
borders. This is solely to assure the citizen the comfort of
security, and the risk of unpreparedness against anothermigrant crisis is yet to be solved.
2. Germany
The welfare state of Germany, being the mostpopular destination of immigration among other EU
countries, is now facing the aftermath of “opening thedoors” to migrants. With the coming election of
September, 2017, the delegation had visited the
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and theAlternative für Deutschland (AfD) to take in their input
on the current crisis and the future of Germany. The SPD
pushed forward on their support of possible increase in
the work force and was against restricting the numbers
entering. With the question of where the asylum seekers
are to travel to after rejection, let alone their departing
country of conflict, still in the air, they are proposing asmoother process of immigration for the refugees andCourse Reports

gain a stronger economical basis. This refers to the
Canadian migration regulations where migrants’ abilities(degrees, job experience, and language skills) are put
into consideration. They seek a system of better
immigration for the accepted refugees and a smootherprocess of integration for law-abiding residents fromconflict nations.
The AfD on the other hand, aspire to a stop on“unregulated mass migration” and close all borders.
Adding to their views on lowering the limit of asylum
seekers entering Germany soil, they fear a threat on theirnational security as many of the asylum seekers andrefugees are from Muslim countries and Africa. Adding
to this, they propose an increase of deportation of therejected, and an immigration system that is stricter tolesser the number of refugees. This is based on the factthat many of the asylum seekers were unregistered illegal
migrants and that many were not refugees but economic
migrants seeking asylum and better social welfare. Upon
interviewing the AfD office in Berlin, one member gave
an example for how the 2015 crisis was not a “refugee”
crisis but a “migrant” crisis, as many coming in fromTurkey were those who weren’t able to carry on with
their lives under the current social welfare system andfled through Greece, and finally to Germany.
Furthermore, they had presented three crucial argumentson the “migrant” issue:
The issues of cost management in Berlin being atstake due to the burden of increasing social welfare
costs, and as increased revenues from further
heightened property taxes are all poured into the
sharpening of the immigration policy, the AfD partyof Berlin now highly questions the course of action
by the city council;② The literacy rate of the incoming refugees (mainly
Syrian Refugees) is far below the German standards
to include them as the new economic workforce.
The cost of integration will override the economy
and leave only few to maintain and improve thecurrent society③ The location of refugee camps should not be in the
hosting country but the refugee’s home country.
Germany can provide aid and protection outside its
own without over pressuring the domestic economy.
With their concerns on the cost of coping with the
migrant issues, and the new obtained un-skilledworkforce not being enough to exceed the costs of theimmigration policy, their position of keeping the citizensof Germany their first priority and putting a stop to theconcept of “Once you enter the EU, you never leave,”will continue to be their policy as “German citizens.”
Having seen the point of view of two politicalparties, the same cannot be heard from citizen groups andNGOs as their first concern is not only of the system.
Many of the opinions united when visiting the Islamic
Federation of Berlin and Weltweiter Einsatz für Arme
(WEFA), Berlin office. As organization of aid, theirconcern circled around the safety of the refugees and the①

increasing Muslim community. Numerous refugees
going missing as a result of non-registration, kidnapping,and countless changes of residences, the security of
refugees outside the camps are threatened. Furthermore,
the scarcity of the exchange of opinions between the hostcountry and the Muslim community has let to citizens ofhost communities to alter their attitude towards local
Muslim communities. The shifted attitude and labeling of
the Muslim community has overshadowed the people
inside. Now, the heightening of nationalism andethnocentrism that was manageable a decade ago isgetting out of hand. Whenever the policy of integration
comes to topic, the question is not of the process but of
integration itself. In other words, integration being thedefinition of the host country and an authoritarianconcept for the recipients (mainly for the refugees from
Muslim homelands), the system itself gives out the senseof “Aliens integrating to Germany.” For Muslim
migrants and refugees, the process of integration inGermany is not only changing their home address, butalso changing their essential profiles such as their social
language and religion.
IV. Conclusion
The 2015 migrant crisis had shed light on theunsolved resolution of the immigration policies and its
response within the EU countries, as well as the future
development of the EU. EU countries are now placedwith the decision between further integration under the
Schengen Agreement or remaining with the current
policies, allowing each country to create their own rolemodel policies towards increasing migrants. Although
the likelihood of policies promoting aid and support forthe migrants have been and are continuing to comethrough, the rise of popularity of the populist discourse
and the citizens support for far-right political parties
protecting their personal or national security has come as
far as to question the functions of the EU itself.
Therefore, with the fear of the separation of physical andfinancial union by smaller countries such as Slovenia,
defining its identity within the EU has become more
important than ever. EU countries are now in an
important period where they have to review their relation
with neighboring countries and their donors of aid, as
well as reexamine the terms, both conditions in policy
and verbal relations among local communities, of their“national citizens” and their “newcomers.”-Reference1. Europpean Economic and Social Committee (2016).
Culture, Cities and Identity in Europe. Retrieved
from http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/qe01-16-463-en-n.pdf.
2. Eurostat (March 13, 2017). Asylum Statistics.
Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_statistics.
3. Reuters (November 6, 2016). Germany’s Social
Democrats Press for New Points-Based
Immigration Rules. Retrieved from https://www.

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4.

5.

reuters.com/article/us-germany-migrants-spd/
germanys-social-democrats-press-for-new-pointsbased-immigration-rules-idUSKBN1310JW.
The Guardian (December 8, 2015). Germany on
Course to Accept One Million Refugees in 2015.
Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/
world/2015/dec/08/germany-on-course-to-acceptone-million-refugees-in-2015.
Tyler Durden (October 9, 2017). Germany’s “Open
Doors” Are Closing: Merkel Seeks New Limits On
Refugees. Retrieved from http://www.zerohedge.
com/news/2017-10-09/germanys-open-doors-areclosing-merkel-seeks-new-limits-refugees

Course Reports

Group A: Decreasing School Dropout Ratein Lower Secondary Educational Level in Rural Cambodia
Tomoyuki MUKAYAMA

Introduction
Cambodia is a country located in the southern partof the Indochina Peninsula located in the Southeast Asia.
Having over 16 million population, Cambodia has$1,159 GDP per Capita (7.1% annual change) which isconsidered as a lower middle-income country by theWorld Bank. As the main income for many Cambodians
is agriculture, a significantly big number of 79% percent
live in the rural areas. Electrification rate is about 97% in
urban area, about 18% in rural area. This rate is thelowest in Southeast Asia as in Table 1 by the IEA World
Energy Outlook.
The System of General Education in Cambodia
consists of Primary (Grades 1-6): 6 years, Lower
secondary (Grades 7-9): 3 years and Upper secondary(Grade 10-12): 3 years of education. In total, the 12 yearsof schooling is free nationwide. In spite of freeeducation, the completion ratio in lower secondary
school remains low compared with other countries in thesame region. While about 95% of the children complete
the primary school education, only less than half of themcontinue their studies up to the end of lower secondary
education. While lower secondary education completion
rate is 48% as of 2015, the regional average is 92 percent
which shows a wide gap in comparison to theneighboring countries.
There are a few key influential factors of school
dropout from macro level in Cambodia. From a financial
point of view, total government expenditure for all levelsof education by the percent of GDP, Cambodia is ranked
4th lowest country in the world as illustrated in figure 1.
According from World Bank calculation, the rate is 1.9
percent in 2015 and regional average is 2.7 percent.
According to the study done by the world bank in 2012,
the main reasons for the high school dropout rate consistof many factors like: poverty, late school entry,
inequality, low availability of schools, poor school
management skills, teachers’ low monetary incentives,
low degree of community participation, inadequate
school facilities and low quality of the teachers.
The problem seems to lie in the fact that child laborand accessibility to lower secondary education. The
former is more serious situation in rural area than urban
area, over 10 percent of children (5-14 years old) work
for at least 21 hours per week. The roots of child labor
are law income in the agricultural sectors. Most of
Cambodian family in rural area is engaged in agriculture,for instance the share of total employment in agriculture
sector is 54%, and however the share of total GDP in
agriculture is only 28% by ADB. Low income andproductivity are big issues in rural area. From an
economical point of view, GDP per capita is correlatedwith lower secondary completion rate. As Ide points out,
the higher income country is, the better completion ratio
achieves.
The latter is also the serious situation in the ruralarea, the number and location of the secondary school are
limited. The far distance between home and school is
playing a role in the increase of dropout rate. In general,the number of lower secondary school is half of the
primary. Besides, the number of teachers is limited aswell. Many rural schools do not have access to theelectricity grid to benefit from modern educational
equipment. Figure 2 displays national electric grid in
Cambodia. As can be seen from this figure, electricity
transmission network is found except in and aroundPhnom Penh. In other areas, import shortage of demand
from Thailand, Vietnam, etc. This is serious problem
with energy security. Recently, the government promotes
hydropower as a renewable energy, but there is no plan
for large-scale power generation in other renewableenergy. Looking at the current power generation ratio in
Cambodia, Hydropower is 57.1%, Diesel / Heavy oil
power is 32.5%, Thermal power is 9.5%, Biomass is only
0.6%.
Focusing on the poverty reduction and using ICT
facilities in schools, we tried to come up with some
practical suggestions for the countries improvement of

10
9
8
7
6
5

㻾㼑㼓㼕㼛㼚
㻿㼛㼡㼠㼔㼑㼍㼟㼠 㻭㼟㼕㼍㻮㼞㼡㼚㼑㼕
㻯㼍㼙㼎㼛㼐㼕㼍
㻵㼚㼐㼛㼚㼑㼟㼕㼍㻸㼍㼛㼟㻹㼍㼘㼍㼥㼟㼕㼍
㻹㼥㼍㼚㼙㼍㼞
㻼㼔㼕㼘㼕㼜㼜㼕㼚㼑㼟㻿㼕㼚㼓㼍㼜㼛㼞㼑㼀㼔㼍㼕㼘㼍㼚㼐
㼂㼕㼑㼠㼚㼍㼙

㻼㼛㼜㼡㼘㼍㼠㼕㼛㼚 㼣㼕㼠㼔㼛㼡㼠 㻺㼍㼠㼕㼛㼚㼍㼘 㼑㼘㼑㼏㼠㼞㼕㼒㼕㼏㼍㼠㼕㼛㼚㼑㼘㼑㼏㼠㼞㼕㼏㼕㼠㼥㼞㼍㼠㼑millions
%
㻝㻜㻞
㻤㻠㻑
㻜
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻝㻜
㻟㻠㻑
㻠㻝
㻤㻠㻑
㻝
㻤㻣㻑
㻜
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻟㻢
㻟㻞㻑
㻝㻝
㻤㻥㻑
㻜
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻝
㻥㻥㻑
㻞
㻥㻤㻑

㼁㼞㼎㼍㼚
㼑㼘㼑㼏㼠㼞㼕㼒㼕㼏㼍㼠㼕㼛㼚 㼞㼍㼠㼑
%
㻥㻠㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻥㻣㻑
㻥㻢㻑
㻥㻣㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻡㻥㻑
㻥㻠㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑

㻾㼡㼞㼍㼘
㼑㼘㼑㼏㼠㼞㼕㼒㼕㼏㼍㼠㼕㼛㼚 㼞㼍㼠㼑
%
㻣㻠㻑
㻥㻥㻑
㻝㻤㻑
㻣㻝㻑
㻤㻞㻑
㻥㻥㻑
㻝㻤㻑
㻤㻡㻑
㻝㻜㻜㻑
㻥㻤㻑
㻥㻣㻑

4
3
2
1
0

Denmark
Timor-Leste
Costa Rica
NorwaySenegalNiger
Puerto Rico
Ghana
BrazilIsraelVietnam
Netherlands
Kyrgyz Republic
Jamaica
Kenya
Latin America & Caribbean
Switzerland
Cabo Verde
Oman
EcuadorPolandNorth America
St. Lucia
World
Colombia
Benin
Hungary
Bulgaria
Low income
Peru
India
Mali
Tanzania
Lower middle income
Lao PDR
GuatemalaMauritania
Gambia, The
PakistanAzerbaijan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
CambodiaWest Bank and Gaza

Table 1 Electrification rate in Southeast Asia

Figure 1 Government expenditure on education, total(% of GDP)

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Figure 2 National grid in Cambodia

Figure 3 Poverty ranking and population perprovince in Cambodia

the educational system. In rural non-electrified areas, it isnecessary to consider about power generation in order to
conduct the ICT education. In the first step, we started apilot project focusing only in Siem Reap province as adensely populated poor region as indicated in figure 3.
This area imports electricity from Thailand as shown infigure 1. It is suitable as a model case of Cambodia fromeach aspect of income, power generation, ICT education.
Then we tried to generalize our study nationwide.
Methods and Discussion
We indeed noted that Cambodia is a poor country
and it is difficult to suggest the increase the national
income, however, we propose that if policy makers
would increase the portion of agriculture and education
as two basic elements for the sustainable development
for Cambodia, they would catch the main aim which isovercoming poverty and increasing the national andindividual income. We propose SRI for the developmentof agriculture. We propose ICT education to lower the
dropout rate and improve the education level. Although it
can be thought that these two elements are completely
different, it is necessary to disseminate different points
from conventional ones, and by using ICT education,
learning to not only children but also adults. We propose
the system for sustainable development in Cambodia.

Promoting the economic growth of poor household by the
SRI
Cultivation of improved rice varieties by the
Cambodian farmers is still limited particularly in therained lowland environments. In maize production, most
hybrid varieties from Thailand and Vietnam arecultivated and, only two locally developed open
pollinated varieties are being used in limited number.
Productivity of rice and maize has increased significantly
for the last two decades; however, it still lags behind
many other countries in the region and the world.
Contributing to a slow development of new variety andseed sector in Cambodia needs both capital investment
and policy support.
The national budget to agricultural sector is not only
low as compare to other sectors, but declined from about
2.5% in 2005 to 1.7% in 2010. National research
institutions are critically under resourced. Variety
development and release is slow, and only 4 varieties
were able to release for the last 10 years. In NSDP, there
is mentioned that the application of other similar
methods should be studied in Cambodia. As the main
product of the other provinces is not necessarily rice, weare doing research on other low-cost value addedsuggestion based on the potentials in each province.
We researched on advantages of High Yielding
Variety Seeds (HYV), and the ways that we could
suggest it to the other provinces as we suggested SRI.
Our suggestion for the Poverty reduction will be to
introduce the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI isa methodology for increasing the productivity ofirrigated rice by changing the management of plants,
soil, water, and nutrients while reducing external inputs.
It is a low water, labor-intensive, method that uses
younger seedlings singly spaced and typically hand
weeded with special tools. SRI was developed initially tobenefit households that are poor, resource-limited, andfood-insecure-households needing to get the mostproduction attainable from the small amounts of land thatthey have access to; and from available household labor,
and if possible by using less water and without having tospend money to buy inputs (new seeds, fertilizer,
agrochemicals) or to take out loans for buying inputs thatwould push them (further) into debt. We introducechanges in irrigation volume by introducing SRI in otherareas. Table 2 shows the effects of CD (conventional
practice with two forced drainages between the early andthe middle stages of the growing season), CS(conventional practice with SRI water management) andSRI (SRI method) on irrigation reduction compared withCT (conventional practice) over 3-year experimental
period. From this table, it can be seen that introducing
the SRI reduce water usage by about half thanconventional method.
As SRI does not need additional cost, the only
obstacle for its implementation is to educate andconvince the traditional local people. In our suggested
strategy, we first will propose to implement SRI method
in teacher’s training courses (with some practical

Course Reports

Table 2 Effects of CD, CS and SRI on irrigation
reduction compared with CT over 3-year
experimental period

experiments). Then we suggested to implement the SRI
method of teaching for students from 6th grade andasking the students to help their family in the adaptationof system. Moreover, using some ICT facilities (showing
clips and films about SRI) to teach both students andhead of households will be helpful. The active
cooperation between students and parents might changeparent’s perception on the use of education to improve
the household’s economy.
We propose the following strategy of introducing
the SRI. It is important to put SRI into public circulation.
It is also important to realize the ICT education.
1. Implementing SRI method in teacher’s training
courses (with experiments)
2. Implementing the SRI method teaching for students
from 6th grade
3. Teaching the method to head of households incooperating with community leaders
4. Providing extra payment for teachers who actively
involved in the program
5. Promoting a competition between villages
6. Using ICT facilities to (showing clips and films about
SRI) to teach both students and head of households
Reduce school dropout by the ICT education
On the next step, we focused on the improving theteacher’s situation as the main role players in theprevention of the school dropout. We focused on theincrease of the expenditure on education by 2% per year
up to the 8% by 2020 which mainly could be spent on
increasing the minimum salary of the teachers up to 3
times until 2020. By introducing ICT education to obtainfinancial resources for increasing salary, less teacher cangive satisfying education to many students. In ICT
education, once they launch the facility, there is little cost
other than maintenance. Improving the teacher training
courses also should be one of the most importantpriorities of the ministry of education for Cambodia. Ourlast suggestion is Introducing the early warning system
which initially suggested by the USAID. In this system,
parents actively are involved in the process of theirchildren’s education and in the case of being 3 days
absent from the class, the teacher would contact thefamily directly and school officials will mediate to solve
the problem in the very first stage.

In rural area, there is a problem that the number ofschools and teachers are not enough for the number ofchildren. However, it is difficult to immediately increase
schools and teachers. Therefore, we propose to resolve
the shortage of schools and teachers by introducing ICT
education. Which kind of ICT education is good in rural
area? For example, TV, radio, cell phone, internet and soon. We think that there are many things that will becomea problem such as ease of introduction and cost. For
example, in the case of television broadcast, it isnecessary to build a new base station for areas where
television is not widespread, equipment costs will
increase. Compared with that, radio is already popular,
and it is easy to receive it even in rural areas. Moreover,people can get radio easily and cheaply compared to
television. And, the power consumption of radio is low, it
will also suit in regions with high electricity bill. But,
since the radio is only voice, it is difficult to substitutefor school and it suit home study. Therefore, at school weintroduce the screen education to solve the shortage ofteachers, and think about plan to strengthen self-study athome by radio. Screen education is not broadcast, cost is
low by using the DVD that recorded the class. Also, inthe case of DVD, you can use it for a long time byshooting once.
Next, we need to think the power generation for
introduce the ICT education. Because, in rural area, they
don’t have enough of electric power. So, when ICT is
introduced to rural areas, it is necessary to consider the
power generation system as well. Which power source isgood in rural areas? Important point of introduction of
power generation is energy sources, supply stability, easy
to maintain. Generally, there are various power
generation systems such as thermal power, hydraulicpower, biomass, solar power and so on. Considering that
self-sufficient, fossil resource-dependent power
generation is not suitable in rural areas. Also, biomass
power generation requires special equipment, and initialcost is high. Moreover, it is difficult to maintain because
it is the latest equipment. For hydraulic power
generation, river or irrigation channel is necessary, andthe place will be fixed. For that reason, we are proposing
to introduce solar power generation at schools orcommunity center, etc. because rich sunlight falls withany location in Cambodia. Thus, people can use themonitor for the screen education.
We suggest three plan for ICT education method.
Plan 1 is screen education at school or community center.
We think that the effect of learning is great because
students took the class with images instead of teachers.
Next, plan 2 is self-study with cell phone at home.
Diffusion rate of cell phone is about 93.5%. So, this rate
is high in rural area, the amount of new purchase issmall, and the cost can be lowered. Last, plan 3 is selfstudy with radio at home. Cost of radio is lower than cell
phone. And, radio waves reach far, so they can take theclass with radio in rural area.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

We calculated the cost of combination of these plansand power generation system. Power generation system
is combined PV and Battery system, power generation
capacity of solar-panel is changed 200, 100 and 50W.
This system consists of solar panel, inverter, controller
and battery which match the capacity of solar panel.
Efficiency of PV is change by the climate, there are dry
season and rainy season in Cambodia. Figure 3 shows theaverage monthly hours of sunshine in Phnom Penh. We
suggest the plan to change class time according toclimate. For example, class time is about 3 hours during
dry season, about 2 hours during rainy season. And, two
shift system is introduced. This system means to divide
into the morning section and afternoon section. In classA, students have class by teacher during morning
section, and they have class by screen education during
afternoon section. Class B is change the morning andafternoon of class A. In this way, it is possible to reduceteacher shortage and cost.
From the above, we calculated the cost of each plan,
plan 1 is 53,000 yen, plan 2 is 54,000yen, and plan 3 is104,440 yen. We propose the plan 1 for reduce school
drop rate. Because plan3 is cost is high compared withother plan. And cost of plan 2 is near the plan 1. But,
effect of learning with cell-phone is lower than plan 1.
So, plan 1 is best for ICT education method. Siem reap
Province has 103 communes, and 74 communes are rural
areas. The total estimated cost for Siem Reap region isconsidering 74 schools would be around 35.3 thousand
US$.
National level project
In concoction, we tried to generalize the results
coming from our study to the other parts of Cambodia.
We proposed implementing SRI system as anexperimental study for three years in Siem reap and if we
could get a good result, to apply the same policy to theother regions which use rice as their main production. In
the next step, we would like to introduce the similar costless methods like HVY and other methods mentioned in
the NSDP of Cambodia to the other regions based on

their potentials.
Moreover, the cost for generalizing screen education(Monitor-DVD player system) shall be provided for theincrease in the portion of countries’ expenditure on the
agriculture. Cambodia has 1,406 communes, and 1,117
communes are rural areas. We showed that overall cost
would be up to the 532 thousand US$.
Conclusions
We suggest SRI and ICT education for thesustainable development in Cambodia. As a result of
estimating the cost for introduction, optimum systemselection was made. The main conclusions from theanalysis performed can be summarized as follows.
(1) Introducing SRI system to rural area, income of
farmer is increased and the children are released fromfarm work.
(2) Power shortages are solved in rural areas by the PV
and Battery system.
(3) Providing Monitor and DVD player to school as
screen education system, it is possible to reduceteacher shortage and school dropout.
References(1) Royal Government of Cambodia (2014), National
Strategic Development Plan 2014-2018

dry season

rainy season
20

300
250

15

200

10

150
100

5

50

Sunhours [h/d]<Assumption>
Number of children: ① 40 people, ② 80 people
Capacity of Solar panel: PV 200W, 100W, 50W
Plan 1: Screen education (Monitor) at school orcommunity center⇒ Monitor (27inch), DVD player, class time:
3hours① ¥53,000 (PV 50W), ② ¥63,000 (PV 100W)
Plan 1: Screen education (Monitor) at school orcommunity center⇒ Cell phone (one per person, diffusion rate:
93.5%)① ¥37,500 (PV 50W), ② ¥54,000 (PV 100W)
Plan 1: Screen education (Monitor) at school orcommunity center⇒ Radio (one per person, diffusion rate: 38.8%)① ¥53,000 (PV 50W), ② ¥63,000 (PV 100W)

Sunhours [h/m]

88

0

0
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Month

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Figure 3 Average monthly hours of sunshinein Phnom Penh
Stuart T. Nakamoto, Kynda R. curtis, value-added
agricultural products, An introduction, Diversified
agriculture consortium
KEISHIRO ITAGAKI (2010), Present Status of
Agriculture and Possibility for Increased Export ofFood and Agricultural Products in Cambodia,
IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and
Rural Dev AGRICULTURE AND AGROPROCESSING SECTOR IN
Euro Cham Agriculture Project Report.
AGRICULTURE AND AGRO-PROCESSING
SECTOR IN CAMBODIA -Taking Stock: A
detailed review of current challenges andinvestment opportunities in Cambodia
Joongdae Choi, Gunyeob Kim, Woonji Park,
Minhwan Shin, Yonghun Choi, Suin Lee, Sunjoo
Kim and Dongkoun Yun (2014), Effect of SRI
Water Management on Water Quality andGreenhouse Gas Emissions in Korea, Irrigation andDrainage
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (2014),

Course Reports

CAMBODIA COUNTRY POVERTY ANALYSIS(7) Royal Government of Cambodia (2014), National
Strategic Development Plan
(8) UNDP (2014), Curbing Private Tutoring andInformal Fees in Cambodia’s Basic Education(9) UNICEF (2016), The State of The World’S Children
2016, A fair chance for every child(10) Statistical Database System (SDBS) AsianDevelopment Bank [Accessed 15 Jun 2017](11) ULS stat. UNESCO [Accessed 19 Jun 2017] <http://
data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx>(12) The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) ILO,
UNICEF and the World Bank [Accessed 20 Jun
2017] <http://www.ucw-project.org/results.aspx>(13) World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank
[Accessed 19 Jun 2017] <http://databank.
w o r l d b a n k . o rg / d a t a / r e p o r t s . a s p x ? s o u r c e =2&country=KHM>(14) International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook
2016(15) Twende Solar, [Accessed 4 Jul 2017] < http://
twendesolar.org/journal/cambodia-project-recap>

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Decreasing school dropout rate in lower Secondary
Educational level in the Rural Cambodia
Final Report for GRM Joint Seminar 2
Mostafa KHALILI

Introduction
Cambodia is a country located in the southern partof the Indochina Peninsula located in the Southeast Asia.
Having over 16 million population, Cambodia has$1,159 GDP per Capita (7.1% annual change) which isconsidered as a lower middle-income country by theWorld Bank. As the main income for many Cambodians
is agriculture, a significantly big number of 79% percent
live in the rural areas.
The System of General Education in Cambodia
consists of Primary (Grades 1-6): 6 years, Lower
secondary (Grades 7-9): 3 years and Upper secondary(Grade 10-12): 3 years of education. In total, the 12 yearsof schooling is free nationwide.
In spite of free education, the completion ratio inlower secondary school remains low compared withother countries in the same region. While about 95% of
the children complete the primary school education, only
less than half of them continue their studies up to the endof lower secondary education.
While lower secondary education completion rate is
48% as of 2015, the regional average is 92 percent whichshows a wide gap in comparison to the neighboring
countries.

figure1. completion rate, total (% of relevant age
group)
Source: ULS stat. UNESCO [accessed 19 Jun 2017]

There are many influential factors of such highdropout rate from micro to the macro level in Cambodia.
According to the study done by the world bank in 2012,
the main reasons for the high school dropout rate consistof many factors like: poverty, late school entry,
inequality, low availability of schools, poor school
management skills, teachers’ low monetary incentives,
low degree of community participation, inadequate
school facilities and low quality of the teachers.

Figure 2. Dropout rate by grade in Cambodia.
(UNESCO, 2009)
As we found many reports claiming that the main
reason behind this problem lies in the poverty that causes
the child labor as well as low accessibility to the lower
secondary education. The former plays more significant
role in the rural area than the urban area where over 10
percent of children (5-14 years old) work for at least 21
hours per week.1
The latter is also the serious situation in the ruralarea, the number and location of the secondary school are
limited. The far distance between home and school is
playing a role in the increase of dropout rate. In general,the number of lower secondary school is half of the
primary. Besides, the number of teachers is limited aswell. Many rural schools do not have access to theelectricity grid to benefit from modern educational
equipment.
Focusing on the poverty reduction and using ICT
facilities in schools, this project is an attempt to come up
with some practical suggestions for the countries
improvement of the educational system. In the first step,
we started a pilot project focusing only in Siem Reap
province as a densely populated poor region. Learningsome lessons from this specific region, we suggested
some ways to generalize our study nationwide.
Background Information of Siem Reap Province,
Cambodia
Siem Reap province covers an area of 10,299 square
kilometers. According to the national census 2014, theprovince has the sixth largest population in the country,
consisted of 896,443 people with an average population
density of 87 persons per square kilometer, higher thanthe country’s average population density of 75 persons

1

The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) ILO, UNICEF
and the World Bank[accessed 20 Jun 2017]

Course Reports

per square kilometer (National Institute of Statistics,
2014). The current population of Siem Reap in 2012 was
972,488 people and the average family members were5.09 people.
Fifty two percent of population is aged between 18
and 60 years old and 43% are under 17 year-old. Only
5% are 61 years old and over. Households headed byfemale were 14% about 14% (Provincial Department ofPlanning, 2015).
Access to education of people in Siem Reap can be
overviewed that, the net enrollment of students in upper
secondary and lower secondary education is relatively
low, showing only at 14.9% and 24.8%, respectively inthe 2011 academic year (MoEYS, 2012). This infers that
number of people who have access to higher education iseven much fewer. Moreover, approximately 14% of thepeople in the province aged between 15 and 45 years old
are illiterate (Provincial department of planning, 2015).

Figure 3. Population density in Cambodia. Source(icem)

Figure 4. Population density in Cambodia. Source(icem)
Suggested solutions to reduce school dropout rate
1- Poverty reduction by introducing SRI system
As agricultural sector is considered as the biggest
portion of employment ratio in Cambodia, there is a vitalneed to improve the productivity of the farmers. Many
workers in this sector still use the traditional methods
since they are not skilled and educated farmers. That is
why only 28% of the GDP comes from the agriculture.

Our suggestion for the Poverty reduction will be to
introduce the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI isa methodology for increasing the productivity ofirrigated rice by changing the management of plants,
soil, water, and nutrients while reducing external inputs.
It is a low water, labor-intensive, method that uses
younger seedlings singly spaced and typically hand
weeded with special tools.
System of Rice Intensification (SRI) emerged in the
1980’s as a synthesis of locally advantageous riceproduction practices encountered in Madagascar by Fr
Henri de Laulanie, a Jesuit Priest who had been working
there since 1961. But, it is Dr. Norman Uphoff from
Cornell International Institute for Food and Agriculture,
Ithaca, USA, who had brought this method to the noticeof outside world in the late 1990s. Today SRI is being
adopted in many states in India and the response fromfarmers has been overwhelming seeing the benefits of themethod, notwithstanding the constraints.
SRI is a combination of several practices thoseinclude changes in nursery management, time oftransplanting, water and weed management. Its different
way of cultivating rice crop though the fundamental
practices remain more or less same like in theconventional method; it just emphasizes altering ofcertain agronomic practices of the conventional way ofrice cultivation. All these new practices are together
known as System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI is
not a fixed package of technical specifications, but asystem of production with four main components, viz.,soil fertility management, planting method, weed control
and water (irrigation) management. Several fieldpractices have been developed around these components.
Of them, the key cultural practices followed in mostcases are:Preparing high-quality land
SRI requires careful leveling and raking, withdrainage facilitated by 30 cm wide channels at two-meterintervals across the field.
Preferring compost or farmyard manure to synthetic
fertilizers
It is better to use organic nutrients, as they are betterat promoting the abundance and diversity of
microorganisms, starting with beneficial bacteria andfungi in the soil. This will promote proper microbialactivity, thereby improving production.

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Developing nutrient-rich and un-flooded nurseries
The seedbeds have to be nutrient-rich andestablished as close to the main field as possible. This
will enable quicker and easier transportation between thenurseries and the fields, minimizing both transport timeand costs so that the seedlings are efficiently
transplanted.
Using young seedlings for early transplantation
This has to take place when the seedlings are just 8
to 12 days old, soon after they have two leaves, and at
least before the 15th day after sowing.
Ensuring wider spacing between seedlings
The seedlings should be planted at precise spacing,usually 25 X 25 cm2, about 16 plants per square meter.
Rice plant roots and canopies grow better if spaced
widely, rather than densely.
Transplanting the seedlings singly
The seedlings must be transplanted singly with theirroots intact, while the seed sac is still attached. They
must not be plunged too deep into the soil, but placed at
1-2 cm on the ground at the appropriate point on theplanting grid.

illustrated carefully designed education to implement
SRI is the key for production improvement.
In our suggested strategy, we first will propose to
implement SRI method in teacher’s training courses(with some practical experiments). Then we suggested to
implement the SRI method of teaching for students from6th grade and asking the students to help their family inthe adaptation of system. This will need additional cost to
support teachers which should be covered by increasing
the government’s expenditure on educational system. We
suggest to provide a higher salary for teachers who are
actively involved in the program.
Moreover, using some ICT facilities (showing clips
and films about SRI) to teach both students and head ofhouseholds will be helpful. The active cooperation
between students and parents might change parent’s
perception on the use of education to improve thehousehold’s economy.
2- Improving educational policies
On the next step, we focused on the improving theteacher’s situation as the main role players in theprevention of the school dropout. While Having a big
number of uneducated population and high rates ofschool dropout, Cambodia has one of the lowest
governmental expenditures on education in the world.

Managing water carefully so that the plants’ root zones
moisten, but are not continuously submerged
SRI requires the root zone to be kept moist, notsubmerged. Water applications can be intermittent,leaving plant roots with sufficiency, rather than surfeit ofwater. Rice grown under SRI has larger root system,
profuse and strong tillers with big panicles and wellfilled spikelets with higher grain weight. The rice plants
develop about 30 – 80 tillers and the yields are reported
to be higher. The secret behind this is that rice plants dobest when young seedlings are transplanted carefully at
wider spacing; their roots grow larger on soil that is kept
well aerated with abundant and diverse soil
microorganisms.
Cambodia needs to implement a quick catch up
strategy to reach to the regional standards. This will
happen only by gradual increase on the governmental
expenditure on education. We focused on the increase of
the expenditure on education by 2% per year up to the
8% by 2020 which mainly could be spent on increasing
the minimum salary of the teachers up to 3 times until
2020. Improving the teacher training courses also should
be one of the most important priorities of the ministry ofeducation for Cambodia.
Figure 5. Improvement of the rice cultivation using
SRI system compared to the traditional methods.
Rice is the main agricultural production of the Siem
Reap province. As SRI does not need additional cost, theonly obstacle for its implementation is to educate andconvince the traditional local people. The previous
successful practices in other regions showed that an

Early Warning System (to reduce student
absenteeism and support at-risk students in school)
Early warning system uses the existing school level
data on attendance, performance, behavior etc. toidentify students at-risk of dropping out of school. This
program aims in enhancing the capacity of schools to
address the needs of at-risk students and strengthening

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the partnership between school personnel and theparents/guardians of at-risk students.
In our suggested system, parents actively will be
involved in the process of their children’s education andin case of being 3 days absent from the class, the teacher
would contact the family directly and school officials
will mediate to solve the problem in the very first stage.

93

prices in the world. Siem reap province is importing
electricity from Thailand. (Electricity price is higher thanother regions).
Since the development of the national grid would
take a long time, our suggestion will be using Solarpanels as the electricity source. However, considering theprice of electricity production, rainy and dry season in
Cambodia and the price of different facilities, we started
our estimation with 3 different plans:

Improving teacher’s situation
Our solution for the next step will be considered theteacher’s situation as the main influential actors in
improving the educational system in Cambodia. As theminimum salary of the teachers is very low to make aliving, we suggest to increasing the minimum salary of
the teachers up to 3 times until 2020.
Besides, the teacher training courses should besignificantly improved. When teachers are not motivatedenough to actively teach and track children, the school
dropout rate highly increases.
Moreover, as it will be explained on the next part,
Using ICT methods in remote regions would reduce theover-working hours for teachers.
3- Using ICT to reduce the school dropout rate
Our last suggestion focused on using the ICT ruralarea, where the number of schools and teachers arelimited compared to the students. While the immediate
increase in the number of schools is not possible, we
propose to resolve the shortage of schools and teachers
by introducing ICT education. There are many ways tobenefit from ICT facilities, from the internet tosmartphone application, TV, and Radio. Students could
benefit from the educational programs broadcasted by the
public media.
To propose ICT for remote rural areas, first we needto think about the best way to provide the electricity
source. While more than 97% of the urban Cambodia hasaccess to the national grid, only 18% of the rural area inthe country has access to the national grid (2016, IEA
World Energy Outlook).
Cambodia has one of the most expensive electricity<Assumption> Number of children: ① 40 people, ② 80
peoplePower generation system: PV 200W, 100W, 50W
Plan 1 Screen education at school orcommunity center⇒ Monitor (27inch), DVD player, time: 3 hours① ¥53,000 (PV 50W), ② ¥63,000 (PV 100W)



Plan 2 Cell phone for self-study at home
⇒ Cell phone (one per person, diffusion rate:
93.5%)① ¥37,500 (PV 50W), ② ¥54,000 (PV 100W)



Plan 3 Radio for self-study at home
⇒ Radio (one per person, diffusion rate:
38.8%)① ¥67,720 (PV 50W), ② ¥104,440 (PV 50W)

TV (32inch)
TV (19inch)
DVD
Radio
(rechargeable)
Cell phone

Power consumption
Cost
69 W
¥40,000
32 W¥20,000
5 W¥4,000Wh←DC4.8V,
1.44¥1,500300mAhWh←DC3.6V,
2.88¥2,500800mAh
Cost

Plan1
TV
(19inch)+DVD

37 W

Plan2
Cell phone

Figure 7. National grid of Cambodia. (source: Worlddevelopment indicators)

Pan3

2.88 Wh⇒ 200W：
min.13hours¥102,500⇒ 100W：
min.6hours¥65,000⇒ 50W：
min.3hours¥55,000⇒ 200W：
min.173people¥106,125⇒ 100W：
min.86people¥54,000⇒ 50W：
min.43people¥37,500⇒ 200W：
min.347people¥390,620

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Radio

1.44 Wh⇒ 100W：
min.173people¥197,060⇒ 50W：
min.86people¥104,440⇒ 40people¥67,720

As we discovered many plans, the most economical
and convenient suggestion could be using a set of a TV
and DVD player in schools. As the ministry of education
already produced some programs broadcasting from TV
to support students off-school education at different
levels, we suggested that showing this programs to thestudents would increase their educational capacity andmotivations to stay in the school.
To supply the electricity for running the TV-DVD
player set, we suggested using a 50W solar-panel. The
usage time for such system would be about 3h during thedry season, about 2h during the rainy season. In suchcase, we introduced a two-shift system in which a groupof students have class by the teacher during the morning
section, and use the class by screen education in theafternoon. The total estimated cost for Siem Reap region
is considering 74 schools would be around 4 million yen.
Generalizing to the National Level
In concoction, we tried to generalize the results
coming from our study to the other parts of Cambodia.
We proposed implementing SRI system as anexperimental study for three years in Siem reap and if we
could get a good result, to apply the same policy to theother regions which use rice as their main production.
In the next step, we would like to introduce thesimilar cost-less methods like HVY and other methods
mentioned in the NSDP of Cambodia to the other regions
based on their potentials.
Regarding the educational policies and the vitalneed for increasing the portion of national expenditure
on education, the suggested solutions could be
generalized to the national level. Other than significant
increase on teacher’s salary, establishment of someindependent institutions is necessary to prevent teachers
who charge some informal fees from students.
In the next step, the suggested solution to improve
ICT by providing TV and DVD player to all schools
could be suggested as a national plan. The cost for
generalizing TV-DVD player system shall be provided
from the increase in the portion of countries’ expenditureon the agriculture. We showed that overall cost would be
up to the 60 million Japanese yen.
53,000*(1,406-289)=59,201,000JPN¥(532,862US$)
References:
Asian Development Bank (2014). Cambodia country
poverty analysis
Anres, D. (1999). “The Khmer Rouge and Education:
Beyond the Discourse of Destruction.” History of
Education. 28, pp.216-225
Clayton, T. (1995). Restriction or resistance? Educational

development in French colonial Cambodia.
Educational policy Analysis Archives, 3(19), 1-14
DY, Sideth S. (2004). Strategies and Policies for Basic
Education in Cambodia: Historical Perspectives.
International Education Journal Vol5, No1, pp.9097
HIRAKAWA, Yukiko. (2012). Identifying causes ofdropout through longitudinal quantitative analysis inrural Cambodian basic schools. Journal ofInternational Development and Cooperation, Vol19,
No1, 2012, pp25-39
Kosonen, K. (2005). Vernaculars in literacy and basic
education in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Current
Issues in Language Planning, 6(2), 122-142.
Ministry of Planning (2015). Identification of poor
households, Cambodia: result from data collection
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. (2014).
Education Strategic Plan 2009-2013. Phnom Penh.
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. (2014).
Education Statistics & Indicators 2011/2012. Phnom
Penh.
National Institute of Statistics (2014). General population
census of Cambodia 2008: Provisional Population
Provincial Department of Planning (2015). Province
Profile Year 2015 for Local Development
Royal Government of Cambodia (2014). National
Strategic Development Plan.
Statistical Database System (SDBS). Asian Development
Bank [accessed 15 Jun 2017]
Stuart T. Nakamoto, Kynda R. curtis, value-added
agricultural products: An introduction, Diversified
agriculture consortium
The World Bank (2015). World Development Indicators.
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/reports/
tableview.aspx
UCW, (2007). Mapping &costing current programs
targeting the worst forms of child labor. Working
Paper.
UNICEF (2016), The State of The World’S Children
2016, A fair chance for every child.
UNDP (2014), Curbing Private Tutoring and Informal
Fees in Cambodia’s Basic Education.
USAID. (2011). School Dropout Prevention Pilot
Program Dropout Trend Analysis: Cambodia. World
Bank. (2005, January) Cambodia: Quality basic
education for all.

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95

Final Report: Education Issues in Cambodia
Kanako TAKIMOTOQUICK FACTS OF CAMBODIA
I. OUR ISSUE IN EDUCATION
II. BACK GROUND: PILOT PROJECT IN SIEM
REAP
III. SUGGESTED SOLUTIONSREFERENCESQUICK FACTS OF CAMBODIA
Capital:Phnom Penh
Land Size:
176,520 sq. km
GDP/capita:$1,159 (7.1% annual change)
Income Group: Lower Middle Income Country
Language:
Khmer (official) 96.3%, others 3.7%
Population:
16m (1.5% annual change), 21% Urban,
79% Rural
I. OUR ISSUE IN EDUCATIONThe system of general education in Cambodia consists ofPrimary (Grades 1-6): 6 years, Lower secondary (Grades
7-9): 3 years and Upper secondary (Grade 10, 11 and12): 3 years education. The total (6 + 3 + 3) 12 years ofschooling are free. In spite of free schooling, thecompletion ratio in lower secondary school remains a
low level compared with other countries in the same
region. Figure 1 shows that the completion rate eachlevels in Cambodia and regional average since 1997.
While about 95% of the children complete the primaryschool education, only less than half of them continue
their studies up to the end of lower secondary school.
According to Figure.1, lower secondary completion rateis 48 percent in 2015, on the other hand the regional
average is 92 percent, the gap between Cambodia andregional average is 44 percent.
100

Completion Rate, total (%)

90
80
70
60
50
40
30

Primary
Lower secondary
Regional average (lower secondary)

20
10
0
1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Year

Figure 1. Completion Rate
Data source: World Development Indicators (WDI), World BankWhy does the dropout ratio remain high level in thesecondary education?
There are a lot of key influential factors of the school
dropout from micro level in Cambodia. According to thestudy done by Asian Development Bank (2014), many
students in Cambodia face the situation such as, poverty,late school entry, inequality, low availability of schools,
poor school management skills, teachers’ low monetary
incentives, low degree of community participation,
inadequate school facilities and low quality of theteachers. There are a few key influential factors of school
drop out from the macro level in Cambodia.
From a financial point of view, the total government
expenditure for all levels of education in the percent ofGDP, Cambodia is ranked 4th lowest country in theworld. According from World Bank calculation, the rate
is 1.9 percent in 2015 and regional average is 2.7
percent. The World Bank estimated the expenditure on
primary education (% of government expenditure on
education) is 48% and Expenditure on lower secondary
education is 44%, the difference is only 4% (Figure2).
The budget for education in Cambodia is regardless
limited, however the gap of completion ratio between
primary and secondary might not come from the budget.
From an economical point of view, GDP per capita
coorelates with the lower secondary completion rate (Ide2014: 9). As Ide points out, the higher income country is,
the better completion ratio acheived.
60
50
Expenditure (%)

CONTENTS

40
30
Primary

20

Secondary

10
0
2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Year

Figure 2. Government Expenditure on Education
Data source: WDI, World Bank

The problem seems to lie in the fact that child labor andaccessibility to lower secondary education.The former isa serious situation in rural areas, over 10 percent ofchildren (5-14 years old) work at least for 21 hours per
week (The Understanding Children’s Work). The roots ofchild labour are low income in the agricultural sectors.
Most of a Cambodian family in a rural area is engaged inagriculture, for instance the share of total employment in
the agriculture sector is 54%, however the share of total
GDP in agriculture is only 28% (Asian Development
Bank). Low income and low productivity are big issues
in rural area.
The latter is also a serious situation in rural areas, thenumber and location of secondary school are limited. Far
distance between home and school is playing a role in theincrease of the dropout rate. There are 6,910 primaryschools, on the other hand only 1,622 lower secondary
schools (Royal Government of Cambodia 2014). In
general, the number of lower secondary schools is half of96

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the primary. In addition, not only the number of schools,
but also teachers is limited. Many rural schools do nothave access to the electricity grid to benefit from modern
educational equipments. As I mentioned above, 1. low
income and 2. accessibility are key issues for the lower
secondary education.
II. BACK GROUND: PILOT PROJECT IN SIEMREAPA) Why We Choose SiemReap?
The focus of Camnodia’s province is agriculture andyoung population. Population in Siem Reap has rapidly
increasing annual growth is 3%, the population in theprovince is 946,656 persons and the share of total
population is 7%. In addition, the share of young
generation (6-17 years old) is 30%, and families whose
primary occupation is rice farming are 76% in theprovince. The province is also high poverty rate 21.3%
national average level. The reason why we focus on the
Siem Reap province is poor area with high populationand typical rural area in Cambodia.
B) Agriculture
MarketMost of the agricultural products such as rice andvegetables are gathered in Phnom Penh, after that theseproducts distribute back to the regional market. The maintransportation is via truck transportation (Japan
Development Institute, 2010). Some parts of Siem Reap
are the high quality of soil, so it could be famous for
Fragrant Rice such as Jasmine rice (Cambodia RiceFederation). If the productivity became high, they could
export to Thailand and other countries in the future(Figure 3).

Poland and Malaysia. These big four partners shared over
50% in 2015 and 2016. The share of rice export in 2015is France (18%; 51 million US$), China (15%; 42
million US$), Malaysia (13%; 37 million US$) and
Poland (8%; 23 million US$). The role of china is
rapidly increasing in 2016; the share of rice export is
China (23%; 71 million US$), France (16%; 50 million
US$), Poland (9%; 26 million US$) and Malaysia (8%;25 million US$) (Figure 4).

3%
4%
4%

China
FrancePolandMalaysia
Netherlands
Beigium
Germany
Italy
Others

23%

26%

16%
7%
8%

9%

Figure 4. Rice Export (2016)
Data source: UN Comtrade

IMPORT
Figure 5 shows that the main partner in the rice import isVietnam, Thailand and USA. These big three partners
shared over 80% in 2015 and 2016. It is notable that themain role in rice import is Vietnam; the share of riceimport in 2015 is Vietnam (78%; 8 million US$),
Thailand (9%; 0.9 million US$), and USA (8%; 0.8
million US$). The role of Vietnam is decreasing in 2016;
the share of rice import in 2016 is Vietnam (48%; 4
million US$), USA (27%; 2 million US$), and Thailand(14%; 1 million US$). Siem Reap will able to substituterice supplier for foreign countries.
Others5%

Areas,nes
6%
Thailand
14%

Vietnam
48%
USA
27%

Figure 5. Rice Import (2016)
Data source: UN Comtrade

Figure 3. Map in Siem Reap Province
Source: USAID (2010)

The rice export does not have big share of export inCambodia, thus there are only 3% of the total export.
However, it has great possibility to export to othercountries. The rice export value is rapidly increasingfrom 139 million US$ in 2012 to 305 million US$ in
2016.
EXPORT
The main partner in the rice export is France, China,C) Electrification
According to the Asia Foundation, the electrification rateof rural area in Cambodia is only 18 percent. They havealways bought electricity from battery shops where sells
the electricity using diesel engine power generation.
Each family has a battery to use charging cell phone andlight in the nighttime.
Siem Reap is imported electricity in urban area fromThailand that is why electricity is one of the highest
prices in the region. The electrification rate in Siem Reap
province is less than 20 percent exclude Seam Reab
commune and the average is only 8% and more, somecommune have no electricity (Figure 6).

Course Reports

Figure 6. Percentage of Houses with Electricity,
Battery Light and TV by District/Municipal
Source: commune database online (2010)

Mobile Phone
On the other hand, mobile phone is one of the necessities
of life used for contacting their families; people havemobile phones over 90% in rural areas (2015). In
addition, the percentage of Cambodians in rural areas
who own at least one smartphone is 34.3% (Phong
Kimchhoy and Solá Javier 2014).
III. SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
A) Value Added Product
Our suggestion is “System of Rice Intensification” (SRI)
method, National Plan is mentioned that theimplementing SRI model should be one of the main
focuses in Cambodia (Royal Government of Cambodia2014). The most of the family makes in Siem Reap
region is rice, thus we focused on the rice productivity.
The method is no technology and cost, only thing is
study about the SRI.
What is SRI?
SRI method is consists of four pillers (Evans Chris 2001:
2).
1. The seedlings grown in the nursery beds aretransplanted after just 8-10 days, or at the 2-leaf stage.
2. Seedlings are transplanted singly, not in a bunch.
3. Seedlings are transplanted at a wide spacing, from 20
to 50 cm apart.
4. Much less water is kept on the paddies.
Why do SRI?
-The rice production incresed-The SRI method is compared with conventional, lesswater and seeds needed.
-The difference of conventional way and SRI is only
methtology, it means that no extra external inputs needed
and It can use local and traditional seed.
We suggested 6 steps of strategy:
1- Implementing SRI method in teacher’s training
courses (with experiments)
2- Implementing the SRI method teaching for students
from 6th grade3- Teaching the method to head of households incooperating with community leaders
4- Providing extra payment for teachers who actively
involved in the program
5- Promoting a competition between villages
6- Using ICT facilities to (showing clips and films about
SRI) to teach both students and head of households.

In short, our strategy is education for all, for students
study about SRI method in the lower secondary schools’
curriculum with the Remote School System. Not only
students, but also villagers study about SRI method.
B) ICT
Remote School System
Remote school system, screen education project at
school or community center, includes solar panel(50watt), monitor (27inch) and DVD player. Total cost is
53,000Yen. This system for above 80 students can learn
through ICT methods. To use the solar energy as anenergy source, we should solve a few issues such as thetime of demand and supply does not match and theefficiency has a gap between dry and rainy season. Siem
Reap is the rainy season from May to October, thus from
November to April is the dry season. Our solution is a
restriction of usage time and a two-shift system. The
former is about 3hours during dry season, about 2hours
during rainy season. The latter consists of morning andafternoon section. For instance, in class A, students haveclass by a teacher at the morning section, and they haveclass by screen education in the afternoon and class B isvice versa.
Cost
The number of lower secondary schools in Siem Reap
Region is only 78, however, at least schools necessaryfor each commune. According to the postcode(Appendix), Siem Reap Province has 103 communes. We
should calculate based on the number of communes
exclude urban areas. Reclassification of urban area isbased on the definition in 2011 by the government. The
definition of urban area is there elements population
density is more than 200 persons square km., the percentof the population in agriculture less than 50 percent and a
total population of commune exceeding 2,000.
According to the government, there are 289 communes/
sangkats as Urban within 29 communes in Siem Reap
(Piotr Sasin et al. 2015). The total cost estimate for Siem
reap region is 53,000*(103-29) = 3,922,000JPN¥(35,302US$).
C) National Plan
Value Added Products
As I mentioned Section I, over 50 percent of the
population is engaged agriculture sector, thus to increase
their income they need more effective method in thesedays. To analyze the market situation is also important

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

from the national level to the local, each domestic
products.
ICT
One of the main issues in Cambodia is to improve theaccessibility for lower secondary schools. There are noschools in remote areas. Cambodian government makes
one of the policy priorities to access the education:
Increasing equitable access to education throughfurther promoting the construction of elementary schools
to reach remote villages, locating at least one secondary
school in each commune subject to geographic
conditions, and at least one university or its branch ineach province subject to capacity constraints and specificcircumstances in deploying teachers to all thoseestablishments (Royal Government of Cambodia 2014:173).
Our pilot project in Siem Reap is based on the regional
characteristics. It is important for generalizing thenational plan to make some steps. The first step ispoverty reduction, to analyze the each regional
characteristic and the market situation, and then using
other methods similar to SRI based on potentials of eachregion such as HYI methods (as well as other methods
mentioned in NSDP).
The second step is an improvement of the teacher’ssituation, to increase the expenditure on education by 2
percent per year up to the 8 percent by 2020. Oursuggestion is increasing the minimum salary of theteachers up to 3 times until 2020, increasing the numberof teachers in lower secondary school, using ICT
methods in remote areas to reduce the over-working
hours for teachers and improving teacher’s skills.
The final step is a reform of school facilities, to supply
all schools nationwide with remote school system
include TV, DVD player and PV system. All students
will learn using ICT facilities. The total number ofcommunes is 1,406 and 289 communes are urban area;
1,406-289 = 1,117 communes as rural areas. The
minimum cost for using remote school system in national
level is; 53,000* (1,406-289)= 59,201,000 JPN¥
(532,862US$.) The total cost is only 0.002% in GDP
ratio1. It should be mentioned that our plan is limited,
however, the higher education is becoming more
important to sustainable development in Cambodia. A
further study of how the difficulty of education is solved
should be conducted.
REFERENCES
Asian Development Bank. “Cambodia: Country poverty
analysis 2014” Mandaluyong City, Philippines,
2014.
Evans Chris. The Farmers’ Handbook “The Fields- SRI
Rice Cultivation” Booklet 11. Kathmandu, Nepal:
Appropriate Technology Asia, (2001).
1

GDP 19,398million US$ (2016: IMF)

Engineering and Consulting Firms Association, Japan
Development Institute (JDI). “Cambodia MekongRiver Basin Agriculture and Logistics System
Development Project” Study Report (March 2010).
Itagaki Keishiro. “Present Status of Agriculture andPossibility for Increased Export of Food andAgricultural Products in Cambodia” IJERD –International Journal of Environmental and Rural
Development 1–1 (2010).
Phong Kimchhoy and Solá Javier. “Mobile Phones in
Cambodia 2014”. Research study (October 2014).
Piotr Sasin, Honesty Pern, Wim Dekkers Benjamin
Flower, Mark Grimsditch and Ee Sarom. “Human
Rights Based Spatial Planning in CambodiaGuidelines” People in Need, 2015.
Royal Government of Cambodia. “National Strategic
Development Plan 2014-2018”, 2014.
UNDP. “Curbing Private Tutoring and Informal Fees in
Cambodia’s Basic Education” Back ground paper
for Cambodia human development report 2005,(May 2014).
UNICEF. “The State of The World’s Children 2016, A
fair chance for every child” 2016.
USAID. “Siem Reap Province Investment Profile” 2010.
Data Sources
Cambodia Rice Federation [accessed 29 Jul. 2017]
http://www.crf.org.kh/page=api_location_detail&m
enu1=592&menu2=1094&id=1094&lg=en
National Committee for Sub-National Demogratic
Development. Commune Databese Online (2010)[accessed 29 Jul. 2017] http://db.ncdd.gov.kh/
cdbonline/home/index.castle2010
Statistical Database System (SDBS) Asian Development
Bank [accessed 15 Jun 2017]https://sdbs.adb.org/sdbs/
The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) by ILO,
UNICEF and the World Bank [accessed 20 Jun
2017]
http://www.ucw-project.org/results.aspx
ULS stat. UNESCO [accessed 19 Jun 2017]
http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx
UN Comtrade [accessed 19 Jun 2017]https://comtrade.un.org/data/
World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank
[accessed 19 Jun 2017]
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?
Source=2&country=KHM

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Appendix -Districts and Communes in Siem Reap
Province-

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Decreasing school dropout rate in lower Secondary Educational levelin the Rural Cambodia
YanShuang CHEN

1. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to examine NSDP20142018 and study current status of Cambodia to find aproblem that prevents or slows down the development.
Then construct a solution plan to improve the situation.
We focus on the education part. Education is afundamental survival necessity for each individual in any
society. It is widely recognized that education helps
boosting the economic growth of a nation.
Problem about the education part in the NSDP
(2014-2018) is that the high dropout rate is notconsidered as a big hindrance to accomplish the country
vision which is called ‘education for all’.
About the secondary education mentioned in the
NSDP is as below. we can know that the challenge andthe response is not so strong and not specific. Challenge
3- Access and quality of secondary education. Response
2: Expand secondary education, a focus on reducing
gender gap and ensuring completion of lower-secondary
education; increase the number of scholarships forstudents from poorer families (especially girls); expand
the number of lower-secondary schools throughupgrading some primary schools.
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), hasplaced a great emphasis on education as a major tool forsocial and economic development of the country. In
2010, the gross enrolment rates for primary school(grades 1-6) and lower-secondary school (grades 7-9)
were 117.9% and 59.1% respectively, whereas the net
enrolment rates were 95.8 % for primary school level and
33.0% for lower-secondary school (Cambodian Ministryof Education, Youth and Sport MoEYS, 2011).
As we can see, school dropout remains an unsolved
problem in the Cambodian education system, which hashindered the realization of ‘education for all’ goals. For
instance, the average dropout rate for each grade inprimary school level was 8.7% and it jumped up to
19.6% in lower-secondary school level (MoEYS, 2011).
It was estimated that only 36.1% of Cambodian students
who enrolled in schooling could reach grade nine.
In order to accomplish the vision (or country
strategy), solving the problem about the high dropout of
the lower-secondary school should be taken as animportant objective. Decreasing the high dropout should
be seen as a big objective in Cambodia.
2. Significance of the Study
Cambodia is a country located in the southern partof the Indochina Peninsula located in the Southeast Asia.
Having over 16 million population, Cambodia has$1,159 GDP per Capita (7.1% annual change) which isconsidered as a lower middle-income country by theWorld Bank. As the main income for many Cambodians
is agriculture, a significantly big number of 79% percent
live in the rural areas.
The System of General Education in Cambodia
consists of Primary (Grades 1-6): 6 years, Lower
secondary (Grades 7-9): 3 years and Upper secondary(Grade 10-12): 3 years of education. In total, the 12 yearsof schooling is free nationwide.
In spite of free education, the completion ratio inlower secondary school remains low compared withother countries in the same region. While about 95% of
the children complete the primary school education, only
less than half of them continue their studies up to the endof lower secondary education.

figure1. completion rate, total (% of relevant age
group)
Source : ULS stat. UNESCO [accessed 19 Jun 2017]

While lower secondary education completion rate is
48% as of 2015, the regional average is 92 percent whichshows a wide gap in comparison to the neighboring
countries.
2. Influential Factors of high dropout rate
There are many influential factors of such highdropout rate from micro to the macro level in Cambodia.
There are a few studies conducted in Cambodia. Amongthem, a large-scale 34 study by the World Bank (2012) is
the most prominent. Using data from a household survey
and the annual school census, the study found thatpoverty, late school entry, inequality, low availability ofschools, poor school management skills, teachers’ lowmonetary incentives, low degree of community
participation, inadequate school facilities, and low
quality of the teachers were the main challenges leading
the students to make early school departures.
Poverty did not exert a direct influence on dropout,but it had an adverse effect on the children’s ages ofschool entry and child labor, which negatively affectedchildren’s school retention. Besides, there are a few morestudies on the dropout of Cambodian girls. In her focusgroup-discussion study, Valesco (2001) stated that theCourse Reports

predominant reasons why Cambodian girls did not attend
or dropped out of school were the high level ofhousework and income-generating work. The work
exhausted them and distracted their schooling withfrequent absenteeism.
The other factors were inaccessible distance ofschools, security risks, late school entry, and earlymarriage. At the school level, three strong determinants
were poor school facilities, low quality of teacherstudent and student-student interaction, and poor qualityof teaching and curriculum.
As we found many reports claiming that the main
reason behind this problem lies behind the poverty thatcauses in the child labor as well as low accessibility to
the lower secondary education. The former plays moresignificant role serious situation in the rural area than theurban area where over 10 percent of children (5-14 years
old) work for at least 21 hours per week.1The problem
seems to lie in the fact that child labor and accessibility
to lower secondary education.
The former is more serious situation in rural area
than urban area, over 10 percent of children (5-14 years
old) work for at least 21 hours per week (The
Understanding of Children’s Work (UCW), 2017). The
roots of child labor are low income in the agricultural
sectors. Most of Cambodian family in rural area isengaged in agriculture, for instance the share of total
employment in agriculture sector is 54%, however theshare of total GDP in agriculture is only 28% (AsianDevelopment Bank). Low income and productivity are
big issues in rural area. From an economical point ofview, GDP per capita is correlated with lower secondary
completion rate (Ide.2014, p.9). As Ide points out, thehigher income country is, the better completion ratio
achieves.
The latter is also serious situation in rural area, thenumber and location of secondary school is limited. Far
distance between home and school is playing role inincrease of dropout rate. There are 6,910 primary

1

The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) ILO, UNICEF
and the World Bank[accessed 20 Jun 2017]

schools, on the other hand only 1,622 lower secondary
schools (National Strategic Development Plan, Royal
Government of Cambodia, 2014). In general, the numberof lower secondary school is half of the primary. In
addition, not only the number of schools but also thenumber of teachers is limited. Many rural schools havedisadvantage in infrastructure; they do not have access tothe electricity grid to benefit from modern educational
equipment.
Focusing on the poverty reduction and using ICT
facilities in schools, we tried to come up with some
practical suggestions for the countries improvement of
the educational system. In the first step, we started a pilot
project focusing only in Siem Reap province as a densely
populated poor region. Then we tried to generalize ourstudy nationwide.
3. Suggestion
1) SRI
Our suggestion for the Poverty reduction will be to
introduce the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI isa methodology for increasing the productivity ofirrigated rice by changing the management of plants,
soil, water, and nutrients while reducing external inputs.
It is a low water, labor-intensive, method that uses
younger seedlings singly spaced and typically hand
weeded with special tools.
SRI was developed initially to benefit households
that are poor, resource-limited, and food-insecurehouseholds needing to get the most production attainablefrom the small amounts of land that they have access to;and from available household labor, and if possible byusing less water and without having to spend money tobuy inputs (new seeds, fertilizer, agrochemicals) or totake out loans for buying inputs that would push them(further) into debt.
By raising the productivity of the land, labor, waterand capital invested in the production of rice without

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requiring the purchase of certain inputs, SRI is uniqueamong contemporary agricultural innovations. Poor
households can take up SRI simply by changing theirthinking and by modifying familiar practices.
In 2006-07, a Family Food Production project of the
NGO LDS Charities got 146 rainfed farmers in
Kampong Chhnang province of Cambodia, whose paddy
yields had averaged 1.06 ton/ha in the previous year, totry out the new SRI methods. With these practices, theiraverage yield that year was 4.02 tons/ha, and all
exceeded their previous yield with lower costs (Lyman etal. 2007). Such increases could transform the life
chances of these poor households.
As SRI does not need additional cost, the only
obstacle for its implementation is to educate andconvince the traditional local people. In our suggested
strategy, we first will propose to implement SRI method
in teacher’s training courses (with some practicalexperiments). Then we suggested to implement the SRI
method of teaching for students from 6th grade andasking the students to help their family in the adaptationof system. Moreover, using some ICT facilities (showing
clips and films about SRI) to teach both students andhead of households will be helpful. The active
cooperation between students and parents might changeparent’s perception on the use of education to improve
the household’s economy.
SRI method does not need any technology or thecost to implement, it only needs educating the farmers
using the land and planting the seeds in different way.As
we read about some previous implementation of SRI in
India, the main issue is how to convince the traditional
farmers to change their life-time traditional practices.

2, We will propose a competition among teachers to dotheir best in teaching the method in villages. The moretheir village would improve the rice productivity, themore they will be paid.
3, Teachers will be asked to engage students in the 6th
grade of elementary school in teaching SRI method totheir family. 6th grade is the crucial level since many ofthem usually drop out before starting the secondary level.
This will help families to believe in the importance of
education.
4, We watched some documentaries and educational clips
about SRI system on the internet. We believe that if ICT
improves in schools, the volunteers and teachers could
use these facilities both to teach SRI and to convince thefarmers to use the method.
2) Teacher situation improvement
On the next step, we focused on the improving theteacher’s situation as the main role players in theprevention of the school dropout. We focused on theincrease of the expenditure on education by 2% per year
up to the 8% by 2020 which mainly could be spent on
increasing the minimum salary of the teachers up to 3
times until 2020.

figure2. Government expenditure on education, total(% of GDP)
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.

Source: Mr.Ngin Chhay (2010)Overview of SRI application andadoption in Cambodia, workshop on consolidation of SRI
experiences, lessons and networking.

This is the point that we want to use as our main
strategy to find some ways to introduce SRI to thecommunity from school by educating the method tochildren and using teachers as the information provider
for the local people. Here is our suggestion in 4 steps:
1, Teachers in rural area will be well-taught about theimplementation of SRI method in their training
curriculum. They will practice the method as anexperiment in their training process.
They will be given an extra paid provided by theministry of education to teach the method to villagers.

Improving the teacher training courses also should
be one of the most important priorities of the ministry ofeducation for Cambodia. Our last suggestion is
Introducing the early warning system which initiallysuggested by the USAID. In this system, parents actively
are involved in the process of their children’s educationand in the case of being 3 days absent from the class, theteacher would contact the family directly and school
officials will mediate to solve the problem in the very
first stage.
2) ICTWe suggest three plan for ICT education method.
Plan 1 is screen education at school or community center.
We think that the effect of learning is great because
students took the class with images instead of teachers.
Next, plan 2 is self-study with cell phone at home.
Diffusion rate of cell phone is about 93.5%. So, this rate
is high in rural area, the amount of new purchase issmall, and the cost can be lowered. Last, plan 3 is self-Course Reports

study with radio at home. Cost of radio is lower than cell
phone. And, radio waves reach far, so they can take theclass with radio in rural area. We calculated the cost of
combination of these plans and power generation system.
Power generation system is combined PV and Battery
system, power generation capacity of solar-panel ischanged 200, 100 and 50W. Efficiency of PV is changeby the climate, there are dry season and rainy season in
Cambodia. We suggest the plan to change class time
according to climate. For example, class time is about 3
hours during dry season, about 2 hours during rainyseason. And, two shift system is introduced. This systemmeans to divide into the morning section and afternoon
section. In this way, it is possible to reduce teacher
shortage and cost. From the above, we propose the plan 1
for reduce school drop rate. Because plan3 is cost is highcompared with other plan. And cost of plan 2 is near theplan 1. But, effect of learning with cell-phone is lower
than plan 1. So, plan 1 is best for ICT education method.

Sunhours [h/m]rainy
i season

20

250

15

200
150

10

100

5

50
0

Sunhours [h/d]dry season
d

300

0
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Month

Average monthly hours of sunshine in Siem reap
Ref. World Weather & Climate Information (2016)
Our last suggestion focused on using the ICT ruralarea, where the number of schools and teachers arelimited compared to the students. While the immediate
increase in the number of schools is not possible, we
propose to resolve the shortage of schools and teachers
by introducing ICT education. There are many ways tobenefit from ICT facilities, from the internet tosmartphone application, TV, and Radio. As we
discovered many plans, the most economical andconvenient suggestion could be using a set of a TV and
DVD player in schools. As the ministry of education
already produced some programs broadcasting from TV
to support students off-school education at different
levels, we suggested that showing this programs to thestudents would increase their educational capacity andmotivations to stay in the school.
To supply the electricity for running the TV-DVD
player set, we suggested using a 50W solar-panel. The
usage time for such system would be about 3h during thedry season, about 2h during the rainy season. In suchcase, we introduced a two-shift system in which a groupof students have class by the teacher during the morning
section, and use the class by screen education in theafternoon. The total estimated cost for Siem Reap region
is considering 74 schools would be around 4 million yen.
In concoction, we tried to generalize the results
coming from our study to the other parts of Cambodia.

We proposed implementing SRI system as anexperimental study for three years in Siem reap and if we
could get a good result, to apply the same policy to theother regions which use rice as their main production. In
the next step, we would like to introduce the similar costless methods like HVY and other methods mentioned in
the NSDP of Cambodia to the other regions based on
their potentials.
Moreover, the cost for generalizing TV-DVD player
system shall be provided for the increase in the portion ofcountries’ expenditure on the agriculture. We showedthat overall cost would be up to the 60 million Japaneseyen.
4. Conclusion
Education is a fundamental survival necessity foreach individual in any society. Problem about theeducation part in the NSDP (2014-2018) is that the highdropout rate is not considered as a big hindrance toaccomplish the country vision which is called ‘education
for all’.
Focusing on the poverty reduction and using ICT
facilities in schools, we tried to come up with SRI andICT suggestions for the countries improvement of theeducational system. We indeed should note that
Cambodia is a poor country and it is difficult to suggest
the increase the national income, however, we believethat if policy makers would increase the portion of
education and agriculture as two basic elements for thesustainable development for Cambodia, they would catchthe main aim which is overcoming poverty andincreasing the national and individual income.
References
Stuart T. Nakamoto, Kynda R. curtis, value-added
agricultural products: An introduction, Diversified
agriculture consortium
KEISHIRO ITAGAKI (2010) Present Status of
Agriculture and Possibility for Increased Export ofFood and Agricultural Products in Cambodia,
IJERD International Journal of Environmental and
Rural Dev AGRICULTURE AND AGROPROCESSING SECTOR IN
Euro Cham Agriculture Project Report. AGRICULTURE
A N D A G R O - P R O C E S S I N G S E C TO R I N
CAMBODIA -Taking Stock: A detailed review ofcurrent challenges and investment opportunities in
Cambodia
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (2014) CAMBODIA
COUNTRY POVERTY ANALYSISRoyal Government of Cambodia (2014). National
Strategic Development Plan.
Mr.Ngin Chhay (2010)Overview of SRI application andadoption in Cambodia, workshop on consolidationof SRI experiences, lessons and networking.
UNDP (2014), Curbing Private Tutoring and Informal
Fees in Cambodia’s Basic Education.
UNICEF (2016), The State of The World’S Children
2016, A fair chance for every child.

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Statistical Database System (SDBS) Asian Development
Bank, 2017
http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx
The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) ILO,
UNICEF and the World Bank[accessed 20 Jun
2017], http://www.ucw-project.org/results.aspx
World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank
[accessed 19 Jun 2017]
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?
source=2&country=KHM
Education Congress, (2011)Cambodian Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sport.

Course Reports

Reducing Child Mortality in Cambodia:
A case for Lower Respiratory Infection (LRI)
Arnold Rey B. Gines

I. Introduction
Cambodia has achieved milestones in the healthsector in the last 25 years despite the lack of acomprehensive health infrastructure brought about by
insufficient government support. These successes aredue, in part, to the influx of foreign support throughCambodian and international non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs). In the last 15 years, thegovernment has introduced various schemes to provide
basic health care especially to those who cannot afford
basic health services. Some of which are in the form of
Health Equity Funds, Community-based Health
Insurance, Voucher for Reproductive Health and more
recently a National Health Care Policy. However, thelack of sustainable human development for the whole
nation prevents those people truly in need of basic
services to acquire the care they need. In fact, mosthealth cases list higher incidence in rural areas than in
major Cambodian metropolis. In addition, the lack ofawareness among rural folks on certain diseases prevent
them from taking proper actions.
National Trend of Child Mortality

common illnesses such as malaria, diarrheal disease and
LRI and poor nutrition is highest in rural areas (e.g.,
Kiri/Rotanak Kiri, 170 deaths per thousand live births)
whereas lowest in the urban such as Phnom Penh (38deaths per thousand births). Having been the leading
cause of child mortality, LRI affects children between 6months to 11 months the most compared to other age
group. Similarly, Prey Veaeng has the lowest case of LRI
while Kandal has the highest at 32% LRI prevalence
among children under 5. Both are located near the capitalof Phnom Penh but are both reliant on agricultural andfishing activities by majority of the locals.
Among the most common causes of deaths arelisted in Table 1 (Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation, 2015). These conditions are common in
many developing nations and are classic problems
experienced by many. Since 1990, lower respiratory
infection has been the leading cause of death amongchildren, followed by neonatal preterm birth, diarrheal
diseases and so on. While the country has reached its
target in reducing the mortality rates in some cases, thereduction of case of lower respiratory infection has notbeen enough to be considered at a safe level. This is not
surprising, however. Despite advances in medical
services, children remain at high risk of acquiring LRI
because they have lower immunity to such illnesses. Thef a c t o r s a ff e c t i n g i t a r e e a s i l y c o n t r a c t e d i nunderdeveloped areas and easily get worse compoundedby poor sanitation.
Table 1: List of most common causes of child deathin Cambodia

Figure 1: Child (under five) Mortality Estimationin Cambodia (UN IGME, 2016)
Figure 1 shows the graph of the national trend in
total child mortality for Cambodia since 1975. The trend
illustrates a significant reduction of death of children
under five. However, in other reports, one in every eightchildren still dies before reaching 5 years old. This isalmost twice higher as that reported in Figure 1.
High mortality rate in rural areas
According to Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
in 2002, the number of child mortality caused by

Lower Respiratory Infection
Lower respiratory infection is a generic term for anacute infection of the tracheas, airways and lungs, whichmake up the lower respiratory system. It is a general term
for infections of the air passage which are commonly

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characterized by the presence of symptoms like cough,fever, shortness of breath and fatigue. It is acommunicable disease but is easily preventable. The
most common causes of LRI are viruses, pneumonia andbronchitis among others. In addition, the conditions areeasily triggered by irritants like pollution in the air.
A major trigger of respiratory infection is air
pollution. Taking into consideration Cambodia’s
technological capability, the emissions produced bytransportation vehicles and infrastructures that use
conventional energy fuels are higher than those that use
cleaner energy. However, a significant part of thispollution is attributed to domestically-produced
pollutions such as those produced by cooking using solid
fuels like wood and coals and lighting fuels such as
kerosene, oil, etc. It is therefore not surprising that a highpercentage on cases are among children and women
because they are the one who remain at home. Especiallyin rural areas, traditional lighting and cooking sources areunsafe and pose high risks on the health of children.
Medical Treatment/Prevention of LRI in Cambodia
Seeing this as a global phenomenon especially inmany developing nations and not a unique case to
Cambodia, the issue can be solved with universally
acceptable interventions available.
According to WHO (Roth, et al., 2017), who
conducted literature studies on respiratory infections onchildren below five, various intervention studies points tothe following as the leading factors to effectively reducechildhood morbidity due to respiratory infections.
● Breastfeeding promotion- maternal-infant transfer
of innate immune effectors● Complementary food supplementation orcounselling-literature points out the link between
malnutrition, immune dysfunction and infectious
diseases. In addition to breastfeeding, the qualityof complimentary foods may reduce risk of RI or
mortality.
● Single micronutrient interventions-Vitamin A,
iron, folic acid, vitamin D, calcium, zinc
● Multiple micronutrient interventions- works wellwith proper supplementation to further improvethe child’s health.
In the studies evaluated, evidence suggests that
inadequate growth and risks from acquiring infections or
diseases are linked which further suggests that
respiratory infection morbidity and mortality can beaddressed with nutritional interventions.
II. Policy Suggestions
Although treatable, the lack of existing
comprehensive infrastructure to monitor, prevent andtreat LRI cripples Cambodia’s youth. To address thisissue, a set of policy suggestions are presented to provide

alternative solutions to the still significant number ofdeaths among children.
A. Carbon Tax and Subsidy
Although lower than its neighboring countries,
Cambodia’s economy continues to grow. Its mainindustries are on textiles, tourism and agriculture. To
cater to the increasing economic activity, small
motorized vehicles called tuktuks and motorcycles are acommon means of transportation around the country. In
addition, larger vehicles are increasingly used in the last
decade. From the graph in Figure 2 (Department of
Vehicle Registration of MPWT, 2014), the numbers ofdifferent vehicles are constantly increasing until 2014.
These transport vehicles consume motor fuels which are
traditional energy sources for any typical machineries.
Thus, in urban areas, pollution from cars is becoming aserious issue related to health. If not addressed, this issue
could continue to build and affect urban dwellers, a casetypical to many highly industrialized metropolitan areas
around the world.
To prevent air pollution from reaching an alarming
level, localizing carbon emission tax and/or subsidy may
be proposed. This policy has been introduced to manynations such as in Finland, Ireland, France, Portugal andin British Columbia in Canada and more recently in
Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan andSingapore. This promotes an efficient way of
consumption of carbon-emitting fuels and/or
consumption of fuels with lower emission levels.
Alternatively, the consumption of clean fuels may bepromoted through tax subsidy. The balance between
taxes and subsidy on fuels enables users to transition
from the more commonly used fossil fuels to moreenergy efficient alternatives.

Figure 2: Data showing the growth of vehicle fleet
in Phnom PenhThis scheme can balance the use of fuels bypromoting better fuel alternatives. At present, cleaner
fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas in Cambodia arehigher compared to its neighbor Thailand. As such,promotion of these fuels is not fully realized. In addition,
taxes collected from conventional fossil fuels may be
used to fund better transport infrastructures and otherCourse Reports

modernization plans. This scheme will not only improvecarbon dioxide emission, which will help improve air
quality, but will also generate more income for thegovernment which may be used to foster more efficientenergy consumptions through modernization plans.
In Vietnam, A National Green Growth Strategy(2012-) was crafted to

firewood, charcoal which are readily available fordomestic use. The pollutants disperse inside thehouseholds and are inhaled by its inhabitants, mostly
women and children who stay at home most of the time.
Due to economic reasons and lack of access to more
efficient resources, the persistence of biomass
consumption exists.

“Use financial, credit and market-based instruments
to promote and support the development of thegreen economy and green products. Moving
towards the establishment of a management systemand trading of certified greenhouse gas emissions,carbon tax and fees and levies”.
In Thailand, the Eleventh National Economic andSocial Development Plan (2012-2016) was enacted to“Conduct market research to identify revenue
opportunities through selling carbon credits,
including standards that link to international
markets on both a voluntary and a regulated basis.
In addition, studies should be made of the emission
quota system, the efficiency of greenhouse gas
reduction, a break-even analysis comparing
management costs of mitigation vs. carbon taxes”.
In Singapore, the government intends to introduce
carbon tax as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Given the high pollutive nature of diesel,
diesel tax will be restructured, by permanently reducing
the annual tax paid by diesel vehicles and introducing a
volume-based duty on diesel. Some rebates will be
provided. Meanwhile, Taiwan plans to implement a tax
mechanism on imported fossil fuels based on carbon
dioxide equivalent to respond to the impact of climatechange which is based on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction
and Management Act. These policies serve to help
reduce carbon emission as a response to climate change
initiatives. In effect, it is expected to significantly reduce
total carbon emissions which will promote better air
quality especially in metropolitan areas with higheconomic activities that require high amounts of energy
consumptions.
These policies and initiatives have far-reachingeffects on the environment, people, economy andtechnological advancements. It is not surprising thatacross all spectrum, a poor energy infrastructure greatly
affects the country’s ability to maintain a healthy
environment and people.
B. Improved Cook Stoves and Alternative Energy
Sources
Another leading cause of LRI among young people
in Cambodia is indoor pollution caused by smokes anddust particles. Around 95% of households in rural areas
consume biomass which comprise of wood fuels such as

Figure 3: A large number of the population uses
traditional solid fuels for cooking on a cook stove(GNESD, n. d.).
To decrease indoor pollution, conventional cooking
methods using solid fuels must be improved. Projects on
improved cook stove have been started, like in Figure 3,
but are mainly focused on improving the efficiency offuel consumption. The design does little to containsmoke and dusts from the burning fuels. To address thecontainment of these pollutants, a similar project that wasstarted in Bangladesh, shown in Figure 4, may be
adapted by Cambodian households. A cook stove set-up
may be installed in homes using traditional materials.
The design involves a contained stove top with small
openings for fuel inlet and dust. Smoke is contained in
the burning cavity and is equipped with a pipe that leads
to the outdoor for smoke exhaust. The idea not only
makes for more energy efficient cooking but alsosignificantly decreases the smoke. Alternatively, further
promotion of alternative energy sources such as liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) and/or biogas will be helpful.
These sources produce little to no pollutants and are
more efficient than biomass. They are already in use but
not as widely popular as biomass. As initial capital
investments are necessary, they may be promoted
through local cooperatives with the funding of
Cambodian-based private financers.

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have to be more accessible to some remote villages. As
such, trainings for service providers within locales andvillages may be possible. This not only creates continuityof service but also gives livelihood opportunities whereinterested individuals may learn technical skills.

Figure 4: Improved cook stoves (ICS) project inBangladesh that contains and redirects smoke andheat, keeping the homes smoke-free (Niclas, 2016).
As an example, a project called Cambodia National
Biodigester Program, in Figure 5, was initiated to build
biodigesters for qualified households in Cambodia.
Biodigesters can be installed in homes that have sourcesof animal dung or organic wastes. They are converted tobiogas which can be consumed in LPG stoves and canalso provide energy for lighting. From 2006 to 2016,
24,000 biodigesters were constructed through 69 microenterprises in 15 provinces. A single household
biodigester costs $500 excluding and investment subsidy
of $150. An important success factor of this story is the
special biogas loan that is made available through threenationally operating micro-finance institutions in
Cambodia. Qualified applicants are given financial
assistance to develop their biodigesters using funding
from private sectors.
However, its implementation has limits. For one,
farmers list the main downside is the substantial amountof animal manure needed to kick-start biodigestion
initially. About 1,500 kilograms are needed for thesmallest four cubic-meter tank while about 20 kilograms
are needed daily which requires about two to three cows.
This scheme may still be implemented for otherenergy sources. More recently, the availability of cheaper
power generating technologies like solar panels has
become more popular in some developing countries.
Loans through micro-financing may be implemented
with initial capital coming from private investors. As amarket-based model, this sector can be developed
without direct intervention from the program. This puts
less financial pressure on households to invest on a more
efficient energy source.
In the long run, these capital investments are more
economic as they could last for up to several years
without additional major costs. Expenses formaintenance are kept low within the first several years.
However, in cases of more technologically advanced setups, aside from capital investments, service centers will

Figure 5: Construction of biodigesters in Cambodia
through the National Biodigester Program (NBP, n. d.)
C. Medical Services using ICT
One of the main reasons why common healthproblems still persist in Cambodia is due to the lack ofreliable and accessible health centers that people canvisit in times of need. The country lags behind in termsof medical health workers to cater to the entire
population. In 2015, the Ministry of Health of Cambodia
employs about 20,000 civil servants. 68% of the total
workforce is comprised of midwives and nurses,
reflecting focus on primary care services. However, if
compared to the total need of more than 32,000
personnel by 2020, the current number still lags far
behind it. Motions to acquire more personnel has beenrequested by the health ministry, however, government’s
fund allocations to the health sector has been short. On
top of it, a huge part of medical missions conducted in
Cambodia has been aided by foreign donations. With theimpending discontinuance of foreign aids in the future,
the financial allocations needed from the government
will blow up.
As an alternative solution, the accessibility to
medical service may be improved by preventive actions.
Specifically, Basic consultations and medical programsand treatment may be conducted through information andcommunications technology (ICT) via mobile phones.
According to NGO Open Institute, a study of thetechnology in Cambodia in 2015 show that 94% of the
15-65 years old labor population has a cellphone, as
shown in Figure 6. With the popularity of smartphone
applications, it is possible access selected medical needs
via smartphone technology.

Course Reports

have been identified: nutrition and immunization,
pollution and access to basic medical treatment.

Figure 6: Number of phones used in Cambodia
in 2015 (Phong and Solá, 2015)
A similar initiative has been adapted by Bangladesh
called Apojon, a mobile service for mothers andnewborns who have difficulty accessing medical services
in rural areas of Bangladesh. The government of
Bangladesh, local NGO and mobile companies joined
together to provide the first service in 2011, andcurrently has four hundred thousand mothers who aresubscribed to this service. It is offered for free only forthe low-income demographic, however, 95% of its
current users are registered with charged service. The
service includes text messages for mothers withnewborns on health-related concerns twice a week. It
also includes medical treatment and counseling by phone
call, as needed, provided by round-the-clock call center
operation centers.
In India, a similar project, shown in Figure 7, called
ImTeCHO Project was launched. ASHA (health workers)schedule check-up and give medical advice through ICT.
The network is built such that medical centers andhospitals are linked through the mobile application.
㻭㻿㻴㻭㻒㻌㼁㻿㻱㻾㻿㻌

㻵㼚㼠㼑㼞㼚㼑㼠
㻿㼑㼞㼢㼑㼞

㻳㼛㼢㼑㼞㼚㼙㼑㼚㼠㻴㼛㼟㼜㼕㼠㼍㼘

Figure 7: Medical ICT scheme
With mobile applications and online services madeavailable, it is not surprising that the medical sector may
use this opportunity to improve its reach to more people
in need of healthcare. Aside from better accessibility, italso provides a more efficient platform to promote healthadvocacies.
III. Conclusion
Since three decades ago, Cambodia has beensuccessful in improving the quality of life of its people.
From very high rates of mortality and medical
incidences, the country has lowered many cases of
illnesses and diseases. However, LRI still tops the chart
among the most common causes of deaths. Three factors

The health sector has set out programs to improve
the health of children by providing nutrition counselingand immunization shots. However, education programs
and campaigns have fallen short and have not been able
to provide more comprehensive coverage throughout thecountry. The health ministry has been trying to increase
its employed civil servants to be able to provide more
service to more people. However, the annual budget
provided by the government has not been enough. To
better support this cause, more frequent national census
on the country’s health situation must be conducted.
There seems to be a limited data to back the need for ahigher ministry budget. In order to understand fully thenation’s situation, up-to-date comprehensive studies must
be conducted. This will provide a concrete proof of whatthat country actually needs.
Second, it has been identified that pollution andenvironmental safety has been one of the most importantfactors affecting children’s health. With no regulation
pollution created by traditional cooking fuels andcarbon-emitting vehicles, the health of young
Cambodians continues to be at risk. Indoor pollution due
to smokes and dusts from burning fuels are common in
many homes. To improve household environments,
several schemes such as improving cooking methods andusing alternative energy sources may be adapted. In
addition, local policies advocating the use of more
efficient and lower carbon emitting fuels may bepromoted. This puts premium on the benefits of using
cleaner energy sources.
Third, the access to medical services has been astruggle to many rural areas in Cambodia. As accessible
health centers with qualified medical practitioners are notenough throughout the country, medical interventions
through ICT may be promoted. Several countries havesupported this initiative and people have been responsive
to it. By only using mobile phones, people may acquirebasic healthcare.
As the country’s capability to look after all of its
people, it would be best at this point to look foralternative solution that may alleviate the persisting
health problems. In the long run, it is still paramount that
the Cambodian government find a more long-term
solution to their health woes. As its economy improves, it
is expected that they will also be able to sustain theirhealth needs without relying too much on foreign
donations and assistance.
References
Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems andPolicies. 2015. The Kingdom of Cambodia Health
System Review. http://www.wpro.who.int/asia_
pacific_observatory/hits/series/cambodia_health_

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systems_review.pdf?ua=1. Accessed 20 June 2017.
Cambodia Hospital and Health Center Gap Analysis.
https://mangomap.com/mango-chris/maps/25247/
cambodia-hospital-and-health-center-gap-analysis#.
Accessed 20 June 2017.
CAMBODIA-World Health Organization. Country
Cooperation Strategy 2016-2020
Carlos E. Rodriguez-Martinez, Diego Andres
Rodriguez, Gustavo Nino. 2015. Respiratorysyncytial virus, adenoviruses, and mixed acutelower respiratory infections in children in adeveloping country. Medical Virology 87:774-781.
CDC (2014), Success in Cambodia: The Diappearance ofMeasles! (With Rubella Not Far Behind), https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/stories/
success-in-cambodia.htm. Accessed 21 June 2017.
Chheng Phalkun. 2000. Report on Neonatal Tetanus
Reduction Program, RACHA
Department of Planning and Health Information,
Ministry of Health, the Reproductive Health
Association of Cambodia, and PRB, Children in
Cambodia Face High Mortality Rate. http://www.
prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/ChildreninCamb
odiaFaceHighMortalityRate.aspx. Accessed 24 June
2017.
Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development(GNESD). n. d. The New Lao Cookstove Project.
http://energy-access.gnesd.org/cases/36-the-newlao-cook-stove-project.html. Accessed 19 July
2017.
Hivos people unlimited. National Biodigester Program.
https://hivos.org/activity/national-biodigesterprogram-nbp. Accessed 26 June 2017.
http://sinovoltaics.com/interviews/solar-for-thepoors-livelihood-improvement-interview-withdipal-barua/. Accessed 03 July 2017.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. 2015. GBD
Compare, Viz Hub, https://vizhub.healthdata.org/
gbd-compare/. Accessed 21 June 2017.
Institute for Work & Health. https://www.iwh.on.ca/
wrmb/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-prevention.
https://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-secondaryand-tertiary-prevention. Accessed 21 June 2017.
Katz, D., & Ather, A. 2009. Preventive Medicine,
Integrative Medicine & The Health of The Public,
Commissioned for the IOM Summit on Integrative
Medicine and the Health of the Public. (http://www.
iom.edu/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Quality/
IntegrativeMed/Preventive%20Medicine%20
Integrative%20Medicine%20and%20the%20
Health%20of%20the%20Public.pdf)
National Strategic Development Plan 2014-2018. http://
cdc-crdb.gov.kh/cdc/documents/NSDP_2014-2018.
pdf. Accessed 20 April 2017.
Niclas. 2016. Making of a solar nation: expert interview
with Dipal Barua.
Patterson, C., & Chambers, L. W. 1995. Preventive
health care. The Lancet, 345, 1611-1615.
Peugeot RL, Lipsky BA.Hooton TM, Pecoraro RE,

Treatment of lower respiratory infections in
outpatients with of loxacin compared witherythromycin, Drugs Exp Clin Res. 1991;17(5):253-7.
Phong, K. and Solá, J. 2015. Mobile Phones and Internet
in Cambodia. https://asiafoundation.org/resources/
pdfs/MobilePhonesinCB2015.pdf. Accessed 15 July
2017.
Population Reference Bureau. 2002. Children in
Cambodia Face High Mortality Rate. http://www.
prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/ChildreninCamb
odiaFaceHighMortalityRate.aspx. Accessed 12 July
2017.
Roth, D. E., et al. 2017. Acute lower respiratory
infections in childhood: opportunities for reducing
the global burden through nutritional interventions.
http://ijhassnet.com/file/2.pdf. Accessed 14 July
2017.
Suy, R., et al. 2017. Cambodian Healthcare Policy:
Challenge and Development. http://ijhassnet.com/
file/2.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2017.
United Nation for Inter-agency Group for Child
Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). Child Mortality
Estimates: Cambodia. http://www.childmortality.
org/index.php?r=site/graph&amp;ID=KHM_
Cambodia#ID=KHM_Cambodia. Accessed 14 June
2017.
Whitney, C. G. and Harper, S. A. 2004. Lower
respiratory tract infections: prevention using
vaccines, Infect Dis Clin North Am, 18(4):899-917
World Health Organization West Pacific Region.
Cambodia-WHO Country Cooperation Strategy
2016-2020. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/
10665/246102/1/WPRO_2016_DPM_004_eng.pdf.
Accessed 20 June 2017.
World Health Organization. Intervention to reduce indoor
air pollution, http://www.who.int/indoorair/interventions/en/. Accessed 24 July 2017

Course Reports

An Idea of Suggestion for Reducing Child Mortality in Cambodia-Case of Lower Respiratory Infection (LRI)Yutaro SATO

ABSTRACT
Between 2000 and 2015, Cambodia has madesignificant progress in the health of children. Under-five
deaths per 1,000 live births were reduced from 124 to 54.
However, according to other research data, 1 in 8
children dies before his or her fifth birthday. The trend of
top ten causes of under-five child death in Cambodia
between 1990 - 2015 shows that Lower Respiratory
Infection (hereinafter referred to as LRI) has been the top
cause for a long time. So, LRI is one of the mostimportant causes of mortality among under-five children.
LRI is a generic term for an acute infection of thetrachea, airways, and lungs, which make up the lower
respiratory system. There are mainly three types of LRIsuch as Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI),
Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI), andPulmonary Infection (PI). The causes of ALRI are
viruses, indoor and outdoor air pollution while cases of
LRTI and PI caused by defensive capability have been
reduced. So, our suggestion is mainly focused on ALRI.
First, to control the outdoor air pollution, we consider
introducing carbon tax in Cambodia Second, to improve
the indoor air quality, we suggest promoting alternative
energy sources in rural areas. Third, to cope with thepoor access to medical service in rural areas, we
introduce the Medical service on ICT.
One of three suggestions is the introduction of
Carbon Tax and Subsidy. The aim is to reduce air
pollution in urban areas. As in the case with other South
East Asian countries, air pollution in accordance withurbanization and industrialization is one of the biggest
problems in Cambodia, which is also the main reason of
LRI. To cope with this issue, there are many technicalsolutions such as flue gas desulfurization equipment andfilter dust collector. In addition, political approaches arealso important. Carbon Tax can be one of them. It is truethat carbon tax is implemented mainly in European
countries and it is not popular in Southeast Asia, but it isalso true that the situation is gradually changing. By
overviewing the discussion among each leading country
such as Thailand and Viet Nam, we consider theadvantage and difficulty of carbon tax, and how to
localize it in Cambodia, which can be useful for future
policy making.
Another leading cause of LRI among young people
in Cambodia is indoor pollution caused by smokes anddust particles. Around 95% of households in rural areas
consume biomass which comprise of wood fuels such as
firewood, charcoal which are readily available fordomestic use. The pollutants disperse inside thehouseholds and are inhaled by its inhabitants, mostly

women and children who stay at home most of the time.
Due to economic reasons and lack of access to more
efficient resources, the persistence of biomass
consumption exists. To decrease indoor pollution,
conventional cooking methods using solid fuels must be
improved. Projects on improved cook stove have been
started but are mainly focused on improving theefficiency of fuel consumption. The design does little tocontain smoke and dusts from the burning fuels. To
address the containment of these pollutants, a similar
project that was started in Bangladesh may be adapted by
Cambodian households. A cook stove set-up may beinstalled in homes using traditional materials. The design
involves a contained stove top with small openings forfuel inlet and dust. Smoke is contained in the burning
cavity and is equipped with a pipe that leads to the
outdoor for smoke exhaust. The idea not only makes formore energy efficient cooking but also significantly
decreases the smoke. Alternatively, further promotion ofalternative energy sources such as liquefied petroleumgas (LPG) and/or biogas will be helpful. These produce
little to no pollutants and are more efficient thanbiomass. They are already in use but not as widely
popular as biomass. As initial capital investments arenecessary, they may be promoted through local
cooperatives with the funding of Cambodian-based
private financers.
It is widely known that the problem of publicwelfare and medical policies in developing countries isrelated to money and in Cambodia, most of the medical
policies are relied on international aids and NGO.
Especially in rural areas, benefits of policies are very
limited because of its poor access and expensive cost. So,
we offer a feasible and low-cost policy, which is the
medical service with mobile network. With cellphones
and its network, people can share tips of the preventive
medicine, simple treatment and medical common sense
through the voicemail or SMS. This service willcontribute not only to prevent LRI but also to establish
the patient tracking system. It is very simple and it has
already introduced in other developing countries such as
APOJON Project in Bangladesh and ImTeCHO Projectin India. The cellphone penetration rate is very high in
Cambodia, so these two cases are worth referring forestablishing a practical system to increase the public
medical service’s accessibility and enhance the educationof sanitation.
We analyzed the national trend of child mortality in
Cambodia and decided to focus on LRI. As in the case ofother issues, LRI cannot be solved by just one policy anda multi-disciplinal view is crucially important. Three

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ideas we suggest are designed from various perspectives
and all of them cover the difference between urban andrural areas as a package. There are still tasks left formaking it practical, but it can be useful for future
discussion.
Keywords: Cambodia, Lower Respiratory Infection(LRI), Carbon Tax, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG),
Information Technology (ICT).

Syphilis while Lower Respiratory Infection (LRI) andNeonatal Preterm Birth are not the case. Despite of theincreasing foreign aids, these two have been top 2 causesof child mortality in Cambodia. In this paper, I focus oneof them, LRI, and show an idea of suggestions for copingwith this issue from the perspective of policy, energy,
and technology.

1. Introduction: LRI as the central issue in Cambodia
2. Suggestion: Carbon Tax
3. Suggestion: Improved cookstoves and alternative
energy sources
4. Suggestion: Medical Service on ICT
5. Conclusion:
Reference
1. Introduction: LRI as the central issue in Cambodia
Cambodia is located at the southern part ofIndochina and surrounded by Viet Nam, Laos, andThailand. After the internal war which continued over 20
years and the democratic election supervised by UNTAC(United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia),
Kingdom of Cambodia was adapted by UN in 1993. One
year later, it became a member of ASEAN and still today,
Cambodia has developed economically and politically.
However, as other developing counties, there are many
problems which should be overcome. In terms of childhealth, as Figure.2 shows, the number of child mortality
has decreased especially since 2000, but Figure.4 shows
the different perspective. It arranged the cause of death
every five years and there are some trends. There areclear improvements of Diarrheal diseases, Measles,

Figure 2 (Left) The Number of Child Mortality
https://www.nis.gov.kh/nis/CDHS/CDHS_2010_Key_Findings.
pdf

Figure 3 (Right) Child (under-five) Mortality
Estimation (CME)
http://www.childmortality.org/index.php?r=site/graph&ID=
KHM_Cmbodia

Figure.1 Map of Cambodia
http://www.worldatlas.com/img/areamap/ad3673ab69e2a422ff7
dadb8c3095c19.gif

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Figure 6 The prevention and treatment of LRI(Made by Author)
Figure 4 Top ten causes of under-five child death inCambodia Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation (2015)
LRI can be categorized into three types; Acute
Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI), Lower Respiratory
Tract Infection (LRTI), and Pulmonary Infection (PI). As
Figure 5 shows, the main cause of LRTI and PI is areduction of defensive capability and because ofincreasing foreign aids, it is improving. While, that of
ALRI is Viruses, Indoor Air Pollution, and Outdoor Air
Pollution. What Figure 6 shows is the possible solutionsin accordance with the cause. To cope with virus
infection, the early detection and prevention is crucially
important. Especially in rural areas, the accessibility of
medical services have been a big problem, so medical
service on ICT can be a good solution. In terms of indoor
air pollution, it is also serious in rural areas since womenand children have to do cook by using firewood or coal.
So, to improve cookstoves by providing alternative
energy sources can contribute to solve this problem.
Finally, outdoor air pollution has been one of biggest
issues in urban areas such as Phnom Penh. Many
solutions have been thought and implemented, but in thispaper, I will suggest unimplemented one, which is
Carbon Tax. So, in this paper, there are three suggestions
and their structure is summarized at Figure 8. Section 2
explains about Carbon Tax, Section 3 provides analternative energy source, and Section 4 introduced two
success cases of medical services on ICT in India and
Bangladesh. At the final section, I will point out
remaining issues as conclusion.

Figure 7 Structure of suggestion for reducing
pollution and improving medical intervention
in Cambodia
2. Suggestion: Carbon Tax
Carbon Tax is a fee imposed on the burning ofcarbon –based fuels (coal, oil, gas). In general, the meritis to internalize the cost of air pollution and encourage
the reduction of greenhouse gas while the demerit is its
regressivity and to impede economic growth. Because of
the demerit, especially of the latter, as Figure 9 shows,carbon tax has been implemented only in parts ofdeveloped countries in Europe. Furthermore, even in
European countries, the content varies in accordance ofeach condition (Figure 10).

Figure 8 Carbon Pricing Programs Around the World
Figure 5 The Type and Cause of LRI (Made by
Author)(http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/04/carbon-price-would-benefitmore-just-climate)

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So, it is clear Southeast Asian countries are
beginning to discuss carbon taxes (Figure 11). It is also
clear that the biggest problem for implementing it inCambodia is its regressivity, which can enlarge theinequality between poor and rich. It will remain unsolved
for several years, but, it is worth looking at neighborcountries and learning their lessons.
Figure 9 Carbon Tax in developed countries(made by author)
However, in Southeast Asian countries, it can befound that the situation is changing. In Viet Nam, theNational Green Growth Strategy says,
Use financial, credit and market-based instruments
to promote and support the development of thegreen economy and green products. Moving towards
the establishment of a management system andtrading of certified greenhouse gas emissions,carbon tax and fees and levies
In Thailand, the Eleventh National Economic andSocial Development Plan referred to a carbon tax as
below. In addition, Thailand has already started V-ETS(Voluntary Emission Trading Scheme).
Conduct market research to identify revenue
opportunities through selling carbon credits,
including standards that link to international
markets on both a voluntary and a regulated basis.
In addition, studies should be made of the emission
quota system, the efficiency of greenhouse gas
reduction, a break-even analysis comparing
management costs of mitigation vs. carbon taxes
Singapore is the most developed countries among
them in terms of environment taxes. Its budget plan says,
Singapore needs to play its part to protect the living
environment. The Government intends to introduce
carbon tax as part of efforts to reduce greenhousegas emissions. Given the highly pollutive nature ofdiesel, diesel tax will be restructured, by
permanently reducing the annual tax paid by diesel
vehicles and introducing a volume-based duty on
diesel. Some rebates will be provided.

Figure 10 Carbon Tax in Asia
3. Suggestion: Improved cookstoves and alternative
energy sources
In rural areas in Cambodia, people have used
cookstoves as Figure 11 shows, which is said to be acause of respiratory infections. For solving this issue, thecase of Bangladesh may be useful. In Bangladesh,cookingstoves were improved so as to contain andredirect smokes and heat (Figure 12).
Another solution is related to fuels. In cases where
household is capable of upgrading their cookstoves thatcan consume commercial fuels, alternative energy
sources can be further promoted by attracting moreinvestors on the distribution of products such as Liquid
Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Biogas. In terms of this,National Biodigester Program is a leading case.
Biodigesters can be installed in homes that have sourcesof animal dung or organic wastes. They are converted tobiogas which can be consumed in LPG stoves and canalso provide energy for lighting. From 2006 to 2016,
24,000 biodigesters were constructed through 69 microenterprises in 15 provinces. A single household
biodigester costs $500 excluding an investment subsidy
of $150. An important success factor is the special biogas
loan that is made available through three nationallyoperating micro-finance institutions

Taiwan also pointed out the necessity of tax
mechanisms. According to the Greenhouse Gas
Reduction and Management Act,To respond to the impact of climate change, under
the principle of equality and social welfare
promotion, the government should implement tax
mechanisms on imported fossil fuels based oncarbon dioxide equivalent

Figure 11 Successful project in Bangladesh: Improved
cookstoves (ICS) that contains and redirects smokeand heat.

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Users: Medical training with mobile video service
good access for medical service.

Figure 12 Existing cookstoves in Cambodia

Figure 13 The Explanation of Biodigesters
4. Suggestion: Medical Service on ICT
The third suggestion is Medical Service on ICT. As
written above, the difficulty in rural areas is the poor
accessibility to basic medical service because of distanceand high cost. The aim of this suggestion is to offer freebasic treatment and medical service through thetelephone and giving medical information using SMS.
There are two successful cases in Bangladesh and India,
so it is useful to learn lessons from them.
“Apojon” Project in Bangladesh focuses onmaternal and child health. Apojon is the mobile service
for mothers and newborns who are difficult to use
medical service in Bangladesh rural area. Bangladesh
government, local NGO, and mobile companies bind
together to initiate first service in 2011, and currently
four hundred thousand mothers are using this service.
For the poor strata it is free, but it is successfully
managed as 95% of users are registered in charged
service.
In India, although Indian government set the ASHA
(Health Worker) to reduce mother and child death rate in
2000, the result was below the expectation. Howevr,“ImTeCHO” Project in India reinvent the Healthapplication and supported ASHA program with great
success. The Function of the Application is;
ASHA : Schedule management, medical advice,
medical check-up support in all Indian languages.
Hospital: High risk patient follow-up, ASHA service
maintenance, digitalization of medical records

These medical services on ICT can success also in
Cambodia. There are two reasons. First, according to a
research of the technology NGO Open Institute presented
from August 2015, 94% of the 15-65 years old labor
population has cell phone. Second, from the research ofDevelopment Innovations, 39.5% of Cambodians has
more than one smartphone in 2015 and this is double
times more than smartphone users in 2013. Cambodia’s
medical policy problem is basically the lack ofgovernment’s financial fund. Government is trying toincrease accessibility of medical service through several
policies, but it is not a problem that can be solved withina short period of time. Through installing medical callcenter, delivering medical common sense and tips
through voice message and offering early medical
service through phone calls. This service (feasible andpossible policy) will earn good effect in case of
preventing diseases.
5. Conclusion
I introduce three ideas for coping with LRI in
accordance with causes. In urban areas, the main cause
can be thought as outdoor air pollution, so the suggestion
to implement carbon tax after learning leading cases inneighbor countries such as Thailand and Viet Nam. In
rural areas, there are mainly two causes; indoor air
pollution and poor access to medical services. To solve
the farmer, I suggest to refine cookstoves like in
Bangladesh and to introduce biodigesters. To cope withthe latter, I show two success cases of medical service on
ICT implemented in Bangladesh and India, both ofwhich can be applied to Cambodia because of the highmobile and smartphone penetration rate.
As conclusion, I point out three remaining tasks.
First, the problem of the shortage of human resources inrural areas has been left even though it has been one of
the biggest issues in Cambodia. Second, to making thesethree ideas more practical, how to bring budgets should
be included. It may be better to use money picked up ascarbon tax to biodigesters and ICT medical services, butthere is still a big room left for discussing. Third,
especially in rural areas, the shortage of medicine itself isalso a big issue. So, how to allocate of medicine also
should be included to the suggestion. Of course, there arestill issues which should be discussed so as to make them
practical national strategy. However, I am sure that theseperspectives can be a key for improving child health inCambodia and other developing countries.
Reference List
CDC [2014] Success in Cambodia: The Diappearance ofMeaslesIshi, H [1999] Kankyozei Toha Nanika, Iwanami Syoten.
Katz, D., & Ather, A. [2009] Preventive Medicine,
Integrative Medicine & The Health of The Public,
Commissioned for the IOM Summit on Integrative

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Medicine and the Health of the Public.
Patterson, C., & Chambers, L. W. [1995] Preventive
health care, The Lancet, 345, 1611-1615.
Peugeot RL, Lipsky BA.Hooton TM, Pecoraro RE,[1991] Treatment of lower respiratory infections in
outpatients with ofloxacin compared witherythromycin, Drugs Exp Clin Res, 17(5):253-7.
Phalkun, Chheng [2000] Report on Neonatal Tetanus
Reduction Program, RACHA.
Rodriguez-Martinez, Carlos E., Diego Andres Rodriguez
and Gustavo Nino [2015] “Respiratory syncytial
virus, adenoviruses, and mixed acute lower
respiratory infections in children in a developing
country”, Medical Virology, 87:774-781.
Whitney CG and Harper SA [2004] “Lower respiratory
tract infections: prevention using vaccines”, Infect
Dis Clin North Am, 18(4):899-917

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Current Situation and Problems of Health Policy of Cambodia
Hyungbeom Cho
Policy and Management

This report would like to check Cambodia’s health policy
based on the medical related issues from team 2 in GRM
joint seminar. Especially, we look forward to general
medical insurance policy. After checking the process of
Cambodia’s health policy, we would like to discuss thepresent’s problem and understand further development
subjects.
1. The Development Process of Health Policy inCambodia
Cambodia, under 30 years of civil war and known
as the communist regime by “the Killing Fields”,
gathered all opposite factions with a new history since
the Paris peace accords in 1991.
United Nations cooperate with the first general election
after two years from the peace accords and led a brandnew democratic government. Therefore, this gave themto regain peace and undertake social and economic
development. Because it was making something out of
nothing, early stage of development plan was largely
carried out by the oversea aids. (According to the reportof KOICA 2013, ODA to Cambodia was reported as 5billion US dollars. On the other hand, duty-free or lowtariff economic benefits were applied on Cambodian
export products to USA and EU markets to accelerateand sustain economic development to improve thequality of the lives of the people. For these national
consent and multi-social development plans, Cambodia
economy underwent profound social and economictransformation by reentering the local and global society,demographic change and inter-reginal population
movement (UN Cambodia, 2009).
Last few years, Cambodia focused on garment,
agriculture, tourist and construction industry and enjoyedmore than 10% of robust economic growth in 2004-2007(World Bank, 2009). Cambodia improved its population
over 14 million and 14 billion dollars in GDP. Throughthese impressive developments in the macro-economic
economy, Cambodia achieved remarkable results interms of life quality improvement and rapid economic
development. The GDP per capita in 2012 rose to 946 US
dollar and the poverty rate has plummeted from 1994
39.1% to 30.1% in 2007 and in 2011 its rate has
decreased to 20.5% (World Bank 2012). Government
spending on public investment for welfare has steadily
increased, reaching 188.7 million US dollar in 2008 to
188.7 million US dollar in 2012. As of the end of 2010,
the infant mortality rate decreased from 66 to 44 per1000 from 2005, while the maternal mortality rate 47.1 to20.6 per 1000 in same period, also HIV/AIDS rate has
been decreased from 1.7 to 0.7 per 1000 which was thehighest rate year in 1998. According to the Department
of Health report, Cambodia’s health care centers
nationwide estimated that 1024 in 2012, up from 967 in
2008. Especially, based on the developing plan for healthinsurance coverage and beneficiaries of the health careplan (1996), Health Equity Fund (HEF) and Community
based Health Insurance (CBHI 2000). Recently
Cambodia’s committed to achieving universal health carewhich UN and ASEAN recommend with Health Strategy
Plan I and II have prepared health plans. For example,
Strategic Plan for Health Finances 2008-2015 aimed toeradicate health problems stemming from poverty (1),raise health care funds and quality (2) and promote
universal health insurance coverage (Ministry of Health,
2008b).
By the solid foundation of legal system and public
investment, positive signs are emerging in thedevelopment of Cambodia’s health care system.
Encouragingly health care infrastructure has graduallygrown, more people are benefiting from health insurance,and government’s budget have expanded. However, they
still rely on foreign aids and it is not easy to establish afunctioning health care system in Cambodia, which
provides universal health care coverage, where
technology, finance and human resources are limited to
all Cambodian citizens. The challenge of the Cambodian
royal government is to provide basic health care to all
citizens, raise the level of medical service, and properly
regulate the private health practices and all health carerelated markets (Ministry of Health, 2013).
2. History of Health Care Reform
Early medical reformation in modern Cambodia
began in 1993 when the new constitution was adopted.
Article #72 of the new constitution says that “public’s
health needs to be assured. The nation will fully consider
the prevention of disease and medical treatment. And
citizens of the poor should be able to receive free
medical consultation at public hospitals, consulting roomand obstetrics clinics. The constitution remains the main
legal instrument to ensure the quality of life of thepeople, and the Cambodian government will do its best
to help people build health care facilities, also they will
help the people not to fall into poverty due to medical
problems. Prior to 1996, public health facilities were
officially free of charge, however, due to insufficient
health care budgets, it led to the shortage of medicinesand health care workers’ salaries were lower than theirliving cost (WHO Cambodia, 1999). In 1996, theMinistry of Health established the National Charter of
Health Fund as part of the overall health care reform to

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enhance health care access to the people, especially thepoor strata. Under the first beneficiary of thebeneficiaries’ payment, patients paid a partial fee of 500
Riel per treatment so the full treatment costs by paying
each time they came to the hospital. 60% of theserevenues were set up as incentives for employees and theremaining 39% were spent on operating costs andimproving levels. In the same year, the World HealthOrganization (WHO) introduced the Operational District(OD) so that setting up a designated hospital andestablishing commune-healthcare center to improve basic
health care (Ministry of Health, 2002). As a result, within
24 states, 73 operating zones were established thatgovern designated hospitals, health centers and healthcare centers.
Health care reform is continuing to meet the needsof the citizens’ basic health care needs. The existing
beneficiaries’ treatment system have failed to deal withthe problem of treatment and informal medical expenses
so that another type of revenue system, Health Equity
Fund (HEF), was established. HEF is a system for pooror low-income families offering free health voucher for
discounted price or free and generally NGOs are usually
implemented to confirm that receivers are poor strata
before releasing vouchers. HEF is funded by thedevelopment partners differs from the other beneficiariesof the exemption system which are all covered by thehospital.
Another system is the prepaid health insurance
coverage called CBHI (Community-Based Health
Insurance) to helps those who fall into poverty withurgent or unexpected medical expenses. This is fundedby the beneficiary’s payments and voluntary insurance
system that NGO are responsible for implementation.
CBVO is similar to existing insurance systems, but
aimed the needs of rural communities in rural andisolated areas that often receive inadequate treatment(Koica, 2013). Insurance subscribers and their family canuse health service as stipulated in the contracted publichealth facilities, such as health centers and designatedhospitals. CBHI operators redeem the service used by thesubscribers to the facility. (Ministry of Health, 2013)
3. Health Care Structure and Fund Raising
Since 1996, the health care system in Cambodia hasestablished comprehensive hospitals and communehealthcare center or health treatment center by Operation
District (OD) (Ministry of Health, 2002). Each Operating
District is responsible for 100,000 to 200,000 persons
and consists of several health center and designatedhospital. The health center is responsible for establishing
the nearest public health facility near the village with8,000 to 12,000 people and should be located within adistance of two hours or 10km. In the meantime,
designated hospital should be located at least a distanceof three hours or 20-30km by car or ferry. The operation
area (OD) is operated under the supervision of the local
health care community and each local health ministry
works intimately with the Central Health Department,

which is responsible for policy, planning, manpower
development and deployment, mobilization andallocation of resources (Ministry of Health, 2002). For
that reason, health care centers provide “minimalist
package of activities” that gives basic treatment andprevention activities through the Center’s Clinic orservice, designated hospitals comply with“Complementary Package of Activities” for complex
health troubleshooting and continuous management,
other national hospitals, training centers and othernational health agencies provide tertiary services(Ministry of Health, 2008a).
In addition to the Operating District and national
hospitals that provide public health services, private
doctors play an important role in expanding the coverageof health care services. In private level, 1) A consulting
clinic providing diagnostic and prescriptive treatment, 2)
Specialized hospital in various fields, 3) Three types ofpoly-technic facilities that provide more professional
services are permitted (Koica, 2013).
In terms of funding, there are three sources :national budgets, external funds provided bydevelopment partners or NGO, direct expenses also
known as household expenditures. Cambodia’s total
health expenditure rose from 564 million US dollar in2008 to 763 million US dollar in 2012. This translates
into US$ 52 per capita expenditure, while 61 % are direct
costs, 24 % from national budgets, and 15 % fromdevelopment partners. The direct cost of health careexpenditure, which is the most percentage of theexpenses, has increased from 25 US dollar per capita in2008 (National Institute of Statistics, 2010) to US$ 32
per capita in 2012 (Ministry of Health, 2013).
Development partners’ external funding wasapproximately 116 million US dollar in 2012 (Cambodia
Development Committee). Funds are usually procured
through bilateral or multilateral agreements and areallocated to health care programs in a variety of forms(Ministry of Health, 2013). National health budget refers
to the annual recognition of the Government’s total
budget. Much of this budget is allocated to provide
medicines, medical equipment and supplies to the
medical centers, clinics and hospitals (WHO andMinistry of Health, 2013). The funding system aims tobroaden the scope of health care services for the poor,
eliminate the scope of health care, eliminate financial
barriers, improve service levels, and improve public trustin health care facilities (Ministry of Health, 2013).
4. Problems Related to Health Care
Each Citizen uses public health facilities 0.4 times ayear (WHO WPRO, 2008). In 2010 Census and healthsurveys show that people are seeking medical treatment
among the first to seek private health care facilities in not
only cities but also towns. City residents tend to go to
private clinics first (27%), buy medicine at pharmacies(20%), and lastly receive treatment at the National
Hospital. Patients in rural areas tend to be treated inpublic health centers, skilled health care workers, private

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health clinics, or folk remedies (stores and markets)(National Institute of Statistic, 2011). In rural areas,
medical professionals and nurses were more likely togive medical care. One percent of the total population
was treated mainly in Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore(National Institute of Statistics, 2011).
These facts indicate that the treatment is performedin several forms (Koica, 2013), which explains thesituation for the following reasons.
・ A lack of understanding of the health problems ofhealth problems and treatments.
・The idea of receiving medical treatment close to homeor family・ Finding private health care facilities first because they
are flexible and easier to buy
・ Limited or false information about health center carecosts and available services
・ In contrast, the rural areas are relatively limited inhealth care workers and are limited in scope to private
health care facilities.
Eventually, accessibility, medical care, care levels
and users’ lack of information are main reason tochoosing a public or private health care facility (Koica,2013). Many people are worried about private health carefacilities, but there are concerns that insufficientmonitoring and regulation of private-sector health care
(Koica, 2013). Local residents travel far to seek medical
attention at the national hospital in Phnom Penh which
offer the most of the fields in the country and hire about
54% of the nation’s doctors.
5. Challenges of Health Care Field
Eighty percent of the 14 million people in
Cambodia live in farming villages and depend on
subsistence farming (World Bank, 2006). Economic
development activities are mainly in the capital andurban areas, which lead to imbalances in imports. As aresult, the average Gini coefficient remains at 0.4 (World
Bank, 2007). Despite the significant increase in healthcare in the overall budget, the health care sector has
raised the burden of living, funding, resources, the levelsof private sector and public sector (Koica, 2013).
In 2011, Cambodia has 853 US dollar per capita
GDP, where the World Bank designated as a low-income
country, 20.5 percent of the total population of the entire
population belongs to the poor. Therefore, health careservices are still difficult for people in rural and outlying
areas because of the lack of health care workers, and thelack of treatment based on priorities and priority
selection. In other words, the underprivileged in the rural
areas are likely to suffer from health problems because it
is difficult to use basic health care services. A
Cambodian socioeconomic survey conducted in 2004
confirmed that less than 60 percent of the poor could use
health care services. Only 28.9% of people seeking
medical treatment took advantage of public healthfacilities, and 56.8% utilized private health care services(National Institute of Statistics, 2011). Again,

Cambodia’s public health sector is still low in terms ofutilization.
Financial barriers to patients who need to pay for
medical expenses, kickbacks, and other unanticipatedexpenses are still highly ongoing (Koica, 2013). Of thetotal health spending per capita of 52 US dollar per
capita, 61% is personal expenditure, 24% is government
budget, 15 % is the development partnership support andcontribution (Ministry of Health, 2013). In order to solve
the burden of health care, people will lose money, spendmoney on household income, borrow money, and thensell their properties (WHO WPRO, 2008), and do not
emerge from the vicious cycle of poverty. As well as thedifficulty of the demand side, there are several important
issues in the delivery of health care services. According
to the report of Koica (2010), because part of the budget
is distributed and outside of the government’s priorities,
the government is limited to the supply side. Health careapproaches in rural and remoted areas are still remained
as a huge obstacle. For this reason, this part of healthcare guarantees still require the supports fromdevelopment partners, this will have a negative impact
on the continuing funds of the Cambodian health field.
Another problem is that patients do not have proper
medical care, as health care workers lack medical skills,
lack of medical supplies, lack of medical equipment, andinefficient schemes. The performance of public healthfacilities is not in good condition because the status ofhealth care workers is severely insufficient. Due to theshortage of midwives and nurses, the health center has
failed to deliver Minimum Package of Activities, lack ofcompetent doctors causes fail to fulfil few designatedhospitals’ Complementary Package of Activities(Minitstry of Health, 2006).
Effective and timely measures are also needed forlax regulation and monitoring of private health services
field. In 2010 Census and health surveys show thatprivate health facilities, such as private hospitals, clinics,
pharmacies and health care workers, are greatly
increasing in both urban and rural areas. Unfortunately,
this sector does not have sufficient standards or standards
for clinical practice guidelines and service levels and it
leads to no proper regulation.
6. Policy Implication
Overall, the health care system in Cambodia has
made remarkable progress with the economic stability
and the continued support from development partners.
The government has made large investments in publichealth infrastructure, and is expanding health facilities
for people. Although the city’s health care application issomewhat better, Health care services in rural areas are
particularly poorly suited for treating chronic diseases
and it is not easy to get medicines to the patients.
Expanding health care facilities increased the geographic
accessibility of health services to the citizens, but thesatisfaction level of public health facilities is still failingto reach a goal. The satisfaction level depends on
individual’s financial capacity, service levels, and health

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services delivery by human resources and funding.
As mentioned, household spending in Cambodia is amajor source of Cambodian health expenditure, but
about 20 percent of Cambodian citizens still live below
the poverty line which making it a constant concern toeveryone. The ability to raise funds is not only an
incentive to improve service levels and the performanceof health center employees, but it also has a crucial effecton strengthening the numbering system for patients inrural areas and far regions (WHO WPRO, 2008). Also
because the major priority areas of health improvement
are being promoted by development partners or NGOs, it
is difficult to predict the long-term sustainability of suchinterventions as well as the efficient expansion of
government budgets and effective allocation of funds(Ministry of Health, 2010). The other need is that thepolicy implications of health care in Cambodia is that
universal health care applications remain a huge task forpolicymakers and need a multilateral approach. Almost
all of the citizens have not signed up for medical
insurance, less than 1 % of private health insurance
coverage, privately owned, private health insurance
coverage (National Institute of Statistics 2011).
Compulsory health care in the official field protects
public officials and private company employees.
Unofficial voluntary health insurance by HEF
establishment enhances access to health care, but only afew selective areas can be applied to prevent multiple
non-binding constraints (Ministry of Health, 2010).
From this view, in order to meet the needs of thecitizens, the Royal Government of Cambodia shouldpresent the following policy goals as concrete
achievements.
○ Efficient mobilization and allocation of resources○ Especially reinforcing roles and functions of hospitals
and health centers in public sector.
○ The restoration of trust to public health services
among the people○ Determination of the possibility of an outpatient area
in each facility to increase the proportion of healthservices in the entire population
7. Future direction of development
The health care system in Cambodia protects theaccessibility of public health by law. Health carereformation were implemented with health care plan andbeneficiaries’ burden to upgrade health service for all
citizens. Various health care financing plans weredevised to lower the health care costs effectively for thepoor and the underprivileged classes. In recent years, thenumber of mandatory insurance subscribers which istargeting to public officials and private workers has
expanded. Private health facilities are accounted for alarge portion of health care services. Thus, monitoring
and regulation of private institutions and pharmaceuticalvendors should be conducted to ensure the level oftreatment and service reliability. Although development
partners are a major asset to the development of healthcare in Cambodia, some of the budget flows in different

directions from the government’s plan. Currently
Cambodia’s healthcare funding strategy is to use various
resources, including government budgets, private
revenue from development partners, and revenue fromcharging services. The government will continue toprovide adequate funding for the public health sector andcoordinate the funding of development partners with thegovernment`s priorities for the public health system. In
order to achieve the universal health care coverage ofCambodia, a more comprehensive system should beneeded including the current health care funding system.
This system will be carried out according to the healthcare sector priorities in conjunction with the existing
health care system.
Citation
1) Report on the health sector in Cambodia in 2013
-koica.
2) World Health Report 2006 - Working together for
health3) Niko Speybroeck, Yohannes Kinfu, Mario R. Dal
Poz and David B. Eva sEvidence and Information
for Policy. World Health Organization. March 2006
4) Hongoro C, Normand C (2006). Health workers:
building and motivating the workforce. In: Jamison
DT et al., eds. Disease control priorities indeveloping countries, 2nd edition. Washington, DC,
The World Bank Group:1309 患 1322.
5) World health report 2006. Working together for
health. Geneva, World Health Organization)6) Improving health worker performance: in search ofpromising practices A report by Marjolein Dieleman
and Jan Willem Harnmeijer KIT. Royal Tropical
Institute The Netherlands. Evidence andInformation for Policy World Health Organization
Geneva, March 2006
7) WHO (2006). World health report 2006. Working
together for health. Geneva, World HealthOrganization http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/
8) Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005
9) Royal Government of Cambodia Ministry ofPlanning, Achieving Cambodia’s Millennium
Development Goals:update 2010, PhnomPenh,
Ministry of Planning. 201110) NSRKT 0906 389 Royal Decree Establishment of
Cambodian Midwife Council, The Royal
Government of Cambodia, (2006).
11) The Health Workforce Development Plan 20062015, HWDP
12) The Health Workforce Development Plan 20062015,13) Ministry of Health, National Health Statistics Report
2008, Department of Planning and Health
Information 200814) Ministry of Health, Fast Track Initiative Road Map
for Reducing Materna land Newborn Mortality
2010-2015, May 201015) Ministry of Health, National Emergency Obstetricand Newborn Care Assessment in Cambodia, May

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2009, National Institute of Public Health andNational Maternal and Child Health Centre and the
National Reproductive Health Programme16) Ministry of Health Guidelines on Minimum Packageof Activities for Health Centre Development 20082015, Issued on December 31st200717) Ministry of Health National Guidelines on
Complementary Package of Activities for Referral
Hospital Development from 2006-2010, December
2006 (Currently being revised)18) Kingdom of Cambodia, Nation Religion King,
Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2010,
National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Health,Measure DHS USA, March 201119) Royal Government of Cambodia Ministry ofPlanning, Achieving Cambodia’s Millennium
Development Goals:update 2010, PhnomPenh,
Ministry of Planning. 201120) Health Strategic Plan 2008-2015 (HSP2), Ministryof Health, 2008. Western Pacific Country Health
Information Profiles: 2009 Revision

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An Idea of Suggestion for Reducing Child Mortality in Cambodia-Case of Lower Respiratory Infection (LRI)Huimin Yang

Abstract
Between 2000 and 2015, Cambodia has madesignificant progress in the health of children. Under-five
deaths per 1,000 live births were reduced from 124 to 54.
However, according to other research data, 1 in 8
children dies before his or her fifth birthday. The trend of
top ten causes of under-five child death in Cambodia
between 1990 - 2015 shows that Lower Respiratory
Infection (hereinafter referred to as LRI) has been the top
cause for a long time. So, LRI is one of the mostimportant causes of mortality among under-five children.
LRI is a generic term for an acute infection of thetrachea, airways, and lungs, which make up the lower
respiratory system. There are mainly three types of LRIsuch as Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI),
Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI), andPulmonary Infection (PI). The causes of ALRI are
viruses, indoor and outdoor air pollution while cases of
LRTI and PI caused by defensive capability have been
reduced. So, our suggestion is mainly focused on ALRI.
First, to control the outdoor air pollution, we consider
introducing carbon tax in Cambodia. Second, to improve
the indoor air quality, we suggest promoting alternative
energy sources in rural areas. Third, to cope with thepoor access to medical service in rural areas, we
introduce the Medical service on ICT.
One of three suggestions is the introduction of
Carbon Tax and Subsidy. The aim is to reduce air
pollution in urban areas. As in the case with other South
East Asian countries, air pollution in accordance withurbanization and industrialization is one of the biggest
problems in Cambodia, which is also the main reason of
LRI. To cope with this issue, there are many technicalsolutions such as flue gas desulfurization equipment andfilter dust collector. In addition, political approaches arealso important. Carbon Tax can be one of them. It is truethat carbon tax is implemented mainly in European
countries and it is not popular in Southeast Asia, but it isalso true that the situation is gradually changing. By
overviewing the discussion among each leading country
such as Thailand and Viet Nam, we consider theadvantage and difficulty of carbon tax, and how to
localize it in Cambodia, which can be useful for future
policy making.
Another leading cause of LRI among young people
in Cambodia is indoor pollution caused by smokes anddust particles. Around 95% of households in rural areas
consume biomass which comprise of wood fuels such as
firewood, charcoal which are readily available fordomestic use. The pollutants disperse inside thehouseholds and are inhaled by its inhabitants, mostly

women and children who stay at home most of the time.
Due to economic reasons and lack of access to more
efficient resources, the persistence of biomass
consumption exists. To decrease indoor pollution,
conventional cooking methods using solid fuels must be
improved. Projects on improved cook stove have been
started but are mainly focused on improving theefficiency of fuel consumption. The design does little tocontain smoke and dusts from the burning fuels. To
address the containment of these pollutants, a similar
project that was started in Bangladesh may be adapted by
Cambodian households. A cook stove set-up may beinstalled in homes using traditional materials. The design
involves a contained stove top with small openings forfuel inlet and dust. Smoke is contained in the burning
cavity and is equipped with a pipe that leads to the
outdoor for smoke exhaust. The idea not only makes formore energy efficient cooking but also significantly
decreases the smoke. Alternatively, further promotion ofalternative energy sources such as liquefied petroleumgas (LPG) and/or biogas will be helpful. These produce
little to no pollutants and are more efficient thanbiomass. They are already in use but not as widely
popular as biomass. As initial capital investments arenecessary, they may be promoted through local
cooperatives with the funding of Cambodian-based
private financers.
It is widely known that the problem of publicwelfare and medical policies in developing countries isrelated to money and in Cambodia, most of the medical
policies are relied on international aids and NGO.
Especially in rural areas, benefits of policies are very
limited because of its poor access and expensive cost. So,
we offer a feasible and low-cost policy, which is the
medical service with mobile network. With cellphones
and its network, people can share tips of the preventive
medicine, simple treatment and medical common sense
through the voicemail or SMS. This service willcontribute not only to prevent LRI but also to establish
the patient tracking system. It is very simple and it has
already introduced in other developing countries such as
APOJON Project in Bangladesh and ImTeCHO Projectin India. The cellphone penetration rate is very high in
Cambodia, so these two cases are worth referring forestablishing a practical system to increase the public
medical service’s accessibility and enhance the educationof sanitation.
We analyzed the national trend of child mortality in
Cambodia and decided to focus on LRI. As in the case ofother issues, LRI cannot be solved by just one policy anda multi-disciplinal view is crucially important. ThreeCourse Reports

ideas we suggest are designed from various perspectives
and all of them cover the difference between urban andrural areas as a package. There are still tasks left formaking it practical, but it can be useful for future
discussion.
Keywords: Cambodia, Lower Respiratory Infection(LRI), Carbon Tax, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG),
Information Technology (ICT).
Introduction
The rubric of lower respiratory infections (LRI),
while often used as a synonym for pneumonia, can also
be applied to other types of infection including acutebronchitis, pneumonia, lung abscess, other lungparenchyma infections and airway infections, such as,
bronchial dilatation, secondary infection, etc. Especially,such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis, which areimportant causes of morbidity and mortality in children.
And that LRI still was the four major causes of humandeath (ischemic heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory
tract infection and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease) in the past 10 years was also demonstrated by
WHO updated on global condition assessment report, in
May 2014, showing in figure.1.

Figure.1 Percentage of the world’s top 10 causesof death
Although substantial progress has been madetoward reducing mortality and extending life expectancy
throughout the world over the past few decades, theepidemiological transition is manifest in the growing
importance of non-fatal diseases, outcomes, and injuries
which pose, partly as a consequence of decreasing death
rates, a rising challenge to the ability of the world’s
population to live in full health. But the economic andsocial impact of these infections is significant andconstitutes an important challenge for public health, due
to high costs concerning treatment, hospitalizations,school absenteeism, and loss of working days by parents
and caregivers in low-middle income families. [5] And to
our surprise, acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI),
such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis, are the leading
cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five
years of age. And more than 95% of these deaths occur in
low and middle income countries (LMIC). According torecent estimates, every year about 120–156 million casesof ALRI occur globally with approximately 1.4 million
resulting in death. [1–3].
From the distribution of deaths due to LRI, we
founded that LRI still is a serious health killer in low andmid-income countries such as the countries in Africa andSoutherneast Asia although lower respiratory infections

caused about 2.7 million deaths of clinical 2.91 million
cases in 2015, slightly down from 3.4 million in 1990
from the survey results of WHO. [1,6] Meanwhile, indeveloped countries, which have a more perfect medical
facilities and higher level and efficiency of medical
services, there are a small quantity of death due to LRI,
showing in figure.2.

Figure.2 Deaths from Lower respiratory infections in2015 per million persons. Statistics from World
Health Organization (WHO), grouped by deciles.[4]Second, LRI are caused by a number of infective
agents and symptoms of LRI included shortness ofbreath, weakness, fever, coughing and fatigue. There are
a number of symptoms that are characteristic of lower
respiratory tract infections. The two most common arebronchitis and pneumonia. [3] With Streptococcus
pneumoniae being generally the most frequently
identified bacterial agent, and Respiratory Syncytial
Virus being the most frequent viral agent.[7] Such as acutebronchitis can be defined as acute bacterial or viral
infection of the larger airways in healthy patients with nohistory of recurrent disease. [8] And pneumonia isclassified as causing by pneumococcal bacteria, in which
streptococcus pneumoniae accounts for 2/3 of bacteremia
pneumonias.[9] And a huge amounts of methods andt r e a t m e n t s a b o u t m a l n u t r i t i o n , [ 11 ] i n a d e q u a t ebreastfeeding,[20,21,22] indoor air pollution from solid
fuels,[23,24] poverty and lack of female education[25,26] werereported by the scientists.
In 2008, Robert E Black and coworks founded thatbalanced nutriention of childhood would have effect andinterrelated with LRI morbidity and mortality. They
concluded that: (1) zinc supplementation in zincdeficient populations prevents about one quarter of
episodes of ALRI, which may translate into a modest
reduction in ALRI mortality; (2) breastfeedingpromotion reduces ALRI morbidity; (3) ironsupplementation alone does not reduce ALRI incidence;and (4) vitamin A supplementation beyond the neonatal
period does not reduce ALRI incidence or mortality. [10]And then the strategies with a strong theoretical rationale
and probable operational feasibility, rigorous trials withactive clinical case-fnding and adequate sample sizes andevidence regarding other potentially beneficial
nutritional interventions had went even further study. In
developing countries, we have found low vitamin D

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status to be associated with the risk of ALRI.
Deficiencies of vitamin D and/or calcium the strongly
associated with severe ALRI in hospitalized children insome settings.[11,12,13]
In 1907, since probiotics were conducted by
Metchnikoff,[14] it has been increasingly used to benefit
the human host’s immune system. [15] And then more andmore reviews and meta-analyses also have reported apositive, albeit modest, effect of probiotics in respiratory
tract infection prevention.[16,17,18] Then, in 2015, Georgia
Véras de Araujo and his coworkers[19] explored anddescribed clinical trials effect of probiotics on thesymptoms, duration of disease, and the occurrence of
new episodes of upper and lower respiratory infections inhealthy children and elucidated the benefits of probiotics
in the treatment of respiratory infections in healthy
children.
On the other sides, air pollution, including fuelcombusting, substandard automobile exhaust gas,household air pollution (HAP) et. al, was also focused on
proposing intervention estimates for child LRI linked toair pollution. In 2013, Dan Pope and his group[23]conducted a review found evidence linking HAP
exposure with child LRI, low birth weight (LBW),
stillbirth, preterm birth, stunting and all-cause mortality.
And reducing exposure to HAP could substantiallyreduce the risk of several child survival outcomes,
including fatal pneumonia, and the proposed effects
could be achieved by interventions delivering low
exposures. Larger impacts are anticipated if WHO air
quality guidelines are met. To achieve these benefits,clean fuels should be adopted where possible, and forother households the most effective solid fuel stovespromoted. To strengthen evidence, new studies withthorough exposure assessment are required, along withevaluation of the longer-term acceptance and impacts ofinterventions.
And according to Michela Sonego and his
coworkers’ research results,[27] low maternal educational
level, low socio-economic status and other related factors(i.e.lack of sewerage and latrine and poor quality ofwater) were significantly associated with ALRI and
These results are also consistent with the distribution of
the global burden of LRI, with hospitalizations anddeaths concentrating in the poorest countries. (figure.2).
In this article, we discussed the causes of ALRI
including viruses, indoor and outdoor air pollution,
nutrientions deficiency and proposed our suggestion
mainly focused on ALRI of methods and treatment. First,
to control the outdoor air pollution, we consider
introducing carbon tax in Cambodia. Second, to improve
the indoor air quality, we suggest promoting alternative
energy sources in rural areas. Third, to cope with thepoor access to medical service in rural areas, we
introduce the Medical service on ICT.
Discussion and Results
This report was performed through a research
protocol that was written to guide the implementation ofserveries about air pollution in urban areas and rural
areas in different district and conduct some suggestions
for reducing air pollution and improving medical
interventions to prevent LRI and then focusing on theissues of Cambodia, which was ranked first in the causesof child-death under five in Cambodia.
First, air pollution is associated with many healthimpacts, including chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) linked to enhanced ozone (O3), andacute lower respiratory illness (ALRI), cerebrovasculardisease (CEV), ischemic heart disease (IHD), COPD andlung cancer (LC) linked to PM2.5.[31]In accord with the global burden of disease for
2010, [30] we calculate that outdoor air pollution, mostly
by PM2.5, leads to 3.3(95% confidence interval 1.61–
4.81) million premature deaths per year worldwide,
predominantly in Asia. Many previous studies have been
based on air quality measurements, largely focusing on
urban pollution.[32,33,34] Herein, we adopted a dialect
methods to demonstrate the link between air pollution
and healthcare measurement. And many feasible
methods, such as carbon tax, have been proposed. For
example, the National Green Growth Strategy ofVietnam (2012---) is using financial, credit and marketbased instruments to promote and support thedevelopment of the green economy and green products.
Moving towards the establishment of a management
system and trading of certified greenhouse gas
emissions, carbon tax and fees and levies. And theeleventh national economic and social development planof the Thailang (2012-2016) is Conducting market
research to identify revenue opportunities through sellingcarbon credits, including standards that link tointernational markets on both a voluntary and a regulatedbasis.
In addition, studies should be made of the emission
quota system, the efficiency of greenhouse gas reduction,a break-even analysis comparing management costs ofmitigation. And for Singepore and Taiwan, the anxious toprevent air pollution has been legislative by government.
Singapore determined to play its part to protect the living
environment. The Government intends to introduce
carbon tax as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Given the highly pollutive nature of diesel the
diesel tax instead of permanently reducing the annual tax
paid by diesel vehicles and introducing a volume-based
duty on diesel (Budget 2017--). And Taiwan government
has made a Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management
Act (2015-) to respond to the impact of climate change.
Under the principle of equality and social welfare
promotion, the government should implement tax
mechanisms on imported fossil fuels based on carbon
dioxide equivalent.
The countries in Europe and America also
performed a preferential carbon tax policy toenergetically develop new environment friendly energy.
In the past, wood is the primary energy fuel in various
thermal processes in developing countries. And
household energy demand is meeting through tradition

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fuels as woody biomass, agricultural waste, animal dung,
and charcoal, etc. in rural area. (figure.3)

Figrue.3 Traditional biomass burning stoves
The World Health Organization (WHO) report
reveals that the smoke released by burning of biomass
contributes approximately 3% of the total global burdenof disease, 1.6 million premature deaths every year,
which includes 0.9 million children death under five
years of age.[35] There are many researchers, scientists
and non-government organizations have conductedvarious studies on the socio-economic aspects during
implementation of improved biomass cookstoves at theactual user’s site.
Although switching to cleaner cooking over the
traditional stoves can bring significant benefits in termsof monetary or non-monetary parameters such as health,forest, climate etc. the household income plays a majorrole during selection of cooking fuel as reported by
Jan [36] in Pakistan, Heltberg [37] in Guatemala, Barnes etal. [38] in Bangladesh, Pine et al. [39] in Mexico, Bansal etal. [40] in rural India, and Nlom and Karimov [41] innorthern Cameroon. It still needs a long way to go
because of the different barriers such as financial,market, quality, political, infrastructure, awareness andsocio-cultural barriers.
Recently, financial and policy support in thedevelopment and utilization process of new energy in
Asia brought hope to carbon tax for reducing air
pollution. As for inequality between rural and urban
areas and inequality within urban area, we suggested tohave a local tax and progressive carbon tax. We think thissituation will have some obvious changes in the next
decades.
The suggestion for reducing air pollution
Second, we conduct a survey on reducing outdoor
and indoor air pollution in urban areas of Cambodia. And
the capital--Phnumpenh was discussed as an example.
Phnom Penh is located in the south-central region of
Cambodia, and is fully surrounded by the Kandal
Province. It located at 11.55°N 104.91667°E (11°33'
North, 104°55' East),[28] covers an area of 678.46 square
kilometers (262 sq mi), with some 11,401 hectares(28,172 acres) in the municipality and 26,106 ha (64,509
acres) of roads. And The municipality is subdivided into
twelve administrative divisions called Khans (districts)
and these twelve Khans are further subdivided into 76
Sangkats (communes), and 637 Kroms. Of the 12 Kans,
Dangkao, Meanchey, Porsenchey, Sen Sok and Russei
Keo are considered the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile
Phnom Penh also had a population of 2,009,264 people,

with a total population density of 5,358 inhabitants per
square kilometer (13,877/sq mi) in a 678.46 square
kilometer (262 sq mi) city area. The population growthrate of the city is 3.92%. The city area has grown
fourfold since 1979, and the metro area will continue toexpand in order to support the city’s growing populationand economy. And Phnom Penh’s population is expected
to increase to 3 million at the end of 2016.[29] But
according to our recent survey, 32% of the arterial roads
are in bad condition and with the rapid development of
the economy and population of the city, the number ofvehicle has rapid increased over the past 10 years(figure.4), and air pollution problems related to it also
appear gradually.

Figure.4 The growth of vehicle fleets in PNH from2000 to 2014
Here we investigate the link between childmortalbility and air pollution in urban and rural
environments of Cambodia. In December 2013, R.
Honney and his corworkers conducted measurements of
HAP levels (24-hour PM2.5 [particulate matter]concentrations) in nine Samlout households confirmed
them to be several times higher than those recommended
by the World Health Organization.[42] To our knowledge,
this is the first time that PM2.5 concentrations have beenrecorded in Cambodia In rural regions of developing
countries such as the Samlout District in northwest
Cambodia, where more than 90% of people rely on solid
cook fuels,[43] the problem is particularly important. They
also give some suggestions and analysis of the problem,
such as local and national policy change, Infrastructure
and market development and Education and healthsystems strengthening.
And existing methods of developing cookstoves in
Cambodia mainly focus on improved efficiency of
cooking. Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute(NARI) developed a lanstove i.e. a dual purpose lanternrunning on 55–60% ethanol-water mixture and used forlighting as well as cooking and heating. (Fig. 5)[44] This
dual purpose stove has fuel consumption 250–275 g/h(58% ethanol-water mixture), efficiency about 27% andgives light output 1200–1325 lm without any type ofindoor air pollution. And other designed stoves have also
been widely reported with an extended surface heat plate
accessory on cookstoves or experimental TE generator
suitable for- “Planète Bois” the energy-efficient
multifunction mud stove.[46,47] But they were either only
workable in lab or having a lower heating transfer
efficiency. Furthermore, Thacker et al.[45] studied thechallenges and benefits associated with achieving the

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appropriate balance between the two competing design
objectives of technical capabilities and usability, anddemonstrated its application through the modification ofa traditional cookstove an inexpensive set of pot skirts
constructed from 24 gauge thickness sheet metal that
integrated directly with the traditional stove, (Fig.6).[48]These pot skirts allowed for varying sizes and number ofpots and have a 41.7% increased thermal efficiency,
32.7% decreased fuel consumption, and 28.8% decreased
time to boil.

Figure.5 Lanstove in operation

Figure.6 A final prototype of pot skirt attached to a
traditional biomass cookstove
However, with the government of Cambodia rollingout the Cambodia National Biodigester Program, 24,000
biodigesters were constructed through 69 microenterprises in 15 provinces from 2006 to 2016. There
will has been a great improvement of the solution of air
pollution in rural areas. And the biodigesters can beinstalled in homes that have sources of animal dung ororganic wastes, with a cost of $500 excluding an
investment subsidy of $150 per household biodigester.
They are converted to biogas which can be consumed in
LPG stoves and can also provide energy for lighting. It
provides affordable, safe and clean energy to a low
income rural population. And household level generationof biogas from animal waste for both cooking andlighting, while producing high quality organic fertilizer,
is increasingly proposed as a viable part of the solution
for farming households. And domestic biogas is of
crucial importance to meet rural Cambodia’s energy
challenges and to boost the rural economy by providing

employment opportunities. To insure the success of thisprogram, an important factor is the special biogas loanthat is made available through three nationally operating
micro-finance institutions in Cambodia.
But there are some burning issues that thesubstantial amount of animal manure are required to
kick-start biodigestion initially. As to our survey, about
1,500 kilograms of animal manure are needed for thesmallest four-cubic-meter tank and it takes 20 kilograms
at least daily to keep up with daily needs for a household.
It comes significant challenge to maintain thedevelopment of this project. It’s gratifying us thatgovernmental regulation and coordination and financial
support to the low-income families will motivate thelocal people. The development of a market based biogas
sector is crucial in ensuring a healthy and continuous
development after donor funding.
The suggestion for Medical Service on ICT
The third, we carried out a mobile health project--Medical Service on information and com Tissue (ICT) in
rural areas. Resource-poor countries have long struggled
to control infectious disease, reduce mortality and severe
morbidity, and improve childhood survival rates withinadequate resources that are echoed in delayed
diagnosis and poor medical service delivery at local
levels. From the 1980s, various financing systems havebeen introduced to supplement government budgetary
allocations, loans and bilateral aid, to deter theunnecessary use of health services, and from 1988, to
improve access to and quality of services. But the
numbers of medical personnel seem to be nowhere nearenough. The average Cambodian had only 0.35 contacts
per year with organized health services—the lowest
contact rate in the region ranking 174th among member
states of the World Health Organization on overall healthsystem performance in 2000.[49,50]
And the current situation still doesn’t change muchnow. In 2001, KVEDAR, M.D. and his groupers had
conducted a research on monthly telemedicine clinic
helping provide health care to residents in a remoteregion in Cambodia and demonstrated that the store-andforward e-mail consultative support for mobile
nonphysician health care workers is a feasible model fordelivering care in the developing world.[51] And highmobile and smartphone penetration rate will promote thismodel ‘s development in today’s society.
According to a research of the technology NGO
Open Institute presented from August 2015, 94% of the
15~65 years old labor population has cell phone and39.5% of Cambodians has more than one smartphone in2015 and this is double times more than smartphoneusers in 2013. (Fig. 7)

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Figure.7 The number of smartphone used andpenetration in Cambodia
So we think this model will still have a huge effecton nowadays medical service in rural Cambodia. We
modified this model combined with the direction of
today’s communication technology and call it medical
service ICT. Through the health program with ICT(Mobile), medical service center of the government canoffer free basic treatment and medical service through thetelephone and giving medical information using SMS.
For example, the apojo project in Bangladesh and
ImTeCHO Project of India. The apojo project is themobile service for mothers and newborns who are
difficult to use medical service in Bangladesh rural area,
can give a easily and accurate measurement on maternaland child health treatment. Bangladesh government,
local NGO, and mobile companies bind together toinitiate first service in 2011, and currently four hundred
thousand mothers are using this service. And the service
items are detailed and comprehensive including text
messages for newborns and mothers’ health care service
twice in a week (Also sent to family), voicemail for
nonreaders, text messages gravitational cycle and healthrelated message for newborns by the user’s personal data
and medical treatment by phone call, round-the-clock
call center operation (emergency respond counselling).
As for the ImTeCHO Project of India, although
Indian government set the ASHA (Health Worker) to
reduce mother and child death rate in 2000, the result
was below the expectation. But in 2013, reinvent themHealth application and supported ASHA program withgreat success because of its schedule management,
medical advice, medical check-up support in all Indian
languages, high risk patient follow-up, ASHA service
maintenance, digitalization of medical records andmedical training with mobile video service goodaccessing for medical service. But it also has Following
challenges needed to be resolved.
● Cambodia’s medical policy problem is basically thelack of government’s financial fund.
● Government is trying to increase accessibility of
medical service through several policies, but it is
not a problem that can be solved within a shortperiod of time.
● Through installing medical call center, delivering
medical common sense and tips through voicemessage and offering early medical service throughphone calls.
● This service (feasible and possible policy) will earn
good effect in case of preventing diseases.

Conclusion
LRI has become a global and serious health killer inleast-development and developing countries. And thesecountries have a lot in common, including badenvironment, such as out-door and indoor air pollution,and backward and inadequate medical service. The mostdifficult of all is to explore a feasible method ofbalancing the costs and strategy. Because in rural areas ofthese district, people usually have a low income, poor
educational status and traditional backward ideology. So
there will be a great challenge to induce advanced
technology and ideas to these rural areas. How to explain
the benefits and urgency to develop green energy andprotect environment to farmers is still needed to be incooperated with relative sectors, such as special funding
subsidy, introduction and promotion of advanced
technologies, and legislation.
In this report, we talked about interaction between
the air pollution and LRI. And furthermore, discussed thebiomass energy by using biogas technology to overcome
the difficulty of energy supply and air pollution in rural
areas. And then inducing the policy of carbon tax toencourage developing environment friendly fuels andgreen energy. And to solve the large pay bills of thehospital, we also designed a new mobile health projectcalled medical service ICT to use basic medical service
offering free basic treatment and medical service throughthe telephone and giving medical information using SMS
to all patients.
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The Current Issues in Power Supply System in Cambodia
and Some Ideas to Improve it
CHEN Yan
Graduate School of Global Studies

1. Introduction
1.1 The objective of this report
This report is aiming to classify the issues existingin the power supply system in Cambodia and to propose
several ideas to improve the condition. By analyzing
secondary data mainly collecting from the publish of
Cambodian government and some of the majorinternational organizations which is active in Cambodia’s
power sector, such as Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank (ADB), WorldBank (WB), this report attempts to illustrate acomprehensive picture of Cambodia’s power sector,
including the current issues, the efforts made by thegovernment and the private sector to improve thecondition and the challenges they are facing, concluding
by suggestions for building a self-sufficient andsustainable power development system in Cambodia.
Attentions have to be paid to the following point.
Some of the information in this report was publishedmore than two years ago. As Cambodia is developing
rapidly, part of the information might be outdated thus
cannot represent the current situation precisely.
1.2 General introduction to Cambodia
Surrounded by Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam,
Cambodia covers a total area of 181.0 square kilometerswith approximately 15.8 million people living in the
country in 2016. In the same year, GNI per capita(Calculated by Atlas method) was 1,140 US dollars,
ranked 181 in 216 countries.
The relatively low development level is partly due
to the conflict lasted for decades. The latter destroyed
infrastructure and human capital, almost stopped thedeveloping process of Cambodia. The situation took afavorable turn in 1993, a new regime was established.
After that, the economy has developed rapidly with anannual growth rate of around 7%, industries such as
textile and tourism are growing fast. The economic
development boosted the increasing of electricity
demand, pushing it to an annual growth rate of 25%, andthe average growth rate from 2003 to 2008 was morethan 20%.
Meanwhile, electric power system was rebuilt on
least-cost principles with emphasis on large coal, hydro,
and imports after the conflict ended. Big cities such as
Phnom Penh has access to electricity while more thanhalf of population lives in the rural area and has limitedaccess to stable electricity. Although foreign capital has
helped Cambodia to expand its ability to power supply,
the electricity output still cannot fulfill the growing

demand.
Cambodia has stated its responsibility in developing
its power system:- To provide an adequate supply of energy throughout
Cambodia at reasonable and affordable price,- To ensure a reliable and secured electricity supply at
reasonable price, which facilitates investment in
Cambodia and development of national economy,- To encourage exploration and environmentally andsocially acceptable development of energy resources
needed for supply to all sectors of Cambodia economy,- To encourage the efficient use of energy and tominimize the detrimental environmental affects resulted
from energy supply and consumption.
More specifically, Cambodia aimed at 100% of thevillages have access to any type of electricity’s services
in 2020, 70% of the households in the rural area haveaccess to grid quality electricity in 2030. Update to 2016,
the data refer to these indicators are 62% and 57%
respectively.
2. General information on power sector
2.1 Organizations of the power sector

Fig. 1 Structure of Electricity Organization in
Cambodia
Source: EAC Annual Report, 2016 Edition.

The structure of electricity organizations in Cambodia is
illustrated in Figure 1. The duty and right of eachorganization, as well as the relationship among different
organizations, can be summarized as follows.
Electricity Authority of Cambodia has been granted
the right by the Royal Government to be “an autonomous
agency to regulate the power sector in the Kingdom ofCourse Reports

2.2 Electricity demand and supply
Figure 2 showed the projection of electricity

1
2
3
4

5
6

EAC Report 2016 Edition, pp.6.
Ibid, pp.7.
Ibid.
United Nations, Cambodia Energy Sector Strategy (Draft).
Retrieved on August 2, 2017.
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/cambodia/
energy.pdf
EAC Report 2016 Edition, pp.82.
Ibid, pp.21.

demand in Cambodian National grid till the year 2020.
This projection was done by JICA and one of theelectricity suppliers in Japan named the Chugoku electric
power co., Inc. These organizations suggested that since
the demand for electricity is developing at a high speed
in Cambodia, it is better to do projections in a relatively
short time period instead of making long-term demand
forecasts.
16,000

Energy in Main Grid (GWh)

Cambodia” 1. It consists of three members, all themembers shall be designated and proposed by the Prime
Minister, then be appointed by Royal KRET. The
responsibilities of EAC are as follows2:- To issue Regulations- To issue Licenses to Electric Power Service Providers- To Review Cost and Approve Tariffs- To resolve Disputes- To Regulate, Impose Penalty
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) “shall be
responsible for setting and administrating thegovernment policies, strategies and planning in the
power sector”3. The main responsibilities are as follows:- Energy Policies- Electric Power strategies- Power development plan
- Technical, Safety, Environmental Standards- Other Duties
Electricite Du Cambodge (EDC) is the biggest firmin power sector in Cambodia, owned by the MME andthe Ministry of Economic and Finance (MEF). EDC is“an autonomous, commercial, legal and state-owned
enterprise, with the responsibility for generation,transmission and distribution throughout Cambodia”4. It
purchases electricity from Independent Power Producers(IPP) and distributes it to consumers all over the country.
In 2015, the proportion of energy sent out by IPP counted
98.5%, the rest were from EDC and other licensees
operating generation facility 5 . In the meantime,
expansion of transmission network is part of EDC’s role.
Another responsibility of EDC is rural
electrification. Rural Electrification Fund (REF) is anorganization established in 2004 by Royal Governmentof Cambodia (RGC) to help to boost rural electrification.
Till 2012, REF was working as an independent
organization with financial support from WB, but after
that, it was transferred to the control of EDC6.
Rural Electricity Enterprises (REE) refers to the
independent power suppliers in the rural area. Usually,
they provide power generated from sources such as
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and sell it to the residents who
can afford it. In the past, most of them were runningwithout licenses issued by EAC, but as EDC expanding
its distribution network, more and more REE chose tolegalize their business so they won’t be replacedcompletely by EDC.

131

14,00012,00010,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Year
High caseBase case

Low case

Forecase Result

Fig. 2 Comparison of electricity demand projection in
National Grid of Cambodia
Source: JICA and 中国電力株式会社 ,「カンボジア国電力セ
クター基礎情報収集・確認調査ファイナルレポート」,
March 2012.

Table 1 showed the data of power generated
domestically and purchased from neighboring countries,
as well as the data of electricity consumption in
Cambodia in 2015. When comparing the data in table 1
to the information contended in Figure 2, it could befound that the energy sold to consumers in 2014 and2015 was 4144.12 and 5205.34 million kW respectively,
both between the projection for the base case and highcase. Energy sold to consumers increased by 25.61%,
while numbers of consumers increased more than 30%.
In the year 2015, generation capacity grew by
9.66%, and the energy generated increased by 46.79%,
which caused the drop in total import by 15.36%.
Cambodia is moving towards a society with more power
self-sufficiency and less dependent on importing energy.
Importing from Laos grew steeply while the part fromThailand dropped steeper than that, though in a shortperiod thus cannot represent the long-term trend.
Overall loss percentage decreased by approximately
1% from 2014 to 2015, but the absolute value of 13.47%
is still high.
2.3 Electricity facilities
Generation
At the present time, the construction of hydro andcoal-fired power plants in Cambodia is almost following
the development plan. Up to 2017, there are eight newly
constructed power plants under operating, includes fivehydropower plants and three coal-fired power plants. The
installed capacity totaled 1,420 MW, a little bit behindschedule because of the stagnation in coal-fired power
plant development. Table 2 and 3 listed the major power
plants on the agenda and their running status.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Table 1. Data of power generation and consuming in Cambodia in 2015
Description
Energy Generated
From Thailand
EnergyFrom Vietnam
Imported
From Laos
Total import
Total energy available
Generation capacity
Numbers of consumers
Energy sale to consumers
Overall loss percentage

Unitmillion kWhmillion kWhmillion kWhmillion kWhmillion kWhmillion kWh
kWh
Numbermillion kWh
Percent

Data for 2014 Data for 2015 Percentage Increase
3,058.36
4,489.27
46.79
523.56307.39-41.291,265.72
1,200.39
-5.16
13.77
18.31
32.96
1,803.05
1,526.08-15.36
4,861.41
6,015.35
23.74
1,511,338.00 1,657,274.00
9.66
1,424,735.00 1,859,204.00
30.49
4,144.12
5,205.34
25.61
14.75
13.47
-

Source: EAC Annual Report, 2016 Edition. pp. 33-34.

Table 2. List of the major hydropower plants in Cambodia
No.
Project
1 Kamchay Hydro Power Plant
2 Kirirom III Hydro Power Plant
3 Stung Atay Hydro Power Plant
4 Stung Tatay Hydro Power Plant
5 Lower Stung Russey Chhrum Hydro Power Plant
6 Lower Se San II & Lower Sre Pok II
7 Stung Chhay Areng Hydro Poer Plant
8 Lower Sre Pok III + IV Hydeo Power Plant
9 Sambor Hydro Power Plant

Country of Supplier Type Power (MW) COD
Running Status
China
Hydro
193
2011
˕
China
Hydro
18
2012
˕
China
Hydro
120
2013
˕
China
Hydro
246
2015
˕
China
Hydro
338
2013
˕
VietnamHydro
4002017 Under construction
China
Hydro
108
2017 Suspending
Hydro
368
2018 China
Hydro
450
2019 -

Contract
44-year, BOT
30-year, BOT
37-year, BOT
35-year, BOT-

Source: Current Status of Renewable Energy in Cambodia
Presented by MME on 12-14 December 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

Table 3. List of the major coal-fired power plants in Cambodia
No.
Project
1 200 MW Coal Power Plant (I) in Sihanouk Province - Phase 1
2 200 MW Coal Power Plant (I) in Sihanouk Province - Phase 2
3 700 MW Coal Power Plant (II) -Phase 1
4 700 MW Coal Power Plant (II) -Phase 2
5 700 MW Coal Power Plant (II) -Phase 3
6 700 MW Coal Power Plant (II) -Phase 47 700 MW Coal Power Plant (II) -Phase 5
8 Coal Power Plant (III) or Gas Power Plant

Type
Power (MW) COD Running Status
Coal
100 2013
˕
Coal
135 2016
˕
Coal
270 2015 Coal
100 2017 Coal
100 2018 Coal
100 2018 Coal
100 2019 Coal/Natural Gas
400 2020 -Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/giant-coal-plant-taking-shape-sihanoukville

Table 4. Summary Information about Generation Facilities and Energy Sent-out classified by Generation TypeNo. Type of Generation
12
3
4

Hydropower
Diesel / HFO
Bio mass
Coal
Total

Proportion of Installed
Installed Capacity, kW
Energy Sent Out, Million kWh Proportion of Energy
Sent Out in % for 2015
End of Year 2014 End of Year 2015 Capacity in % for 2015
Year 2014
Year 2015
929,430
929,700
56.10
1,851.60
2,159.64
48.11
291,268
304,62918.38
326.97163.66
3.65
22,64019,945
1.20
16.79
38.15
0.85
268,000
403,000
24.32
863.02
2,127.82
47.40
1,511,338
1,657,274
100.003,058.38
4,489.27
100.00Source: EAC report 2016 Edition, pp.83.

Statistics also showed that the development of generation
sector is on the right track. Table 4 showed thegeneration facilities and energy sent-out by generation
type. In the year 2015, the installed capacity of coal-fired
power plants grew by more than 50%, the proportion ofenergy sent out by coal-fired power plants caught up

with that of hydropower plants. Now the proportion isalmost half-half as planned. Power generation by diesel
and HFO dropped rapidly as the new plants put into
operation.

Course Reports

Transmission
There are several different grids exist in Cambodia.
As summarized in Table 5, the National Grid served
more than 96% of the consumers, followed by Vietnam
Gird (10.16%), Thai Grid (1.92%) and isolated
distribution systems (1.16%). The isolated distribution
systems refer to eleven isolated grids located in theprovinces away from the capital city.
Cambodia has ambitious plans regarding its griddevelopment plan. Until 2027 roughly 2,100 km
electricity grid (230kV and 115kV transfer lines) are to
be constructed with interconnections between existing
grid systems such as Phnom Penh and surroundings,
connections to planned power plants as well as crossborder lines to Laos PDR.
3. Current issues for end users
Cambodia overall has three issues related toelectricity: relatively high prices, unstable supply, andinadequate supply. The issues will be discussed
separately.

consumption up to 50 kWh per month, but in 2010 it roseto 610 Riels/kWh. The tariff for all kWh if consumption
between 51 to 100 kWh/Month and more than 100 kWh/
Month was 610 Riels/kWh and 720 Riels/kWhrespectively, and the tariff changed to 720 Riels/kWh for
all kWh if monthly consumption exceeds 50 kWh in
2010. In a word, the tariff for domestic consumers in thisregion has increased on the contrary of planned.
On the other hand, the tariff for Embassy, NGO andForeign Residents and Institutions in Phnom Penh andKandal Province decreased from 890 Riels/kWh to 820
Riels/kWh for all kWh. A new category named“Customer paying by Government budget” was set, witha tariff of 780 Riels/kWh. In general, higher tariffs
compared to the domestic use has been set fororganizations such as Embassy, NGO, Foreign Residents
and the customers paying by Government budget.
However, other resource showed that the default ofelectricity bill by the government is common10.
There are several hypotheses for the increase ofelectricity tariff for domestic use. Excluding the effect ofincreasing income level, inflation, change of purchasing
power of Cambodian Riel, the other possible reasons
include the growth of consumption needs, and theadjustment of profit by the supply side, since the stateowned company EDC is the dominant distributor in
Cambodia. For EAC and EDC, the national power gridneeds to be expanded in a high speed to meet theconsumption needs and to achieve the development plan
as well, so tariffs will also have to fund the extension of
the distribution network.
With the development of large hydro potentials andmore coal-fired power plants, the tariffs might decline toa reasonable level in the future.

3.1 Relatively high tariff
There have been plenty of studies showing that theelectricity tariff in Cambodia is much higher compared to
the neighboring countries, especially when taking GNI
per capita into consideration7. Domestic tariff gap exists,
too. The tariff in Phnom Penh city is approximately 60%of that in other areas8.
Cambodia applies flat tariff. Table 6 listed the tariffs
for different categories of consumers in the capital cityand provincial town of Prey Veng, Kratie andMondulkiri.
According to the EAC Report (2016 Edition), “Thetariff for consumers is determined based on the cost ofelectricity purchased and the cost of distribution. …Forthe licensees generating electricity using Diesel/HFO,
the cost of electric supply is related to the cost of Diesel/
HFO”. For the latter, EAC implements a Fuel Cost
Adjustment (FCA) mechanism to adjust the tariffs “in asimple and transparent manner”. The tariff for different
slab rates of fuel (Diesel/HFO) is determined after public
consultation, so when the cost of fuel changes, the tariff
could be changed correspondingly without consulting the
public.
The last time that tariffs in Phnom Penh and Kandal
Province were adjusted in 20109. In the year of 2009, thetariff for domestic use was 390 Riels/kWh for all kWh if

3.2 Inadequate supply
In Cambodia, most of the electricity was consumed
in the area around the capital city. Meanwhile, 79% of
the population lives in the rural area outside provincial
and district towns11. Due to the lack of distribution
network, the rural area especially the isolated ones canhardly get access to stable electricity supply. In 2016,
there is only 57% of all households in Cambodia haveaccess to grid-quality electricity, 62% of all villages haveaccess to electricity of any type12. According to the
National Strategy Development Plan 2014-2018, theindicators should be improved to 70% and 100%
respectively.

7

10

8

9

Retrieved from the calculation of BENI SURYADI, SeniorResearch Analyst for Policy Research and Analytics
Program in ASEAN Center for Energy. August 1, 2017.
https://asean.bicaraenergi.com/2014/05/asean-electricitytariff-2014/
The result is calculated by using the tariff for domestic use
in Phnom Penh and provincial town of Prey Veng,assuming that monthly used less than 50 kWh. Detailed
numbers refer to Fig. 1.
EAC Report 2010 Edition and 2011 Edition, Chapter 5,
Electricity Tariff of Licensees.

11

12

JICA 産業開発・公共政策部 ,「カンボジア王国 送変電システム運営能力強化プ ロジ ェクト詳細計画策定調
査報告書」, 2012 年 10 月 . pp.9
Retrieved from the data bank of World Bank on August 1,
2017. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.
ZS
Presented by Mr. Por Nimol on behalf of General
Department of Energy, Ministry of Mines and Energy,
Cambodia, in the Asia LEDS Partnership Regional
Workshop: Mechanisms that Catalyze Finance for GridConnected Clean Energy, on July 1, 2016.

133

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Table 5. Grid systems in Cambodia
No.
Grid system
1 National Grid
2 Vietnam Grid at MV
3 Thai Grid at MV
4 Lao grid at MV
5 Isolated Distribution systems
6 Gen. Licensee to Captive Industry
Total

Energy input in %
89.97
6.67
2.81
0.31
0.20
0.06
100.00

Energy sold to consumers %Consumers served %
89.53
96.32
7.10
10.16
2.80
1.92
0.31
0.44
0.19
1.16
0.07
0.00
100.00100.00Source: EAC Annual Report, 2016 Edition, pp.88.

Table 6. Tariff of EDC for Phnom Penh, Kandal Province, Provincial Town of Kampong Speu, Prey Veng,
Kratie and Mondulkiri
Area / Category
Electricity Tariff /kWhPhnom Penh, Kandal, Kampong Speu
Domestic in Phnom Penh and Takhmao Town of Kandal
Monthly usedӌ50kWh 610 Riel
Province
Monthly used >50kWh 720 Riel
Domestic in Ch. Bamon City of Kampong Speu Province
For all customers
720 Riel
Embassy, NGO and Foreign Residents and Institutions
For all customers
820 Riel
Small customers*MA + 0.036 USD
Customer paying by Government budget, Commercial (business) Medium customers
MA + 0.028 USD
and -Industrial customers
Large customers
MA + 0.024 USD**MV customers
MA + 0.020 USD
Provincial Town of Prey Veng, Kratie and Mondulkiri
Domestic
1,050 Riels
Government. Institutions
1,050 Riels
Small Industrial, Business
1,050 Riels
Medium Industrial, Business
980 Riels
Big Industrial, Business
920 Riels
MV Consumer
850 Riels
MV Consumer outside the distribution area
800 Riels
MV Consumer for pump set for agriculture during 22:00 to 7:00 Hrs
600 Riels*MA: Estimated average cost of electricity purchased during the year, which was fixed as 0.157 USD/kWh for theyear 2015.
**MV: Customer who is directly connected to MV Grid.
Source: Report on Power Sector of the Kingdom of Cambodia (EAC Report), 2016 Edition.

The power supply in the rest area is mainly
provided by isolated systems owned and operated byprivate REE that generate power from imported diesel
and HFO13, thus the electricity tariff is much higher
compared to the urban area as mentioned before. The
price for electricity generated by HFO fluctuates as theoil prices changes, ranging from $0.65/kWh to $0.90/
kWh. The average cost for rechargeable car batteries
reached $1/kWh14. More than 11 million people use
chargeable car batteries as a source of electricity, andkerosene and candles for lighting. Furthermore, most of
the rural areas in Cambodia have limited access to thepower supply for only 4-5 evening hours per day15.
13 ADB. 2011. Energy Sector Assessment, Strategy, and Road
Map, 2011–2013: Cambodia. Manila.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.

The REF was operated as an independent
organization to improve the situation of rural
electrification, but after the financial support from WB
ended in 2012, it was put under the management of EDC.
With WB’s support, it has made some efforts such as
introducing Solar Home System to the isolated areas byproviding loan or subsidies to the households which arewilling to install this system. Also, they tried to develop
the mini hydropower which was not in use in the ruralarea, to help these regions to build an independent offgrid power system. However, not all the efforts worked
well. The reasons are complicated, including thelimitation of the environment, and some other subjective
factors such as corruption. Other researchers havementioned that one of the WB’s project is postponed
because that they cannot find reliable organizations or
individuals to carry out the plan.
The extension of national grid to the remote area has

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Table 7. Plan for rural electrification development 2011-2030

Source: The study of IED for baseline scenario.

been taken as the most effective way for rural
electrification, and the plan for it was built as Table 7
showed. Grid extension was expected to cover 66.2% of
the households and 94.8% of villages in the rural area in
2030, but the high cost and low return of building
transmission lines in the rural area remain the biggest
problem16. It is said that the thieves stealing the existingtransmission line are also a severe problem, implied thatthe low-income issues need to be addressed too.
3.3 Unstable supply
The blackout caused by unstable electricaltransmissions often happens in Cambodia. The condition
has been better in the recent years, but the lack ofefficient national grid regulation and the instability ofimporting electricity from neighboring countries are still
the obstacles to making more progress.
Due to the lack of electricity, available time ofschool or hospital is very limited. Besides, it affects
crucially on the local economy. Therefore, this situation
causes the barrier to the development of the rural area
and Cambodia itself.
4. Main challenges
4.1 Short-term challenges
At present, the main issues of the power system in
Cambodia can be summarized as follows: Deficiencies in
the power generation structure, limited transmission
capacity, and stagnation of rural electrification. As there
are more and more power plants being completed, thegeneration capacity is gradually catching up with thegrowing demand. The transmission network remains tobe the bottleneck of the whole power system. Without aneffective transmission network and a well-functioning
16

JICA and 中国電力株式会社 ,「カンボジア国電力セク
ター基礎情報収集・確認調査ファイナルレポート」,
March 2012. pp. viii.

National Control Center, the power will not be allocatedin an effective way. On the other hand, the rural
electrification cannot be achieved without a wide
distribution network. It is expected to be improved in the
coming years.
4.2 Medium- and long-term challenges
Compared to the short-term challenges which can besolved with a sure amount of financial and technicalsupport, as well as time, the medium- and long-term
challenges are thornier. There are three major challenges:
the impact to the environment, the shortage of resourcefor power generation, and energy security.
4.2.1 Environmental impact
In the development plan for power generation of theCambodian government, the power generation structure
by resource could be divided into two phases. The period
till 2023 could be seen as the first phase, which claims
that hydropower and coal-fired power should be almost
half-half for the power generation output. From 2024 to2030, gas will take place of coal.
There is no need to explain the impact of the coalfired power plant on the environment, so here a light will
be shade on that of hydropower plants. Hydropower
plants play an important role constantly in different
phases of power generation development. Hydropower ispreferable because of its relatively high efficiency, but it
has been accused of possible environmental impact for
years as well. The constructing process of a hydropower
plant usually causes a series of environmental damage,including the change of land cover (Vegetation), thetopographical change, and so on. After constructed andbeing put into operation, there is evidence showing thatthe reservoirs that used in most of the hydropower plants
have a severe impact on the climate around the plantsites.

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4.2.2 Resource shortage
The resources for power generation in Cambodia
include fossil fuels such as coal and gas, and water
resource as well. In a 2009 report the Japan Development
Institute (JDI) stated that while coal reserves in
Cambodia are small, they may be enough to supply coalfor a 400 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant for
more than thirty years. The installed capacity of thecompleted coal-fired power plants totaled 505 MW in2016. The report goes on to say that additional energy
could be obtained through imported coal from seaports
along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand and imported
power from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam through thenational grid and the ASEAN Power Grid17.
Even if the needs of fossil fuel such as coal and gas
could be imported from neighboring countries, there is no
guarantee for the water resource. Figure 3 showed thehydropower plants which are built or planned to be built
on the Mekong mainstream. The data in the map was
updated to 2010, the conditions have changed in the pastseven years, with more and more power plants being
built.
There are more than eight hydropower plants in
upstream of Mekong River in China, the installedcapacity totaled over 1.7 GW. The impact of the bigdams to the water flow to down streams are gradually
being observed since the year 2011, it is said that thehydropower operations has considerably increased dry
season flows and decreased wet season flows18. Thechanges can be observed over 2000 km downstream in
Cambodia. The high density of hydropower plants indownstream countries, especially in Laos, will possibly
worsen the situation. From the perspective of selfsufficiency for energy, it takes more long-term sight toform the energy strategy.
4.2.3 Energy security
The development plan of regional grids in ASEAN
countries and the Great Mekong Subregion (GMS),
named ASEAN Power Grid and GMS Power Trade Plan
respectively, are undergoing. But there are still issues
need to be addressed to achieve this goal. First, there aretechnical barriers to this plan. All the member countries
are in different phases of development, thus theinfrastructure including electricity facilities vary. To
build a regional grid, all the barriers need to be cleared tomake sure that all the member countries adopt the same
regulations in the same standard, while following thesame framework to adjust, run and maintain the joint
system.
Another issue is energy security. So far, Cambodia
1718

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cambodia_and_coal Retrieved on July 13, 2017.
Timo A. Räsänen, Paradis Someth, Hannu Lauri, Jorma
Koponen, Juha Sarkkula, Matti Kummu. Observed riverdischarge changes due to hydropower operations in theUpper Mekong Basin. Journal of Hydrology, 2017; 545: 28
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.12.023

has been under the instability of importing energy fromneighboring countries. An unpredictable technicalaccident happened in Thailand could cause a blackout inthe whole Phnom Penh City, as it happened in the past.
This kind of risk escalates while several countries join inthis system, different technical levels in different
member countries may make it more complicated.

Fig. 3 The hydropower development on the Mekong
mainstream in 2010
Map design: University of Canterbury, Data source: MRC
Hydropower database
http://mekongriver.info/hydropower, Retrieved on August 3,
2017

5. Suggestions and conclusion
We would like to propose several ideas to improvethe electricity supply in Cambodia.
(1) To optimize the power generation structure byadjusting the output of hydropower plants and coalfired power plants according to seasons. The output
of hydropower plant largely depends on the water
flow, but reservoirs in each power plant could be
used to regulate it to some extent. By collecting dataon water flow in different seasons over the year,
projections of water flow in coming years could be
made. Based on the projection, plans on power
generation by different facilities could be built. In
the raining season, the output of hydropower plants
reaches the peak and the part surplus to theconsumption can be exported to neighboring
countries. In the dry season, the coal-fired power
plants could fill up the gap between electricity
demand and supply. By taking full use of reservoirs,

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(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

the running season of hydropower plants can beextended so power supply from water resource will
replace the part that taken by coal-fired power
plants, which will be more environmentallyfriendly.
To build an effective National Control Center. As theextension of the national grid going on, and more
and more power plants are putting into operation, awell functioned National Control Center is
indispensable. The existing National Control Centerhas sure amount of facilities, but it will not beenough when dealing with a whole power system
which is growing bigger and bigger.
In general, there are needs for engineers and skilledworkers in almost every segment of the powersystem, for instance, the power generation sector.
Most of the power plants both hydro and coal-fired
ones have been built by foreign companies, mainly
from China and Vietnam, under the contract of
Build-Operate-Transfer. The contracts will end inaround 30 to 40 years, the relevant human resources
have to be ready to take over the responsibility to
run the power system.
To adjust the current price system. As analyzed in
the former session, the electricity tariff in Cambodia
has increased in recent year, it is against thedevelopment goal set in the National Strategy
Development Plan 2014-2018. As the generation
cost going down because of the operating of morehydropower plants, it is possible for EDC and EAC
to reduce the tariffs. However, the pressure of
expanding grid network to remote areas still exist,
so maybe in the coming few years, the tariffs may
remain at a high level to cover the expenditure intransmission and distribution network development.
To introduce more renewable energy such as minihydropower plants and Solar Home System to therural area. As a supplement to the national grid,these off-grid power generation facilities might bemore practical even taking construction cost into
consideration.

Despite the corrupted government, we believe thatthe power supply condition in Cambodia will be
improved gradually in the peaceful years to come. With
the help of the foreign aid and international organizations
such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank and
JICA, power plants and transmission lines has been built
one by one, and the growing needs in industrialization
will accelerate this process. The only problem is, it calls
for a long-term sight from the government to plan for the
future generation. Environmental friendly and selfsufficient power system are needed, therefore the power
sector development plan for the next five-year may needto keep the balance between economic development andenvironmental protection, efficiency and security.

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Getting Out from the Least Developed Country:
Cambodia “Electricity Issues of Cambodia – Suggestions on building an affordable& sustainable power supply system in Cambodia –”Asuka Umemoto

Introduction and BackgroundIn this course, we have been mainly focusing on
Cambodia as target countries. I will not fully cover issues
which Cambodia are facing since we mainly focused on
the issues of energy supply, especially on electricity
problem. Before I go on to the main topic, I’d explain thebasic information of Cambodia briefly. Cambodia is notold country despite its rich history. It had been controlled
by Khmers Rouges from 1968 to 1978. During this timeof period, it is said that more than 50,000 citizens weremurdered by this government. Not only horrible
massacre, but also people were forcibly recruited assoldiers, especially young people of pre-teen from ruraland poor villages.
After the end of Pol Pot, still Cambodia is chased byits phantom. But, Cambodia is gradually changing from
how it used to be of Pol Pot era. In 1993, the election washeld under the supervision of UNTAC. In this election, aroyalist party FUNCINPEC won. Cambodia broughtback its monarchy to the country. The both Norodom
Ranariddh and Hun Sen were chosen as prime minister.
With this change, Cambodia restarted as ‘Kingdom of
Cambodia’.
However, in 1997, there was conflict between
FUNCINPEC and Cambodian People’s Party which isruling by Hun Sen. This conflict lead to the downfall ofRanariddh as prime minister and in 2003, FUNCINPEC
lost its power in Cambodia’s politics. Since then, Hun
Sen has been ruling the government.
It is often said that Cambodia’s government and politics
has issues related to Hun Sen and his family. Even on our
topic, there was some spur that government of thiscountry itself might be the problems of Cambodia. But,
the important issue on this is that we cannot really findreliable data or information related this issue since theseissues are related to Hun Sen and his family or otherpoliticians. It is true that Cambodia is known as one of
the worst country where the corruption is occurring daily
basis in and outside of politics. Even in the civil society,
it is hard to avoid the corruption and this is one of thereason why foreign companies avoid to invest Cambodia.
Back to the topic, international NGO such as
Transparent.org are watching Cambodia’s current
situation on corruption and issuing annual report, butsince this is not our main focus of topic, I’d skip here.
Cambodian government is currently working on
how to get out of their statue: the least developing
countries. It is true that their development is still middleof the way. Cambodian government has plan called
NSDP (National Strategic Development Plan) which is
aimed to develop the country. The targets are varied fromfinancial sector, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, industries,
energy development, transportation, telecommunication,
tourism, health, education and de-mining programme.
So, now I’d like to focus on the main topic of ourresearch here. Surely, Cambodia is one of the least
developing countries in the world and Asia. Despite its
financial supports from the foreign aid, this country’s
developing speed and level remains low compared toneighbouring countries. What is the problem here?
Cambodia depends on foreign aids, however it doesn’t
seem to work well. Cambodia needs enough basis todevelop by their own. Thus, it is clear that theelectrification plays a crucial role in this context.
Electrification is essential for making stable society andeconomy. In Cambodia’s case, capital city or big citysuch as Phnom Penh has access to the electricity whilst
people in the rural area has limited access to electricity.
In Cambodia, more than half of population lives in therural area where people cannot have access to stableelectricity.
Cambodia overall has 3 problems related toelectricity: high prices, unstable supply and inadequate
supply. These problems are very dominantly in the ruralarea. Currently, most of the people in rural area aredepend on the car battery as their energy resources.
Because, electricity fee is quite higher compared to theurban area’s and there’s no transmission grid to most of
the rural area. If people wants to use any electricalappliances in their houses, they use charged car battery as
energy resources. If the battery runs out, they go to thebattery charging station to re-charge battery. The original
energy resources for these batteries come from the diesel
generator. Due to the lack of electricity, available time ofschool or hospital is very limited. Besides, it affects
crucially on local economy. Therefore, this situation
causes the barrier to development of the rural area andCambodia itself. To tackle this problem, not only the
Cambodian government, but also foreign aid such as
World Bank, JICA and ADB proposed several projects.
However, the situation improved slightly.
By reviewing the past projects and ongoing projects, we
propose two solutions for the rural electrification:
expansion of the transmission grid and introducing therenewable energy. In Cambodia, there’s already somee l e c t r i f i c a t i o n b y r e n e w a b l e e n e rg y s u c h a shydroelectricity are already installed. However, this way

Course Reportsof energy generation highly depends on the season.
Therefore, we should install alternative way ofgeneration complement existing energy generation. In
this case, we propose energy generation by solar powersystem. It is said that Cambodia has the potential forsolar power generation since hours of sunlight per day of
Cambodia is 6 - 9 hours. There was already projects in
the rural area to install solar home systems, however it
didn’t work well since the project asked people of therural area to pay the installation fee.
Fabricating and installing solar power system is notcheap, but the cost is decreasing year by year andefficiency improves better these days.
This paper has 3 chapters. 1) Power System of
Cambodia, 2) Current Situation of Rural Electrificationand 3) Solutions and Challenges. In first chapter, I’d liketo explain about power system of Cambodia briefly. In
second chapter, I’d like to focus on electricity issues ofrural area since more than 60% of citizens of Cambodia
live in rural area. Therefor we can tell that the issues they
are facing is the issues Cambodia overall is facing. In lastchapter, I’d like to suggest some possible solutions
Power System of Cambodia
Firstly, I’d like to look at the structure of electricity
organisation of Cambodia. According to the annual
reports issued by EAC (Electricity Authority of
Cambodia), the structure of organisation and bureau areclassified as below picture. Royal Government of
Cambodia has control over EAC, Ministry of Mine andEnergy and Ministry of Economic and Finance. Ministry
only works in this case as policy maker, but EAC plays
the role as regulator. In Cambodia, there’s more than 100
private company which sells electricity to people. They
are subcontractors and to sell electricity, they need tohave license from EAC. By paying license fee, they can
own license and have business.

Secondly, I’d like to look at the current electricity
generation of Cambodia. Cambodia depends on its
electricity resources from importing from neighbouring
countries. As for generation in country itself, Cambodia
depends on electricity generation mostly by coal, diesel

and hydropower. Generation by coal and diesel can be
the reason of high prices of electricity fee since thenatural resources are imported from other countries andits prices directly effects on the price making process.
Besides, these natural resources are limited. How abouthydropower? The same as neighbouring country,
Cambodia also has dry season. When it comes to dry
season, sufficiency of generation by hydropower
decrease, on the other hand, in rainy season, it can be thecause of over producing.

Current Situation of Rural Electrification
According to NSDP, Cambodian government has goal: tohave access to electricity supply by the national grid andother sources by 2020. However, unfortunately, current
situation is not favourable. In urban area or capital city
like Phnom Penh, electricity grid is existing and people
has access to electricity. However, people in rural area
usually don’t have access to electricity. Even they haveaccess to it, the prices are 4 times higher than urban area,
thus only limited people can access to electricity in ruralarea. In Cambodia’s case, most of Cambodians live inrural area, therefor, lack of electricity is huge problem forthem to live. Electricity is one of essential infrastructure.
Without electricity, it is difficult to do daily activity.
Currently, most of people in rural area are depending on
its energy resources on car battery. They use it to watch
TV or use any other electric devices. Surely, it is notconvenient compared to life with fully access toelectricity, however, this is the way they have been
through. They recharge car battery when it runs out. In
every small villages of Cambodia, they have battery
charge station, there people can charge car battery withsmall amount of money. This electricity comes fromdiesel power generation. They generate electricity there
and convert it to small car battery. These generators areusually old. Therefore, it sometimes can be the cause ofenvironmental destruction.

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round Mekong area. This might lead to conflict overenergy and natural resources. As for renewable energy
such as solar power, it had high potential, but it costs alot. Therefore, it is difficult for Cambodia alone to installsolar power generation system and has to rely on foreign
aids.

(Diesel electricity generator)(Car battery and TV)
Solutions and Challenges
As for solutions, in other word, to build sustainable andaffordable electricity supply system, we suggest to
optimise management, change the structure, expand thecoverage area, protection of the grid and wires andinstalling renewable energy such as solar power.
More details, as mentioned in other chapter, Cambodia
has dry season and rainy season, therefore, change theprices rate for season can be one of the solution.
Changing structure can help to bring electricity more
efficiently and reasonably. Expanding the coverage area
is quite important since most of national grids don’t
cover rural area and it is very essential. In developed
countries, this usually cannot be huge problem, butcountries like Cambodia, some people steal electricalwires which are made from copper. So that they can sell
it and make money out of it. And in Cambodia, thishappens quite often and it can give damage to thetransmission of electricity. As for renewable energy, as I
mentioned in the introduction and so on, Cambodia has
good potential for solar power generation since daylighttime per day is 6 to 9 hours. Renewable energy is clean
and eco-friendly, therefore, it is very possible way ofelectricity generation.
Yet, Cambodia might face some challenges. hydropower
generation can be cause of environmental destruction.
For example, in other countries, they are shifting the wayof electricity generation from hydropower to otherrenewable energy since hydropower energy generation
depends on the weather. Besides, operating and building
facilities can be harmful to ecosystem. Cambodia now
has the plan to build more hydropower generation in andReferences
http://www.cambodiainvestment.gov.kh/investors- infor
mation/infrastructure/electricity.html https://energyped
ia.info/wiki/Cambodia_Energy_Situation http://www.
mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/pr/wakaru/topics/vol3/index.
html http://cdc-crdb.gov.kh/cdc/documents/NSDP_20142018.pdf http://eac.gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/
report-2014en.pdf http://eac.gov.kh/wp-content/uploa
ds/2016/10/Annual-Report-2015-English.pdf http://eac.
gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/report-2012en.pdf
http://eac.gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/report2007en.pdf http://www.pref.okayama.jp/uploaded/life/330052_1716473_misc.pdf https://www.pvmagazine.com/2017/04/25/cambodias-solar-develop
ment-moves- forward-with-10-mw-project/ http://eac.
gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Cambodia-2015
http://www.globalelectricity.org/Projects/RuralElectrification/Presentations/3.2%20(HQ )%20-%20Sat%20
Samy.pdf

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Suggestions on building an affordable & sustainable power supply system
in Cambodia Abstract
ZHANG FAN
Joint Seminar 2. Group C

1. Research questions
What is the status quo of power sector in
Cambodia? What do they want to achieve and how is it
going? What is the obstacle and how to overcome it?
2. Backgrounds
Cambodia is one of the least developing countries in
the world and Asia. Decades of conflict destroyed
infrastructure and human capital, which almost stopped
the developing process of Cambodia.
The situation took a favorable turn since 1993, a
new regime was established. After that, the economy has
been developed rapidly with an annual growth rate ofaround 7%. Meanwhile, electric power system wasrebuilt on least-cost principles with emphasis on largecoal, hydro, and imports. Big cities such as Phnom Penh
has access to the electricity while people in the rural area
has limited access to stable electricity, as more than halfof population lives in the rural area.
On the other hand, the demand for electricity supply
is growing fast. According to the available electricity
demand forecast in Cambodia prepared by the Ministryof Industry, Mines and Energy in 2007 and on the
demand forecast by World Bank and KEPCO in 2006,
the electricity demand projection in Cambodia in 2024 is3,045.33 MW and 16,244.61 GWh for capacity andelectric energy respectively. Although foreign capital has
helped Cambodia to expand its ability to the power
supplying, the electricity output still cannot fulfill thegrowing demand.
3. Current situation
Cambodia overall has three problems related toelectricity: relatively high prices, unstable supply, andinadequate supply. As a great share of the electricity isimported and are used to produce more than half of
locally produced electricity, Cambodian electricity prices
are among the highest in the region. With thedevelopment of large hydro potentials and more coalfired power plants, the tariffs might decline in the future.
Yet, the national power grid is still under constructing, so
tariffs will also have to fund the extension of the
distribution network.
These problems are more severe in the rural area.
Currently, most of the people in rural area are dependent
on charged car battery as their energy resources, because
there’s barely any transmission lines extended to most of
the rural area. Offered by thousands of Rural
Electrification Entrepreneurs, the original energy
resources for these batteries come from the diesel

generator, thus the electricity tariff is much higher
compared to the urban area. Due to the lack of electricity,
available time of school or hospital is very limited.
Besides, it affects crucially on the local economy.
Therefore, this situation causes the barrier to thedevelopment of the rural area and Cambodia itself. Taken
all these into consideration, Cambodia has ambitious
plans regarding its grid development plan.
Until 2027 roughly 2,100 km electricity grid
(230kV and 115kV transfer lines) are to be constructedwith interconnections between existing grid systems suchas Phnom Penh and surroundings, connections toplanned power plants as well as cross-border lines to
Laos PDR. Furthermore, Cambodia has constructed orplanning/constructing nearly 20 power plants fueled byhydro and coal, make it possible to build a self sufficient
power system.
At the present, the main issues of the power system in
Cambodia can be summarized as follows:
Deficiencies in the power generation structure,
Limited transmission capacity,and Stagnation of rural electrification.
4. Suggestions
We would like to propose four suggestions toimprove the electricity supplying condition.
(1) To optimize the management of power grid, bybalancing the using of thermal power and hydropower.
promoting rainy season hydropower exports (On thebasis of the better transmission system), and adjusting
the existing tiered pricing system.
(2) To change the structure of power grid fromsingle loops to ring loops.
(3) To expand the coverage area of the power gridand to introduce renewable energy to the rural area.
(4) To protect the existing power grid against
thieves.
4. Closing remarks
Despite the corrupted government, we believe thatthe power supply condition in Cambodia will be
improved gradually in the peaceful years to come. With
the help of foreign aid and international organizations
such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank and
JICA, power plants and transmission lines has been built
one by one, and the growing needs in industrialization
will accelerate this process.
The only problem is, it calls for a long-term sightfrom the government to plan for the future generation.
Environmental friendly and self-sufficient power system

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is needed, therefor the power sector development plan for
the next five-year may need to keep the balance between
economic development and environmental protection,
efficiency and security, and so on.
The above is the research of group C. My part isabout suggestions.
5. My part: suggestion
So far, no national grid exists. Cambodia has
ambitious plans regarding its grid development plan.
Until 2027 roughly 2,100 km electricity grid (230kV and
115kV transfer lines) are to be constructed withinterconnections between existing grid systems such as
Phnom Penh and surroundings, connections to planned
power plants as well as cross-border lines to Lao.
According to the available electricity demand
forecast in Cambodia prepared by the Ministry ofIndustry, Mines and Energy in 2007 and on the demand
forecast by World Bank and KEPCO in 2006, theelectricity demand projection in Cambodia in 2024 is3,045.33 MW and 16,244.61 GWh for capacity andelectric energy respectively.
As a great share of the electricity is imported andare used to produce more than half of locally produced
electricity, Cambodian electricity prices are among thehighest in the region. With the development of largehydro potentials and more coal fired plants, these tariffs
might decline in the future. Yet, the national power gridis still being constructed, so tariffs will also have to fundthe extension of the distribution network.

Economic Association, said that the high priceof electricity in Cambodia is a primary
impediment to attracting foreign investment,
particularly in the garment and textile
industries.
Cambodia is powered by a combination ofhydroelectricity and coal fired plants, withpurchased electricity from neighboring
Thailand and Vietnam supplying provinces
situated along the borders.
According to Ministry of Industry, Minesand Energy, there are six hydroelectricity
plants and two coal-fired power plants with thecapacity to generate power up to 400
megawatts, while 12 potential energy projects
currently being evaluated.
My suggestion is expanding the coveragearea of power grid to 100percent.

My suggestion is the following five point:(1) Expand the coverage area of power grid.
National Electricity Grid Coverage Reaches
only 60 Percent
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 9 (Khmer Times) –Cambodia’s national electricity grid willachieve 60 percent national coverage, reachingover 14,000 villages by early 2015, according
to an official from the Electricity Authority of
Cambodia (EAC).
The EAC’s priority of installing transition
grids in rural areas aims to reach 100 percent
coverage across the country by 2020,
according to Victor Jona, deputy director
general of energy of the General Department ofEnergy at the Ministry of Industry, Mines andEnergy.
Cambodia’s existing power grid currently
covers 13 provinces, while the power transition
grids linking Svay Reing province via Prey
Veng and Kampong Cham provinces areunderway, Mr. Jona said.
Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian

http://eac.gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/
Cambodia-2015.png(2) Change the structure of power grid.
The structure of power grid in Cambodia
now is mainly composed of Single looptransmission line system.
A single-wire transmission line (or single
wire method) is a method of transmitting
electrical power or signals using only a single
electrical conductor. This is in contrast to theusual use of a pair of wires providing acomplete circuit, or an electrical cable likewisecontaining (at least) two conductors for that
purpose.
The single-wire transmission line is not thesame as the single wire earth return system,
which is not covered in this article. The lattersystem relies on a return current through theground, using the earth as a second conductor
between ground terminal electrodes. Thus, theearth effectively forms a second conductor. In asingle-wire transmission line there is no second
conductor of any form.

Course Reports

Even though the cost of single-wire looptransmission line is low, and the managementof it is easy. There are too many disadvantagesof this system.
Disadvantages of the radial distribution
system• The end of distributor near to thesubstation gets heavily loaded.
• When load on the distributor changes, theclients at the distant end of the distributor faceserious voltage fluctuations.
• As users are dependent on single feeder
and distributor, a fault on any of these twocauses interruption in supply to all the users
connected to that distributor.
In order to describe the system easily tounderstand, I use an example of water system
to describe it as the following picture shows.

143• Compared to the radial system, the voltage
drop is less along the distribution line
• More subscribers can be installed to thesystem than the radial system• Less voltage fluctuations can be seen atclient’s terminals. Voltage fluctuations in highloaded areas can be reduced using a tie line.
In order to describe the system easily tounderstand, I use an example of water system
to describe it as the following picture shows.

I think the target should be close to thepower grid system of Japan.

Ring network power supply system
The drawback of radial electrical power
distribution system can be overcome byintroducing a ring main electrical power
distribution system. Here one ring network of
distributors is fed by more than one feeder. In
this case if one feeder is under fault or
maintenance, the ring distributor is stillenergized by other feeders connected to it. In
this way the supply to the consumers is notaffected even when any feeder becomes out ofservice. In addition to that the ring main
system is also provided with different section
isolates at different suitable points. If any fault
occurs on any section, of the ring, this section
can easily be isolated by opening theassociated section isolators on both sides of thefaulty zone transformer directly.
Advantages of the ring network power
supply system• In ring power is supplied from both ends ascompared to radial• In case of a fault in the radial circuit theentire system goes off unlike in ring where byincase one end gets a fault the other end still
keeps on supplying power(3) Optimize the management of power grid.
Adjust the existing tiered pricing system
1.To people: In the rainy season, using thedifferent pricing system, encourage people tospend more.
2. To company: set up different price in
peak, ordinary and low time of power
consumption. Encourage company to use
more in low time.
3.To power plant: set up different price,encourage them to produce more power inthe peak time.
Promote rainy season hydropower exports
For examples:
To make a power exchange with Thailand
and Vietnam.
Using the rainy season power to exchange
the dry season power even though at low
ratio (2 : 1)
Balance the using of thermal power andhydropower
Tell the investor (thermal power plant)
how many hours their factory can work in

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one year. (e.g.4000hours)
Benign cycle
End of rainy season: according to water
reduction, open the thermal power unit
gradually
Dry season: hydropower maintenanceEnd of dry season: according to water
increment,
open the thermal power gradually
Rainy season: thermal power maintenance(4) Protection.
Protecting existing power grid
1. The seriousness of the consequences ofstealing the power grid.
2. Enact new laws
3. Detect the case of stealing facility of power
grid
4. Protect the facilities directly(5) Long-term sight in development.
The Kansai Electric Power Company
supplies electricity at 100V/60Hz.
Although 200V has been implemented forsome appliances, basically the voltage inJapan is 100V.
Appliances brought from overseas might not
be used at the voltage in Japan. Note that theplug sockets for 100V and 200V are
different in shapes.
The electric frequency is different on eitherside of the Fujigawa River in Shizuoka
Prefecture and Itoigawa City in Niigata
Prefecture, with 50Hz in the east and 60Hz in
the west. The frequency in Kansai Electric’s
service area is 60Hz.

U.S. River After Century of Electric
Production
AUGUST 27, 2014. on a remote stretch of
the Elwha River in northwestern Washington
state, a demolition crew hired by the National
Park Service plans to detonate a battery of
explosives within the remaining section of the
Glines Canyon Dam. If all goes well, the blasts
will destroy the last 30 feet of the 210-foothigh dam and will signal the culmination of thelargest dam-removal project in the world.
The removal of the Glines Canyon Dam andthe Elwha Dam, a smaller downstream dam,began in late 2011. Three years later, salmon
are migrating past the former dam sites, trees
and shrubs are sprouting in the drained
reservoir beds, and sediment once trappedbehind the dams is rebuilding beaches at the
Elwha’s outlet to the sea. For many, therecovery is the realization of what once seemeda far-fetched fantasy.

Elwha dam in USA
But In Asia, Africa, and South America,
large hydroelectric dams are still being built, as
they once were in the United States, to power
economic development, with the added
argument now that the electricity they provide
is free of greenhouse gas emissions. But while
the U.S. still benefits from the large dams it
built in the 20th century, there’s a growing
recognition that in some cases, at least, dambuilding went too far—and the Elwha River isa symbol of that. For an example, Chinese
Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station.

Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station in China

50 Hz and 60 Hz in Japan
World’s Largest Dam Removal Unleashes

We think that, in the process of the power
development in Cambodia, the government of
Cambodia should have a long-term sight in thedevelopment. Just Do not repeat the mistakes
human have made in the history.

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145

Group 1: Feasibility of the Project with Woodchip Power Generation
Tomoyuki MUKAYAMA

Introduction
The Profile of Okinoshima Town
Oki islands included in Shimane prefecture arelocated in the Sea of Japan. Okinoshima town is located
Dogo in Oki islands. Figure 1 shows location of the Oki
islands and Okinoshima town. The profile of
Okinoshima town is follow:
Population: approximately 15,000
Area: 241.64km2
The demand for electrical power: 10~22MW
The current population is approximately 15,000
people with a 53% decrease since 1955 due to an aging
population, dwindling birth rate, reduced economic
activity and declining employment. The economy has
weakened due to their comparative disadvantage ofprimary resource-based industries on the Japanese mainisland. As of the electricity is generated by heavy fuel oil
which is imported and subsidized by the prefectural
Shimane and government. The Shimane and local Oki
government want to address these demographic andeconomic trends before they decline further. Investments
in renewable energy sources could enable sustainableeconomic development, job creation, and population
growth. It is difficult to estimate the islands’ future
population however we assume that the electricity
demanded will remain constant.
With the price of heavy oil increasing and expected
to continue it was suggested that using the wood chips togenerate heat and electricity will be a feasible projectthat will stimulate a slight profit. Figure 2 displays theconcept of Green complex. The Green Complex iscomprehensive business management across multiple
divisions including; forest logging, wood chipproduction, energy business, supply of pulp raw materialand chemical production of lignophenol resin would benecessary. Finally, Reviving the local forest and sea of

Figure 1 Location of Oki islands and Okinoshima
town

Figure 2 concept of Green complex
Okinoshima Islands. The key to making this business a
success will be the establishment of a management
structure based on the collaboration between suchcompanies and local companies that are familiar with onsite conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to obtainsufficient profit by utilizing biomass.
Biomass Power Plant
Currently, around 1,000 m3 are unused while 15,000
3m /year are logged. By raising the logging to 3,000 m3/
year, which is the amount required to conservation andmanagement of forest, we estimated that 2,000 m3/yearof unused materials will be produced and 1,000 t/year of
woody pellet can be produced. On Oki Island, they areplanning to generate biomass pellets, and the power
plants consume 2,000 t/year of pellets annually.
However, there are about 9,000 t of unused woody
biomass on the Okinoshima town. Therefore, it isnecessary to think about effective utilization of woody
biomass other than using it for pellets. We propose to use
this material for power generation without pelletizing
this material.
Biomass conversion refers to the process of
converting biomass feedstocks into energy that will thenbe used to generate electricity and/or heat. First, thespanner dryer -dries the wood chips supplied at the mill.
The raw wood chips have around 50% water content andonce dried has a 5% water content. The Gasfire generates
combustible gas (mainly composed with CO and H2) byputting dry wood chips in a high temperature chamber.
The heat is then used to boil water and make steam, thesteam drives a turbine, the turbine drives a generator, andthe generator makes electricity/heat. Biomass fuels are
typically used most efficiently and beneficially whengenerating both power and heat through CHP. Figure 3
shows the facilities of woodchip power plant.
Construction costs are about 150million JPY.

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Time Value of Money
The present value of money is the value of a future
stream of revenue or costs in terms of their current value.
Future revenues and costs are adjusted by a discount ratethat reflects the individual’s time and risk preference.
Often, the discount rate is some interest rate that
represents the individual’s best alternative use for money
today. In making business decisions, it’s important thatyou include the time value of money (money you holdtoday can earn interest in the future). Therefore, if you
spend money today to build a new factory or company,
you’re giving up the opportunity to earn interest. In the
future, your factory generates profits, but you need toknow whether or not those profits are large enough tooffset the interest you lost by not buying a bond. This isdetermined by calculating the present value.
In terms of biomass power plant, the cost andrevenue over the life-cycle of the project does not reflect
today’s dollar value. Therefore, the whole life costs andrevenues of a power plant should be taken into account(the total cost of owning a power plant over its entirelife). Whole life cost includes design and building costs,
operating costs, associated financing costs, depreciation,and disposal costs.
Figure 4 displays the discount rate in Japan. A low
discount rate in Japanese economy since 1995.
Therefore, it is important to consider the interest rate of acountry (prediction before taking a risk over yourcompany or factory). Since 2010, the interest rate in JP
has been less than 1 % (which is good). Lower interest
rates encourage spending and investment. It seems it is arational choice for now to invest in renewable energy interms of the future of economy.

Figure 4 Discount rate in Japan
Methods and Discussion
Feed in Tariff
It is mainly used for the purpose of expanding the
spread of renewable energy and reducing price as part ofmeasures against global warming, securing energy
sources, and coping with environmental pollution. The
subsidy level is guaranteed for a certain period at thetime of installation of facilities. It is a system that can
flexibly adjust the grant level according to the change inproduction cost and the stage of development oftechnology. By appropriately operating it, it is said thatthe penetration promotion effect per cost will be highest.
It is used in more than 50 countries around the world andis a general method as a renewable energy subsidy
policy. On the other hand, there is a danger that the
diffusion rate becomes too small or excessive dependingon the price setting. There are the following features inFeed in tariff.
Advantage:・ In order to be able to recruit private investment, it issuperior to the other systems by promotion effect.
・ Enhance the safety of the loan.
・ Encourage stable investment and development in thetarget technology, enhance the competitiveness of theindustry.
・ Promote stable growth of small-sized and mediumsized producers.
・ Flexible institutional design is possible, and it is easy
to combine with other promotion systems.
Disadvantage:・ If the purchase price (tariff) is higher than the market
price of electricity, increase the electricity fee.
・ Depending on the setting of the tariff, the penetration
speed may become too small or excessive withrespect to the planned value. When it is too small, it
will not proliferate. If it is excessive, dissemination
expenses will increase with respect to the penetration
amount, and the electricity charge will be increased
more than planned accordingly.
・ It may be a limiting factor for exchanging power
across national borders.

Figure 3 Facilities of woodchip power plant

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147

Table 2 Model case of wood biomass power plantin Japan
Plant scale

5,700 kW

Facility expenses

398,000 JPY / kW

Disposal fee

19,900 JPY / kW

Running expenses

27,000 JPY / kW

Fuel amount

60,000 t / year

Figure 5 Renewable energy FITs in Japan
Table 1 Feed in tariff (Biomass)

Table 3 Calculation result of plant scaleand various costs(a) Plant scale
Plant scale
Facility expenses

4.34 MW
1,727,320,000 JPY

Disposal fee

86,366,000 JPY

Running expenses

117,180,000 JPY / year

Figure 5 shows the Japan renewable energy FITs.
According to the Ministry of Economy, Industry andTrade (METI), in only 3 years, Japan doubled its
renewable energy capacity (from 2013 to 2015). Thoserenewable energy projects have cumulatively generated
90,000 GWh of renewable electricity in 2015. The FIT
has helped Japan to double its renewable electricity
content in three years. Table 1 shows the feed in tariff ofbiomass. FIT of woodchip power plant is 32 JPY by thistable.

Fuel amount

Facility expenses

869,630,000 JPY

Woodchip Power Plant
In general, Woodchips will be distributed into
several types of biomass: fine coal, boiler, power plant,
wood pellet, pulpwood (paper). Woodchips can go toseveral activities. We are assuming that the woodchips go
to the power plant. According to the municipality of
Okinoshima town, the amount of raw wood that used as
biomass are 23,000 T/year. In this report, we areassuming that all of the woodchips go to the power plant.
We estimated the cost and income of this project.
Revenue is the income generated from sale of goods
or services, or any other use of capital or assets,
associated with the main operations of an organization
before any costs or expenses are deducted. Revenue isshown as the top item in an income (profit and loss)
statement which all charges, costs and expenses are
subtracted to arrive at net income. Revenue is also called
as sales or turnover.
Profit = Revenue - Costs
Revenue = Plant scale・FIT・Hours/day・Days/
year・Capacity factor
Plant scale is determined by the electricity
demand.
FIT: 32 JPY/kWh.
Hours/day: 24 hours/day
Days/year: 365 dyas/year
Capacity factor is 87% (Baseline load), 30%(Variable load).
Costs includes personal expenses (including

Disposal fee

43,481,500 JPY

Running expenses

58,995,000 JPY / year

Fuel cost

45,684 t
60,918,901 JPY / year

Endurance year

15 years(b) Fuel amount
Fuel amount

23,000 t / year

Fuel energy

0.095 kW / t

Fuel cost

30,670,000 JPY / year

Plant scale

2,185 kW

Endurance year

15 years

workers, maintenance, etc.), facility expenses (including
warehouses, CHP plant, boiler, electricity transmission,
district heating, cooling), disposal fee, fuel cost.
We introduce a model case of wood biomass power
plant in Japan, is shown table 2. This table shows thecase when the power plant scale is 5,700 kW. We
referred to various costs and fuel consumption from this.
We applied this to the case of Okinoshima town. As aprecondition, the annual electricity consumption percapita is about 2,533kWh in Shimane prefecture. In
addition, the population of the Okinoshima town isapproximately 15,000. From the above, result of
calculation is shown the table 3 (a). It is about 4.34MW
as a result of calculating required power generation
amount. Note that this value is based on flat demand.
However, there is a serious problem in here. That is that
unused material on Oki Island is 23,000tons. In thiscalculation result, it exceeds the upper limit by
45,000tons. Therefore, this power plan cannot berealized.
We analyzed again using the preconditions as thefuel amount. The result is the table 3 (b), and the power
generation amount is about 2 MW. Also, since thisamount of electricity can be supplied to the grid electric
power, it is possible to sell power to the electrical grid.

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recovered during several years. And very profit can beobtained. This is because the capacity factor is 87%,
which is very high as a power plant. In consideration of
the fluctuation of the operation rate, the estimate wascarried out even when the capacity factor set to 30%. The
results are shown in table 6. From this table, it isunderstood that NPV is negative when the operating ratiois 10%. Based on the above results, the IRR (Internal
Rate of Return) was calculated to be about 7%. Internalrate of return indicates the business return according toalternative return that may be gained on the sameinvestment. The internal rate of return is the discount ratethat will create a zero net present value. The IRR is basedon the NPV formula, and is solved iteratively for when
NPV=0.
Since current Japanese interest rates are less than
1% as shown in Figure 4, it is considered that the plan of
this woodchip power plant can sufficiently secure
profitability.

So, we propose installing the plant of this size.
Economic Feasibility
Table 4 shows the estimate profit for the woodchip
power plant. This table is explained the economic
evaluation when actually introducing it. The endurancelife of the biomass power plant is 15 years in general. In
the first year, it spend on the facility expenses only. Fromthe second year to the fourteenth year, only fuel andrunning expenses will be charged. However, in the final
year, disposal costs of power plant will be added. From
this table, facility expenses is collected in just two years.
The net present value (NPV) is defined as thepresent value of investments future net cash flows minus
the initial investment. NPV is defined in the following
equation and table 5 displays the net present value ofwoodchip power plant.
n1
NPV = ∑ TNC ⋅ DF = ∑ TNC ⋅n1(1 + r ) r: discountrate, n: number of years
From this calculation, the number of years varies
depending on the discount rate, initial investment can beConclusions
We suggest Woodchip Power Plant for the

Table 4 Profit for the woodchip power plant
Plant scale: 2,185kW (fuel amount: 23,000t/year)
year

revenuecost

Net Real Value¥0.00¥869,630,000.00(¥869,630,000.00)ĸfacility expenses

1¥532,874,304.00¥89,665,000.00¥443,209,304.00

2¥532,874,304.00¥89,665,000.00¥443,209,304.00

ĸfuel expenses, running expenses(personal expenses, maintenance,
etc.)

3

¥532,874,304.00¥89,665,000.00¥443,209,304.00

13¥532,874,304.00…

0¥89,665,000.00¥443,209,304.00

14¥532,874,304.00¥89,665,000.00¥443,209,304.00

15¥532,874,304.00¥133,146,500.00¥399,727,804.00

total¥7,993,114,560.00¥2,258,086,500.00¥5,735,028,060.00

ĸdisposal fee, fuel expenses,
running expenses
19

Table 5 Net present value
Net Present Value
year

1%

5%

10%

(¥869,630,000.00)(¥869,630,000.00)(¥869,630,000.00)

1¥438,821,093¥422,104,099¥402,917,549

2¥434,476,330¥402,003,904¥366,288,681

3¥430,174,584¥382,860,861¥332,989,710

13¥389,431,439¥235,043,357¥128,381,948

14¥385,575,682¥223,850,816¥116,710,862

15¥344,305,334¥192,275,908¥95,691,658

total¥5,238,037,509¥3,709,815,670¥2,491,046,079…

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149

Table 6 Net present value when capacity factor is 30%
2185kW (fuel: 23,000t/year)
year
0

revenue¥0

Net Present Valuecost

Net Real Value

1%

5%

10%

¥869,630,000(¥869,630,000)(¥869,630,000)(¥869,630,000)(¥869,630,000)

1¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥93,153,228¥89,604,533¥85,531,600

2¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥92,230,919¥85,337,651¥77,756,000

3¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥91,317,741¥81,273,953¥70,687,273

4¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥90,413,605¥77,403,765¥64,261,157

5¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥89,518,421¥73,717,871¥58,419,234

6¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥88,632,100¥70,207,497¥53,108,394

7¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥87,754,554¥66,864,282¥48,280,358

8¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥86,885,697¥63,680,269¥43,891,235¥39,901,123

9¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥86,025,443¥60,647,875

10¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥85,173,706¥57,759,881¥36,273,748

11¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥84,330,402¥55,009,411¥32,976,134

12¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥83,495,447¥52,389,915¥29,978,304

13¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥82,668,760¥49,895,157¥27,253,004

14¥183,749,760¥89,665,000¥94,084,760¥81,850,257¥47,519,197¥24,775,458

15¥183,749,760¥133,146,500¥50,603,260¥43,587,091¥24,341,033¥12,114,018

total¥2,756,246,400¥2,258,086,500¥498,159,900¥397,407,371¥86,022,290(¥164,422,961)

Figure 6 Internal rate of return
independence of energy on Okinoshima town. The main
conclusions from the analysis performed can besummarized as follows.
(1) It is possible to introduce biomass power plants ofabout 2 MW. This reduces external dependence ofrevenue and energy by FIT.
(2) Economic efficiency can be expected by IRR is higher
than interest rate.
(3) Profit is improved by maintaining the distribution ofunused materials and increasing the capacity factor
by securing sufficient quantities.
References(1) Moon, J.H., Lee, J.W., Lee, U.D. (2011). Economic
analysis of biomass power generation schemes
under renewable energy initiative with Renewable
Portfolio Standards (RPS) in Korea. Bioresource
Technology, Vol.102, pp.9550–9557.
(2) Dalton, G.J., Acorn, R., Lewis, T. (2010). Case study
feasibility analysis of the Pelamis wave energy
convertor in Ireland, Portugal and North America.
Renewable Energy, Vol.35, pp.443–455.

(3) Members of the graduate class on Renewable
Energy for Remote Area Development Oki Islands,
Japan at The University of Texas at Austin,
Hiroshima University, Doshisha University, Kyoto,
Kyushu University, Fukuoka (2016).
(4) Oki Green Complex. Tasks Towards Business
Implementation, pp.16-20.
(5) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2011). 各
電源の諸元一覧 .
(6) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2015).
Agency for Natural Resources and Energy
Settlement of FY2015 Purchase Prices and FY2015
Surcharge Rates under the Feed-in Tariff Scheme
for Renewable Energy. http://www.meti.go.jp/
english/press/2015/0319_01.html(7) Fred Economic Data, Economic Research Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (2017). Interest Rates,
Discount Rates for Japan. https://fred.stlouisfed.
org/series/INTDSRJPM193N(8) Institute for Renewable Energy Policies Summary.
(2015). Renewables 2015 Japan Status Report.
http://www.isep.or.jp/en/wp/wp-content/uploads/
2015/10/JSR2015_SM20151105.pdf(9) Khatib H. Economic evaluation of projects in theelectricity supply industry, Institution of ElectricalEngineers (IEE) power and energy series, vol.44,(2003).
Impression after completing the practiceFieldwork B was a class that learned by actuallyseeing and learning how to realize economic and energy
independence in isolated islands on the theme of Oki
Islands. Particularly at Oki Islands, they are conducting
demonstration tests and practical application related tobiomass using materials generated by abundant woodprocessing for energy independence. It was an interesting150

Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

class for me, because I could pursue a series of forest
resource flow with lecture and field practice. I was able
to learn biomass power plant using timber produced atthat time at logging and sawmills. In the forest which
was planted, thinned and maintained for forestry, I saw
the logging and processing process from tree to timber
for the first time. Moreover, not only logging by chain
saws but also logging using heavy machinery was
powerful. However, in places where they cannot log withheavy machinery, it is still mainly manpower and I also
realized there is room for improvement.
For biomass power plant using end materials andunused materials that cannot be used for forestry, I wasinterested and understood as knowledge before this class.
When introducing these facilities, it is a major premisethat there is economy such as operation and profit. I
think that it has become a very good opportunity since I
have never consider that.
This group work is organized not only by Doshisha
University but also by Hiroshima University and the
University of Texas at Austin. I learned the difficulty andthe interesting of working on one problem with students
of various cultural spheres other than Japanese way of
thinking. Especially Texas university students actively
said, first of all I realized that the attitude of trying toadvance the discussion is significantly different fromJapanese students. There is a big difference in the
background knowledge because each major field isdifferent, and sometimes the discussion did not convey
well. I think that it was good that we were able to makeone proposal in a group for the task within the limited
time that is the group organization. At the same time,
however, I think that many problems have been found asa reflection point. In this class, the lecture started about
two months ago, but we were unable to meet with groupmembers and make a plan about group work before
going to the site. We were scheduled to make a face toface meeting, but in fact it is impossible to conduct a premeeting as a result of time zones and individual
schedules do not agree with each other. I would like to
pay attention to time management so that we can prepare
thoroughly in advance in next group work.

Course Reports

Public Invlovement for Better Consensus Building
Yuji Shimabukuro(Group 3)
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University

1. Introduction
Dogo island, Oki islands, Shimane prefecture, wasonce a major timbr production site, and forestry played
significant role in local economy; as many villages inmountainous region in Japan used to be before theindustrialization. However, forestry in Japan is now
facing serious problems. As Japanese economy had
grown after WW2, the labor cost had also increased,
which resulted the rise of timber price. Consequently,
they lost the competitiveness against the cheaper
imported timbers. Now, lots of planted trees have left in
the forest since it doesn’t make profit. In addition to that,the island is facing serious depopulation and aging
society. All those things brought the shortage of forestry
workers. As a result, forests are left unmaintained inmany places in Japan, and Dogo too.
In pre-industraialized era, forest adjacent to humanhabitats had been managed by near-by farmers andforestry workers to obtain products from the forest. The
forest area applied these economic activities is called“Satoyama” in Japanese. However, the economic system
around Satoyama is not working well in these days
because many of those forest products used to be utilizedby villagers have lost their economic value in modern life
style. As a result, those activities are declined andSatoyama areas are now not maintained as used to be.
Lack of proper management to the forest does not
only lose the value of their invested properties, but
unmanaged forest also loses the functionality that theforest has when it is well maintained, which endangers
the regional ecosystem and the security against thedisasters. It is, therefore, very important for local
communities to re-establish a system to maintain proper
forest management.
Municipality of Okinoshima, which covers whole
Dogo island, thus, has been promoting a plan called“Midori no Kombinat”; linearly means “Green
Complex” to create business and industry to support
forestry business. The main objevtive of the plan is tocreate new business or industry by utilizing unused woodbiomass, such as waste from sawmill, wasted logs,
woods resulted from thinning, fallen-down trees due tonatural disaster or demaged trees due to insect plagues,
etc. By successful completion of this plan, newcirculation of money would be created from materials
used to produce nothing. In other words, the plan
anticipates to utilize local resources effectively formaking more money from limited amount of resources,
and ultimately that attracts people who end up
maintaining the forest.

In this project, the utilization of unused material isrealized by the production of woodchips andlignophenol, and also the utilization of methane as a
byproduct. Among of these, the woodchips production
has been commercialized and used in many places, butothers have not yet been commercialized. As for the
R&D of lignophenol, theoretical construction and smalllaboratoru scale experiments have been done but R&D
has not been yet matured to make steady production,
which is required for the commercialization. Technicalproblems are the major obstables to be overcome, butsolving those provlems requires very good knowledge
about the chemical reaction processes which cannot bemade by a semester long study.
These are so many obstacles to be overcome otherthan technical issues in order to realize thecommercialization of new technology, or even more toestablish it as a business. For example, as a new
business, the business model such as the actual budgetbalance, supply chain, sales channel, etc. has not been
completely consolidated. Therefore, policy supports andfinancial supports are needed until the businessconsolidates its business model. Or, establishment ofgood relation with local communities would be anotherimportant aspect for the success since they are sharestakeholders of local resources and environment, andalso one of potential customers.
To understand this project, group work had carriedout. Out group topic is “Public involvement for better
consensus building”. In this paper, firstly what westudied in on-site practice by site visiting aresummarized, and then our group works will be
discussed.
2. Acquired Knoledge
The schematic diagram of “Midori no kombinat”
project is shown in below.
This figure shows that the project has mainly someprojects; lignophenol plant, biomass power, fertilizer
from seawood, carbonization furnace, and pellet factory.
In this fieldwork, we focused on lignophenol plant,
biomass power, and pellet factory i.e., forestry. The
purpose of this project is jobcreation, securing
environments for long-term settlers, and expansion of
number of visitors. This project is also related to anotherproject in okinoshima-cho called “Okinoshima-chobiomass industrial city plan”. This plan has mainly four
eco-projects; lignophenol plant, biomass power plant,
wood pellet business, and incineration plant by methane
fermentation. Our research tagrgets are corresponding to

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Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of Midori no kombinat project in Okinoshima-cho.
lignophenol, biomass, and wood pellet.
2.1. Lignophenol Plant
Lignophenol is developed organic material frombiomass by professor of Mie university. As I mentioned
before, there are some unused natural resources in
Okinoshima-cho. Therefore, effectively use of biomass
are expected. Now, research and development ofcommercial products made from lignophenol are goingon. To save and reduce emitting the carbon dioxide byutilizing biomass materials, some biomass products havebeen developed such as paint, adhesive, and so on by
joint research with company located inside and outside ofthis island. Workers in lignophenol production facility
want to expand their scale. However, an opportunity toprovide the such information concerning about
expanding plant and employment. This concept is
conducting with member of this plant and local
government only. Therefore, locals those lives in nearlyarea never know the situation. So, this lignophenol planis beyond the scope of public involvement.

Fig. 2. The photograph of lignopenol production
facility.

2.2. Natural Forest
Okinoshima-cho have 21,101 ha of forest area
which is corresponds to 86.8 % of whole area. This forest
area per person can be ranked one of the highest in theworld. However, there are many problems in forest due
to the decreasing in population, going outside the islandof younger generation to get a job. Therefore, there aremany forests which are not maintained. Moreover, local
government and forest cooperative don’t identify that thewhose forest is this. So, identification of the forest
located in rural area is very important work to conduct
forest industry effectively.
2.3. Woodchip Fire Power Plant
There are many unused biomass resources in
Okinoshima-cho. Therefore, forest cooperative utilized
for wood pellet project, wood biomass power generation,etc. In fact, there is a biomass power generator called Oki
Green Power Station (OGP) in the sawmill at the centerof the island. OGP generator house has a couple of 45kW
generator composed of gasifier and Combined Heat andPower Unit (CHP). In future, this facility intends toinstall more two units. The electric power generated by
the biomass system are only used in the sawmill facility
at present. In a series of woodchip power generation,water content is most important factor. Due to somereasons, the generation system made in Germany isunstable. Therefore, overcome problems like stable
operation, utilization of exhaust heat, and so on is
expected in this stage. Now, Okinoshima-cho have six
diesel power generators. As a future plan, three 45kW
biomass power generator provide the generated power
for the neighbor. This leads a new job creation, however,
local resident has never been informed this fact. This is
not called as a public involvement. For future of thistown, sawmill facility should make an opportunity toCourse Reports

introduce the facility to the local resident.

Fig. 3. The photograph of dried wood chips utilized
for biomass power generation.
2.4. Forestry Site
We took the site visiting the forestry site of wholeprocess; seeding, harvest, and sawing. There are about
630 forest cooperatives in Japan. Ones of okinoshimacho is composed of paltry 25 persons. This cooperativehas managed by investment by forest owners. The
organization manage a cycle of cutting, using, seeding,and growing. They also mentioned about the issue ofowener’s leaving forestry. What 40% of forest owners
had gone outside the island makes forest cooperative todifficult forest management. Therefore, building a webbased database system about forest resources isnecessary. If there is a database, everyone including
owners and local residents are easy to access and easy toutilize the forest resources. Moreover, forest cooperative
should make opportunities for forest owner monthly or
annually to share benefits and knowledge.

Fig. 4. The photograph of the sapling of the Japaneseceder selled by forest cooperative.

Fig. 5. The photograph of the cutting process byhuman.

Fig. 6. The photograph of the cutting a timber for
fixed length by harvester.
3. Questionnaire Survey
To recognize of awareness of forest management
and forest resources from local residents’ side, aquestionnaire survey was carried out from Aug. 8th toAug. 20th 2017. There are mainly two types of questions
such as closed-ended (fixed-choise) questions and openended questions. Since this content is difficult tounderstand, plenty of closed ended questions which areeasy to answer were adopted. Participants of our researchare 53 okinoshima-cho local resident. Our questionnarire
has three types of questions; general information, social
involvement to industrialization in okinoshima-cho, anddegree of interest about midori no kombinat project. In
part of general information, gender, age, origin,
occupation, and fundamental knowledges about forestry
were inquiried.

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4. Results and Discussion
4.1. General informations
Participant informations are shown below.

According to these general information about
resident in okinoshima-cho, collected data are quite
partial especially in occupation and dwelling history.
Namely most of participants living in this town morethan 10 years as a government employee. Because oursurvey has time and distance limitations, we cannot
conduct the research on our own.
4.2. Social involvement to industrialization in
Okinoshima-cho
The results about socoal involvement to
indsurialization in Okinoshima-cho are shown in Fig. 11
and 12.

Fig. 7. Age distribution of 53 participants.

Fig. 11. The forest resources utilization.

Fig. 8. Gender distribution of 53 participants.

Fig. 12. The public involvement of revitalization in
Okinoshima-cho.
Fig. 9. Job distribution of 53 participants.

According to these figures, 98% of local resident
agree that forest resources should be utilized. Whilealmost half of the resident don’t think public
involvement can contribute to revitalization of theokinoshima-cho. Based on our research, it might bebecause other project in okinoshima-cho didn’t include
public involvement before. They were all top-down
projects.
4.3. Midori no Kombinat Project
The third part of our questionnaire survey is about
Midori no Kombinat project. The results are shown inbelow.

Fig. 10. Dwelling histrory in Okinoshima-cho of 53
participants.

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Midori no Kombinat project is not a low degree ofrecognition but also no chance for public involvement.
Therefore, the project has to be oberhauled to acquire job
creation for the future generation and chance of the
public involvement.

Fig. 13. The degree of recognition for the Midori no
Kombinat project.

Fig. 14. The eagerness to take part in the Midori no
Kombinat project.

Fig. 15. The importance of Midori no Kombinat
project for local resident.
According to Fig.13., even if almost all of answerer
are governmental officer, they don’t know about thisproject very well. Therefore, we can guess that the local
resident doesn’t know about the project because they
only have limited access to imformation of the project.
Especially in youger generation, they never know about
the details of this project. This imply a defect of policy
system of the project. To revitalization of forest industry,
future generation have to involve positively in thisproject. According to Fig. 14., more than half of
respondant don’t want to participate the project. This is
not a problem of local resident but an issue ofcharacteristic of the Midori no Kombinat project. From
Fig. 15., most of respondant feel that the Midori no
Kombinat project is not so important for them and theirfamily. From these results of questionnaire survey, the5. Conculusion
The many public employee of Okinoshima-cho aremain factor of this project. Nevertheless, they don’t thinkpublic involvement is important for revitalization of
Okinoshima-cho. Moreover, a strong tendency of low
motivation for taking part in the project in younger
generation was marked. According to the series of survey
and discussion, Midori no Kombinat project needs publicawareness to have mutual benefits both public andproject. Now, due to the project’s characteristics, public
involvement is unnecessary. However, for thedevelopment of the whole okinoshima-cho and its local
people, public involvement is crucial. Therefore, I’d liketo propose the two types recommendation; education andpromotion. The former is the education about how isforest management is important and how to effectively
utilize forest resources for forest owners, students, andpublic. Forest cooperative should make an opportunity toshare the information such as benefits and knowledges
monthly or annually. As I mentioned above, building the
web-based database is effectively for utilizing forest
resources. In the school, especially in high school,teachers educate student about the importance of forest
management and forest resources including the biomass,
renewable energy etc. Students also should spread theirknowledge at any places for increasing public
involvement. This leads the increasing of theemployment opportunity for example lignophenol plant,
biomass power supplier, development facility exploiting
biomass and so on. Needless to say, local government ismost important role of this project. They should holdfestivals, events, and some activities to pervade theinformation. Distributing pamphlet written in Japaneseand English in wave page are effective for raisingawareness for this project. Moreover, because
Okinoshima-cho is selected as a global geopark, special
lecture for local resident and tourist have to be held
about forest resources. For the future projects, local
government should focus on the public involvement andparticipation.
References
1) Sarvasova, A., Dobsinska, A. L., & Salka, J. (2014).
Public participation in sustainable forestry: the caseof forest planning in Slovakia. iForest, 7, 414-422.
2) Nagatomo, J. Cultural Practices of Traditional
Performing Arts by Lifestyle Migrants in Ama-cho,3) Oki Island, Japan: Identity Politics and Cultural
Practices of I-Turn Migrants as “Middleman”. 関西
学院大学国際学研究 , 5, 5-17.
4) 隠岐の島町定住対策課 (2008). 隠岐の島町バイ
オマスタウン構想 .
and all materials which are distributed in this course.

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Proper Subsidy / Financial Support for Promoting Pellet Stove
Kentaro Yoshioka
Group4
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University

1. Introduction
Dogo islands, Oki islands, Shimane prefecture, wasonce a major timber production site, and forestry played
significant role in local economy ; as many villages inmountainous region in in Japan used to be before theindustrialization. However, forestry in Japan is now
facing serious problems. As Japanese economy had
grown after WW2, the labor cost had also increased,
which resulted the rise of timber price. Consequently,
they lost the competitiveness against the cheaper
imported timbers. Now, lots of planted trees have in theforest since it doesn’t make profit. In addition, to that, theisland is facing serious depopulation and aging society.
All those things brought the shortage of forestry workers.
As a result, forests are left unmaintained in many places
in Japan, and Dogo too.
In pre-industrialized era, forest adjacent to humanhabitats had been managed by near-by farmers andforestry workers to obtain products from the forest. The
forest area applied these economic activities is called“Satoyama” in Japanese. However, the economic system
around Satoyama is not working well in these days
because many of those forest products used to be utilizedby villagers have lost their economic values in modern
life style. As a result, those activities are declined andSatoyama areas are now not maintained as used to be.
Satoyama activity is a way to manage forests inpractical meanings, especially in the preindustrialized
era. But, practical demand was not the only reason forvillagers in past to maintain forest. Shintonism, which
provides a very bottom foundation of Japanese culture
and way of life, sees divinity in everything in the world.
Trees and forests were no exceptions. Forest which
provides wealth to people was some part of forest wasstrictly protected and maintained by locals. This kind of
spiritual activities has also been declined during themodernization and almost vanished today.
Lack of proper management to the forest does not
only lose the value of their invested properties, but
unmanaged forest also loses the functionality that theforest has when it is well maintained, which endangers
the regional ecosystem and the security against disasters.
It is, therefore, very important for local communities tore-establish a system to maintain proper forest
management.
Municipality of Okinoshima, which covers whole
Dogo island, thus, has been promoting a plan called“Midori no Kombinat”; linearly means “Green
Complex” to create business and industry to support
forestry business. The main objective of the plan is tocreate new business or industry by utilizing unused woodbiomass, such as waste from sawmill, wasted logs, wood
resulted from thinning, fallen-diwn tees due to natural
disaster or damaged trees due to insect plagues, etc. By
successful completion of this plan, new circulation ofmoney would be created from materials used to produced
nothing. In other words, the plan anticipates to utilize
local resources effectively for making more money fromlimited amount of resources, and ultimately that attracts
people who end up maintaining the forest.
In my group work, we have investigated subsidies
for the Green Projects, and the subsidies are importantrole in promoting the project. We focused on the subsidy
for the pellet stove shown in Figure 1, which is alreadyexisted but our work is investigating whether the subsidy
is proper or not from various points.

FIGURE 1. An image of the wood pellet stove.
2. Types of Subsidies
Subsidy is defined as a sum of money granted by
the state or a public body to help an industry or businesskeep the price of a commodity or service low. Subsidy
and the things likely to be subsidy are generally divided
into three components: direct subsidies, indirect
subsidies and non-subsidies. The first ones are such as
cash subsidies and grants, and also includes stock
purchases. Higher value of stock works as a subsidy in a
lot of situations. The second ones contains tax
concessions (tax credits) and assumption risk (loanguarantees). The last ones are non-subsidies like taxes /penalties for non-compliance (carbon tax) and revenue
bonds (tobacco bonds). They should be clearly divided
into for the practical future plans.
3. Heat Options
In order to compare with the performance of theheating system, we investigated three options likely toCourse Reports

compete the pellet stove, which are fire wood stove,
conventional stove and pellet stove. The summarized
result is shown in FIGURE 2.The first one, fire woodstove gives the users physical burden to gather the woodfor citizens. According to the lecture by municipality
officer, the citizens using fire wood stove are willing tochange to the pellet stove due to the disadvantage pointof fire wood stove even if the installment and runningcost of the pellet stove is higher. In addition, pellet stoveis easier to use and more environmental friendly. The
other option, conventional stove has a lot of advantages
in the aspect of the cost. This is about 10 times cheaper
than pellet stoves (4 times cheaper when current subsidy
applied on pellet stove).

FIGURE 2. The features of heating option comparedwith pellet stove.
4. SWOT Analysis of the pellet stove
Pellet stove was analyzed with the method ofSWOT, which is composed of 4 sections: strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats. FIGURE 3 shows
the result of the SWOT analysis about the pellet stove. At
the first, a lot of strength points are found such as user
friendly, high efficiency, automatic refilling andoperation of the stove, convenient fuel, no oil for stove,biomass energy and environmentally friendly. Weakness,at the next, has cost inefficiency, difficulty withmaintenance, noisy operation and electricity dependent.
In the section of the opportunities, we found subsidies forpellet stove, resource availability, increased supply andtax incentive to switch to pellet stoves. There are, on theother hand, threats such as many competitors, high costs
and population.
The output information obtained from this result isthat the pellet stove has much positive points thannegative points. This suggests that using pellet stove has
a lot of advantages. However, the importance in aspect of
the subsidy is whether these advantage meets the demandenough to make citizens satisfied to ignore the negative
points especially cost problem.

FIGURE 3. The result of SWOT analysis of the pellet
stove.
5. Case Studies
Three cities were compared for the setting properpellet stove subsidy in Oki islands as a case study. The
three cases including Oki islands itself are Okinoshimatyo, Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka prefecture and German.
The method of case study should be powerful for
deciding value of the pellet stove subsidy because theselected case has success story. Firstly, the case of Dogoislands including Okinoshima-tyo is introduced, and thencontinued to Hamamatsu city, German.
5.1 Dogo Islands
Dogo islands shown in FIGURE 4 are positioned at
the 50 km north from the Shimane prefecture and thisfactor is important in the case studies because we have tocompare with as much factor as possible.

FIGURE 4. The location of Oki islands on the map.
The cost of installing pellet stove is the sum of abody itself: 300,000 yen and construction cost: 200,000
yen. Current existed subsidy for pellet stove in
Okinishima tyo gives 2/3 expenses and that’s up to
300,000 yen per a machine. The target is people,
organizations or corporations having as address in
Okinoshima-tyo. The capacity is up to only 10 entities
per year. The way to apply to the subsidy needs to submit

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forms to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Divisionof Okinishima-cho.
5.2 Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka prefecture
Hamamatsu city located in the center in Japan
shown in FIGURE 5 (red area) is one of the successful
city for the installment of the wood biomass project inJapan. There is a utilization project of wood biomass inthis city. The project promotes to use biomass fuel likewood pellet. The noticeable point is that the change ofsales volume of wood pellet made in Hamamatsu city
between 2013 and 2014. The produced volume wasdrastically changed from 27,870 kg in 2013 to 112,963
kg in 2014 according to the investigation attempted byHamamatsu city in 2014. This fact estimates that the
number of facilities and machines using pellet as fuelsignificantly increased.

shown in FIGURE 6 (not so different from comparison(a) and (b)) to get the brand in the pellet production field.
These promotions can work for the utilization ofwood biomass including pellet stove through letting thepeople know the wood biomass in the variety of thepromotion method. Wood biomass energy will be more
important in the next generation, which means theeducating to the young people like elementary students
should be effective. These promoting campaign is needed
to attempted in Oki-isalands.

FIGURE 6. Images of the pellet produced.

FIGURE 5. The location of Hamamatsu city on themap.
There are reasons why sales volume of the woodpellet have increased. To begin with the subsidy inHamamatsu city, the target are individuals, corporations
or organizations who install pellet stoves in residences orstores in Hamamatsu city. The subsidy is for purchasing
and installing pellet stove. The value of the subsidy gives
less than 1/3 of expenses for purchase, up to 50,000 yen.
This is less than that of Okinoshima-tyo. Therefore, thevalue of the subsidy is not vital factor for the project.
The unique factor in Hamamatsu city is the way ofthe promotion method. Hamamatsu city, for example,
collaborated with TENRYU. Collaboration withTENRYU no mori (production area of pellet) and design
let the city create a lot of kind of promotion product suchas a picture, a brochure, a guide book and so on: theseproducts are designed by the students belonging to thedesign school in Hamamatsu city. The picture book let
the children in elementary school know the significanceof forest resources. The brochure promotes purchasingpellet stove to people who wants to build their house.
The guide book intends company to use renewableenergy related in the forest. In addition, wood pellet
produced in this city is named after TENRYU pellet

5.3 German
German is located very far from Japan shown in
FIGURE 7. This is bad point as a case study due to themuch different background for the wood biomass. That is
why German case is briefly introduced in the aspect of
the subsidy about pellet stove. A subsidy of 3,500 Eurowas allocated to the households who switch to pellet
stoves. The sales of pellet stove remained below
expectations; only 3.1% of overall sales volume of heatgenerator. The reason was the significant decrease of
prices on the market of oil and fossil fuel. Thus, subsidy
alone do not necessarily work to the success inpromoting the wood pellet stoves.

FIGURE 7. The location of German on the map.
6. Recommendation
Through the case studies, the recommendation forthe pellet stove in Oki islands was supposed. At the firststep, we mention about the optimization about subsidy
usage. Applicants should not be required to find andprovide a construction company for the installation. The
municipality should contact with a specific construction
company to install the stoves at a discounted price. To
realize this recommendation, two points are needed. The
first one is negotiation with a construction company toCourse Reports

offer a discounted price. The other one is saving money
for the investment in other initiatives. After installingpellet stove, the household receiving subsidy should
conduct performance monitoring and evaluation of thepellet stove. It will provide with evidence to prove theefficiency of the pellet stove and attract more users andinvestors.
FIGURE 8 show the additional program as arecommendation and has three sections: gap analysis,
awareness campaign and tax incentives. In the section
analysis, we recommend to do survey of residents and to
hold town-hall meetings. The result provide with setting
a database about residents and understanding awarenessand willingness. The next section, awareness campaign
has much roles which are creating committee, designingposters, ads, brochures, social media, books. In addition
to the roles mentioned above, seminars, providing
certificates, and understanding importance of Geopark
will have possibility as a additional program. Thissection results in increase of resident’s understanding andwillingness to switch into pellet stove from current
heating options. The final section, tax incentives iscomposed of taxes on petroleum and gas, and tax credits
on local corporate tax to hotels and restaurants. This final
section allows citizens to increase willingness to switch
in to pellet stove. We have considered to how to increase
the willingness from the various aspects obtained at thecase studies, and actually this is a great factor to promote
the installing wood pellet stove.

FIGURE 8. Recommendation: addition programs.
7. Logical Framework
Our study was summarized into logic model ofpellet stove subsidy in Dogo islands shown in FIGURE
9. This model is modified model of typical logic model,
and is composed of 5 sections: inputs, outputs, shortterm outcomes, long-term outcomes and assumptions.
Process of setting pellet stove subsidy for the promotion
is explained in this figure. In other words, the result of
our study about pellet stove was summarized.

FIGURE 9. Logic model of pellet stove subsidy in
Dogo Island.
8. Conclusion
Study of pellet stove subsidy is attempted by group4, and we conclude our study into two sentences. The
first one is that current pellet stove subsidy might not be
efficient because of the high costs and low demand. The
other one is that we recommend to complement thesubsidies with other programs to encourage public
involvement.

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Promoting Pellet Stove in Proper Subsidy or Financial Support:
A case study in Okinoshima Island
Mohammed Hajjaj
Doshisha University,
Global Resource Management Program

Summary
Renewable technology is becoming more feasible for use
in remote areas due to decrease the equipment cost anduncertainties regarding the supply and price for fuelalternatives.
Okinoshima Islands of Japan or as it knows Oki include
Dogo, was once a major timber production site, andforestry played significant role in local economy; asmany villages in mountainous region in Japan used to be
before the industrialization. However, the forest in Japanis facing a serious problem. The cost of labor force inJapan had increased during last ten years ago, as a resultof the rise to timber price.
The local government of Okinoshima island is planningto run and create new startups to run the forest area, as
well as to increase the local economy of the island. They
purpose of that to make the island be a friend withenvironment. It gains one of heritage site in UNSCO
organization.
One of the proposed projects in the island to run all local
companies which they are working in the forest, and to
subsidize people who wish to convert heating system byusing pellet stoves. The government will subsidize
people more than 60% of the total cost. The reportargued the best way of subsidy policy for people, and try
to find answer to the question which is the subsidy still
the best way to provide pellet stoves for people.
Overview
Okinoshima Islands of Japan or as it knows Oki include
Dogo, a round-shaped island, and three small inhabitedislands in the Dozen district: Nishinoshima,
Nakanoshima and Chiburi, which are part of a 38-island
ring archipelago 40 kilometers (24 miles) north ofJapan’s Honshu coast in the Shimane Prefecture. Oki’s
population of approximately 20,493 has decreased 53
percent since 1955 [1].

Figure 1: Okinoshima Islands

The islands’ traditional businesses of fishing, forestry,
agriculture, and tourism have declined. Economic
interactions with mainland Japan via boat have fallen as
the inhabited islands are becoming more isolated. The
Oki district would prefer to maintain a healthy
population size to support local livelihoods and Oki
residents wish to protect their natural environment andpreserve the unique culture and geological history of theislands.
The population for the islands is approximately 15,000.
However, the economy has weakened due to its
decreasing and aging population as well as thecomparative disadvantage of primary, resource-basedindustries distant from the Japanese main island. As of2015 most of the Oki’s electricity is generated by heavy
fuel oil imported to the islands and subsidized by theprefectural Shimane and governments. The Demand forelectrical power in 2015 fell between 10 and 22MW.
Dogo island was once a major timber production site,
and forestry played significant role in local economy; asmany villages in mountainous region in Japan used to be
before the industrialization. However, the forest in Japanis facing a serious problem. The cost of labor force inJapan had increased during last ten years ago, as a resultof the rise to timber price.
Many planted trees have left in the forest as it doesn’t
make a good revenue. In addition, the island is facing
serious depopulation and aging society. However, forests
are left unmaintained in many places in Japan, and Dogoisland too.
Background
The local government of Okinoshima island is planningto run and create new startups and business to work inforest and increase the local economy of the island. In
pre-industrialized era, forest adjacent to human habitats
had been managed by near-by farmers and forestry
workers to obtain products from the forest.
Now, the local government is going to provide pellet
stove for all people in Okinoshima island. A pellet stoveis a stove that burns compressed wood or biomass pellets
to create a source of heat for residential and sometimes
industrial spaces. By steadily feeding fuel from a storage
container into a burn pot area, it produces a constant
flame that requires little to no physical adjustments [2].
Most pellet stoves are constructed using large, heat
conductive, steel or cast-iron pieces, with stainless steel
to encase circuitry and exhaust areas. Pellet furnaces andpellet boilers are also available in addition to theCourse Reports

decorative stove. These units can be retrofitted into
existing home heating systems with only minor changes
to existing ductwork and or plumbing. The heating
industry has considerably shifted toward biomass stovesand heating devices based on efficient combustible andrenewable resources.
Municipality of Okinoshima conducted economic
feasibility study for the project. At that time, the use ofwoodchip power generation was not included in the plan.
With limited amount of resources, the installation
capacity would bring the best economic benefit forpeople in the island. The production and process in
Okinoshima islands as showed below:

Figure 2: Green complex
The Green complex is comprehensive business
management across multiple divisions including; forest
logging, wood chip production, energy business, supplyof pulp raw material and chemical production ofindophenols resin would be necessary to enable a more
efficient profit making [3].
The key to making this business a success will be theestablishment of a management structure based on thecollaboration between such companies and local
companies that are familiar with on-site conditions.
Biomass conversion refers to the process of converting
biomass feedstocks into energy that will then be used togenerate electricity and/or heat.
First, the spanner dryer -dries the wood chips supplied at
the mill. The raw wood chips have around 50% watercontent and once dried has a 5% water content. The Gas
fire generates combustible gas by putting dry wood chips
in a high temperature chamber.
The heat is then used to boil water and make steam, thesteam drives a turbine, the turbine drives a generator, andthe generator makes electricity for heat. Biomass fuels
are typically used most efficiently and beneficially whengenerating both power and heat through break point.
In terms of biomass power plant, the cost and revenue
over the life-cycle of the project does not reflect today’s
dollar value. Therefore, the whole life costs and revenuesof a power plant should be taken into account. Whole life
cost includes design and building costs, operating costs,
associated financing costs, depreciation, and disposal
costs.
According to the Ministry of Economy, Industry andTrade (METI), in only 3 years, Japan doubled its
renewable energy capacity (from 2013 to 2015). Thoserenewable energy projects have cumulatively generated
90,000 GWh of renewable electricity in 2015.

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Figure 3: Japan Renewable Energy.
Woodchips will be distributed into several types ofbiomass: fine coal, boiler, power plant, wood pellet,
pulpwood (paper). Figure below shows all the
distribution for biomass resources.

Figure 4: Biomass Resource Distribution
According to the municipality of Okinoshima, theamount of raw wood that used as biomass are 23,000 T/
year. Figure below show some approaches in Japan forusing and producing biomass in different prefectures.

Figure 5: Some Approaches in Japan
In Hokkaido and Iwate prefecture, wood pellets areactively produced. Use of wood pellets in pellet stoves
has increased because of strong environmental
consciousness and convenience. Wood pellets are analternative to heating oil and diesel, so use contributes
not only to countering escalating gasoline prices but also
to the reduction greenhouse gas emissions.
Satoyama Forestry can be managed to effectively
provide biomass for the creation of all small business,
However, inefficient management in the forest will drive
up costs for all of the other business, so the local
government wants to increase biomass procurement from
Satoyama forestry to feed local business.
Most of the biomass produced during the forestry
process is not used, due to the imitation of information

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Pellet Stove ProjectHeĂƟŶŐŽŶKŬŝŶŽƐŚŝŵĂ-cŚŽ&ŝƌĞǁŽŽĚƐƚŽve

භWŚǇƐŝĐĂůƵƌĚeŶƚŽŐĂƚŚeƌƚŚeǁŽŽĚfŽƌcŝƟzeŶƐ͘PeůůeƚSƚŽǀeĞĂƐŝĞƌƚŽuƐeaŶĚŵŽƌeeŶvŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚaůfƌŝeŶĚůǇ͘CŽŶǀeŶƟŽŶĂůƐƚŽve

භ10ǆcŚĞĂpĞƌƚŚaŶPeůůeƚSƚŽve͘4xcŚĞĂƉĞƌǁŚĞŶƐubƐŝĚǇapƉůŝĞĚŽŶWeůůeƚSƚŽǀe͘PeůůeƚƐƚŽve
Peůůeƚ^ƚŽveŵŽƌeeŶvŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚĂůfƌŝeŶĚůǇ͘

Figure 7: Current Heating System in Oki Island

Figure 6: Distribution of Wood Pellet Factories.
about forest ownership, as well the forest road systems
are not developed and are costly for local businesses, andno system of information sharing between stake holders
about biomass
Forestry companies cannot sell biomass except on behalfof owners. If owners cannot be reached, thinning andharvesting cannot take place. A great deal of profitable
forestry activity cannot take place because of the
problem of absentee land ownership [3].
There are no technologies used to map forests or detect
diseased, fallen or rotted trees for extraction. Forestry
companies survey the forest by driving through the
public roads and doing sight assessments of plots.
National database of aerial photographs of cedars planted
during last decades is cross referenced with local
prefecture records to find harvestable trees. Althoughsome plots need to be thinned to reduce density andpromote stable growth, forestry companies are unable tocontact owners to undertake management
Lack of knowledge about forest resources, the absence ofmodern forestry mapping techniques and absentee
ownership create significant hardships and costs for the
local forestry industry. These inefficiencies drive up thecost of biomass and make it more difficult to realize thegoal of successfully managed local business fueled bybiomass resources from Satoyama forestry. The
technologies are used in forest in manual felling,
harvester processor, and using of tracked vehicles.
Manual felling requires high-intensity physical labor in
tow person per a team which work approximately 100150 trees a day.
Harvester processor is designed to maximize efficiency
and complete multiple tasks at once, and extracting,processing, and cutting. The problem is that cannot
operate on steep slopes and has a swinging arm withlimited reach. Using of tracked vehicles can cause soil
compaction which prevents roots from getting proper
nutrients and can inhibit or altogether prevent growth[3].

Figure 8: MidorinoKombinat Project
Objectives and Assumptions
As the main objective of the project in theme to proper
subsidy or financial support for promoting the productfor all people in island. Municipality of Okinoshima isplanning to introduce new subsidy for promoting the
installation of pellet stove. The municipality is a small
township and consequently, the budget is limited as it
will be 300,000 yen per one installation.
By the fieldwork, the question is providing a subsidy still
the best option to promote the usage of Pellet Stove or
what kind of subsidy scheme could achieve both the
maximum effect and the least burden to themunicipality’s general budget?
First of all, let assume that most residents would preferpellet stoves than other heating systems, as well more
residents using pellet stoves will decrease the cost. In
addition, the economy will remain stable on the island,and population will not decrease during next years.
However, subsidy is very important for all people, so andit will be helpful if there is any plan for the local
government to increase the subsidy by the time, and help
to provide database for suppliers in the island to provide
the products in low cost.
Problem Analysis
For the problem analysis, below is SWOT analysis
to determine and analyze the external and internal factors
for pellet stoves. The two-up blocks analyze the internal
factor and others are the external factors.

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Table 1: Permanent Forest Road Network

Strength

GermanyJapan

Oki
Islands

Forest Road
Density (m/ha)

118

5

9

Forest Coverage(%) (~ha)

33

67

87

Forest Area (ha)11 mil.

25 mil.

21,101

Exploitation (m3/yr)

56 mil.

20 mil.

22,000Efficiency (m3/ha)

6.00

0.80

1.04

Weaknesses- User friendly- Cost ineĸciency- High eĸciency- Diĸculty with maintenance- AutomĂƟc ƌĞĮůůŝng andŽƉĞƌĂƟon of stove- Noisy operaƟŽŶ- Elecitricity dependent- Convenient fuel- No oil used for stove- Biomass energy- Enviormentally friendly

OpportunŝƟes

Threats- Subsidies for pollet stoves- Many compeƟtors

- Resource availability- High costs- Increased supply- PopulaƟon loss

- Tax incenƟve to switch to pellet
stovesFigure 9: SWOT Analysis.
Case Studies
There are many case studies: global and domestic cases
for pellet stoves. The first story from German and thesecond one from Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka
prefecture.
Pellet Stoves in Germany
Germany is considered to be one of the countries where
the contemporary model of a wood stove was first
introduced and put to use [4]. Germany is produce alarge amount of pellet stove items which dominate inlocal and domestic market and offer a broad range ofstove models.

Figure 10: Potentials for cascading of recovered woodfrom building deconstruction in Germany
Moreover, the increased biomass usage in Germany leads
to bigger demand for pellet stoves which have broad
range of functions apart from heating nowadays.

Sourcetradingeconomics.
com

The sales rates of pellet stoves tend to move in the
opposite direction to the development of prices for fossil
fuels. The overall amount of pellet installations inGermany grew to the modest rate of 50,000 installations
since 2008 until the end of 2011.
In 2010 the share of biomass heat generator from theoverall sales volume of heat generators (oil and gas heatgenerators, heat pumps, and biomass) was only 3.1%.
The bigger shares had low temperature oil boilers (6.1%)
and heat pumps (8.3%). Despite the market incentive
program, which was supposed to make pellet installation
usage more popular as well as increase the sales figuresin German. The sales of Pellet Stove remained below
expectations; only 3.1% of overall sales volume of heatgenerator.

Figure 11: Pellet stoves in EU
European Union is the biggest pellet market in the world.
The consumption of wood pellets in Europe plays asignificant role, as well according to approximate
evaluation provided of German Biofuel Portal, around ahalf of the 24.5 million metric tons of pellets produced
worldwide originate from Europe.
The government of Germany set a new legislation which
implies increased subsidizing. They subsidy all people
who are eager to change their old heating systems for
new pellet boilers and stoves. A subsidy of 3500 Eurowas allocated to the households who switch to pellet

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stoves.
The government of Germany decided to increase thebasic subsidy for heating systems which work on pellets
and have capacities of up to 100kW from 36 Euro per
kW to 80 Euro per kW. As well, in the future, they areplanning to increase the subsidies costs even more.
Household owners who are to replace their existingheating systems with pellet considering boilers andstoves will receive up to 5,250 Euro, and grants of up to
3,500 Euro will be awarded for new buildings.
However, in the future the legislative basis for theincreased biomass usage in Germany will promote woodpellet market and wood pellet stoves market in particular.
This is going to be implemented by subsidizing andsetting legislative requirements for biomass usage.

Figure 13: Shizuoka Prefecture.
Alternative Solutions
There are different types of subsidy in Japan as the table:
Table 2: Types of subsidies
DirectSubsidies
Indirect
Subsidies

Figure 12: Pellet named TENRYU made in
Hamamatsu city.
Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka prefecture
Hamamatsu or Hamamatsu-shi is a city located inwestern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of September 1,
2015, the city had an estimated population of 789,407,
making it the prefecture’s largest city and a population
density of 507 persons per km2. The total area was
1,558.06 km2 (601.57 sq mi) [5]. The achievement of
Hamamatsu city for the utilization project of woodbiomass by promote using biomass fuel is a successfulmodel.
The change of sales volume of pellet which made by
Hamamatsu city between 2013 to 2014 from 27,870 kg
to 112,963 kg, so the number of facilities to machines
using pallets as fuel significantly can be estimated [6].
The sales volume of pellet in the city were increased bysubsidize all people, individuals, corporations ororganizations who install pellet stoves in residences or
shops in Hamamatsu city to purchase and installment ofpellet stove.
Amount of subsidy by the local government is less than
30% of expenses for purchase in maximum 50,000 yen
for one pellet stove. Hamamatsu city are puttingemphasis on the promotion of pellet stove by using
brochure and guide book for promoting with students ofHamamatsu design school. The subsidy complemented
with the campaigns made an impact, as it is not the main
reason to increase the sales volume of pellet stoves
Hamamatsu city.

Nonsubsidies

Cash subsidies (grants)
Stock purchases (higher value of stock)Tax concessions (tax credits)ƐƐƵŵƉƟŽŶ of risk (loan guarantees)
Taxes and penaůƟes for non-compliance (carbon tax)
Revenue bonds (tobacco bonds)

The cost of pellet stove is 300,000 yen in addition theconstruction cost of 200,000 yen. However, the local
government is going to subsidize the people more than
60% of expenses up to 300,000 yen per a machine inprocess to submit the forms to Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries Division of Okinoshima-cho. The subsidy will
go to people, organizations or corporations that having an
address in Okinoshima-cho, and the capacity will be up
to 10 entities per year.

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165

Business Model
Table 3: Business Model
Key Partners-

Local
government
DomesƟc
government
Suppliers
Providers
Maintenance-

Key AcƟviƟĞƐ
-Value ProposiƟons
-Prepare for sessions.
PublicaƟons andstaƟsƟcs.
Training by the Ɵme.
Materials.
Workshops.
Decision making andset policies.
Awareness campaign.
Brochures forpromoƟon.

-HeaƟŶg beƩer
Cost low
Good saving

Customer RelaƟonships-

Key Resources-

People in
Okinoshima islands,
Dogo island,
Firms
HotelsSmall startups

Channels- Set policies.
- Create data base.
- Subsidies.
- Investors.

-

OnsiteOnlineMobileCost Structure-

Customer Segment-

Surveys.
Reports.
Materials.
Workshops.
Awareness campaign.
AdverƟsements.
Brochures forpromoƟon.

Revenues Streams

Total: 500000 yen [+]Subsidy: 200000 yen [-]In charge: 300000 yen-

Crate data revenue Ňow for every 6 months
Revenue = Plant Scale * FIT * Hours/day * Days/Year * Capacity Factor

Logical Frameworks
Table 4: Logical Framworks
Inputs- Money andInvestment.
- Experience andExperts Staī͘- Technology.
- Knowledge.
- Data base.
- Subsidies.
- Investors.
- Experts.

Outputs

Outcomes – ImpactAcƟviƟĞs

ParƟcipaƟon

Short Term

Medium TermLong Term- Sessions.
- PublicaƟons.
- Surveys.
- Reports.
- Training.
- Materials.
- Workshops.
- Decision
making.
- Awarenesscampaign.
- AdverƟsements/ Brochures forpromoƟon.

- Suppliers,- Providers,- Local Gov.
and DomesƟc
Gov.,- Insurancecompanies,- Donors, NGO,and- StaƟsƟcs or
ResearchinsƟtutes.

- Improve thequality of system
which provided topeople,- Reduced anddecreased thecost of heaƟng
consumpƟon.
- More residents
using pellet
stoves.
- Improved heaƟŶŐ
systems.

• Procedures forsharing thedata.
• Policies for
Decisionmaking.
• Behaviors toincrease thesafety forsystem.
• PracƟces.
- Increase thesafety.
• More residents
using pellet
stoves.

• Cost: to reduce.
• Seƫng convenient policies
for all stakeholder.
• More environmentallyfriendly.
• Sustainable development.
• Decreased cost of pellet
stoves.
• Increasing willingness ofresidents to buy pellet
stoves.

AssumpƟons
• Most residents would prefer pellet stoves than otherheaƟŶg systems.
• More residents using pellet stoves will decrease the cost.

External Factors• The economy will remain stable on the island.
• The populaƟon will not decrease.
• Local government will increase the subsidy by the Ɵme.
• There are many suppliers in the island for the products.
• The resources in the island is available all the Ɵme.

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Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

Implementation
The flowchart below shows the process of subsidy by the
local government of Okinoshima island:
Forms
Submission• Submit the form the Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries Division of Okinoshima-cho.

InstallaƟon

• Looking for suppliers,• Install the product,

Subsidy• Get 60% of thesubsidy.
• Capacity: 10
people per a yer.

Figure 14: The process of Government subsidy.

Gap Analysis

Awareness Campaign

Tax IncenƟǀĞƐ

• Surveys of residents• Town-hall MeeƟngs
• Database about residents• Understand awareness andwillingness• Create commiƩĞĞ• Posters / Ads / brochures /Social Media / books• Seminars• Provide cerƟĮcates• Importance of Geopark• Increase resident’s
understanding• Increase willingness to switch
into pellet stove• Taxes on petroleum and Gas• Tax credits on local corporate
tax to hotels and restaurants• Increase willingness to switch
into pellet stove

Figure 15: Additional programs for promoting the
product.
Conclusion
In general result for the fieldwork to Okinoshima island,
25,000 extra timber are needed for the project, as well
Satoyama forest management system in Oki-islands isinefficient well for the people. However, local
government should change the system to provide theproper technology for the harvest system.
Moreover, all suppliers and new startups business in theisland have facing a big problem according to lack of theinformation about forest in the island, as well the sharingof database is too low due to lack of studies. Whatever,
the improvement of communication and introducing newtechnology will make the project more success in future.
Thus, in conclusion for the project, current pellet stove
subsidy might not be efficient due to the high costs ofproject for people in according to the revenue and also
their saving which make the demand in low level, so thatthe government should promote another program forsubsidies, and it is high recommended to promote pellet
stove in Okinoshima island for all people.
References[1] D. Eaton, “Renewable Energy Technology for
Development in a Remote Area: Oki Islands,
JapanOki Islands, Japan,” Lyndon B. Johnson
School of Public Affairs, 2016.
[2] “Groups PPTs,” 2017.
[3] “Pellet stove,” [Online]. Available: http://www.
maria-online.com/culinary/article.php?lg=en&q=
Pellet_stove.
[4] “Pellet stoves in Germany 2016: barriers andopportunities,” Biomass energy German Biofuel
Portal is a resource for biomass and bioenergy

products promotion, covering the latest production
technology, methods, energy eficiency., 3 3 2016.
[Online]. Available: http://biomassa.de/news-pelletstoves-in-germany-2016-barriers-and-opport-32.
html. [Accessed 24 8 2017].
[5] “Hamamatsu,” Wikipedia, 8 2017. [Online].
Av a i l a b l e : h t t p s : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o rg / w i k i /Hamamatsu. [Accessed 8 2017].
[6] “Pellet stoves purchase subsidy,” Hamamatsu City, 8
2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.city.
hamamatsu.shizuoka.jp/sangyo/shinko/nogyo/
nogyo/pellet/jouseikin.html. [Accessed 8 2017].

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Final report for Oki onsite
Shingo Masaki
Group 5
Doshisha University

1. Introduction
1.1 Current situation of the project
Dogo island located in Sea of Japan was once amajor timber production site. As many villages inmountainous region in Japan used to be before theindustrialization, forestry played significant role in thelocal economy. After the World War II, the timber price
had risen by increase of the labor cost due to growth ofJapanese economy. That resulted in loss of thecompetitiveness against the cheaper imported timbers.
Now, many planted trees have left in the forest since they
don’t make profit. In addition, the island is facing serious
depopulation and aging society. All those things brought
the lack of forestry workers. As a result, many forests inJapan, including Dogo island, are left unmaintained.
Municipality of Okinoshima-cho, which covers
whole Dogo island, has been promoting a plan called“Midori no Kombinat”; linearly means #Green
Complex” to create business and industry to support
business related to forestry. The main objective of theplan is to create new business or industry by utilizing
unused wood biomass, such as waste from sawmill,wasted logs, woods resulted from thinning, fallen-down
trees.
In this project, the utilization of unused material isrealized by production of woodchips and lignophenol,
and the utilization of methane as a byproduct. Among ofthese, the woodchips production has beencommercialized and used in many places while theothers have not yet been commercialized. As for the
R&D of lignophenol, theoretical construction and smalllaboratory scale experiments have been operated.
However, the R&D has not been yet matured to makesteady production, which is required for thecommercialization.

There are some technical problems are the major
obstacles to be overcome, but solving these problems
require high knowledge about the chemical reaction
processes which cannot be made by a semester longstudy. Also, there are many obstacles to be overcome
other than technical issues to realize thecommercialization of new technology, or even more toestablish it as a business.

Fig. Lignophenol.
By successful completion of “Midori no Kombinat”
plan, new circulation of money would be created frommaterials used to produce nothing. In other words, theplan anticipates utilizing local resources effectively formaking more money from limited amount of resources,
and ultimately that attracts people who end up
maintaining the forest. However, the project’s progress is
not as rapid as originally estimated. Main reason of slow
progress is the lack of budget because of small
municipality size. The situation surrounding the project
would be more complex because feasibility of the projectwith woodchip power generation decreases as interest
rate increases, as Group 1 mentioned.
1.2 Group work topic
Attracting People/Money by Using Positive Imageof the Project; Project provides not only the actual
products or money by selling them to the community, butalso provides an opportunity to disseminate certain
positive image to the outside of the community. Oki
islands’ economy actually depends largely on the
tourism, and serious depopulation is going on. How can
we utilize this positive image for attracting more people
and money?

Fig. Map of Oki islands.

As above the project’s current situation and thegroup work topic, Dogo island is requiring people both
who want to live in and who visit as tourism because
economy of the island really depends on the tourism and168

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Fig. Overview of “Midori no Kombinat”.
the island is suffering with depopulation. However, thenumber of tourists who come to Oki islands is gradually
decreasing. Therefore we decided to establish a new plan
to attract people utilizing unique characteristic of Dogoisland referring some case study. The characteristicmeans abundant forest resource of the island. Since italso plays an important role for “Midori no Kombinat”
project, the new plan can utilize a part of the project aswell as the project’s positive image.

Fig. Forest resources in Dogo island.

Fig. The number of tourists of Oki islands.

2. Blueprint
Our blueprint of the plan can be called ascomprehensive island plan. This plan is composed of 3
points: welfare of local residents, tourism activities andforestry institution. The first one mainly aims at
depopulation of the island. To change the population
decrease to the increase, some policies to support local
residents and migrants are required.
The second point aims at increase the number oftourist. Dogo island is rich in nature and some greatplace to visit for sightseeing such as Rousoku-iwa(candlestick rock). On the other hand, there are few placethat can play actively in the nature. Establishment of newactivities can be expected to improve the current tourism
state of the island.
The final point aims at not only collecting money
and investment, but also increase island’s population. In“Midori no Kombinat” project, the woodchips is being

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produced commercially and used in many places. As forlignophenol experiments, at a stage of small laboratory,
have already cleared while matured experiments have notstarted yet. To utilize unused materials further anddevelop the biomass technology, a new institution shouldbe established. This institution can cooperate with
universities, companies and other research institution
outside of the island.

Fig. Rousoku-iwa.

169

results. Moreover, Group 4 concluded that the current
pellet stove subsidy might not be efficient because of thehigh costs and low demand, and recommended tocomplement the subsidies with other programs toencourage public involvement.
As for tourism for foreigners, it is difficult for themto obtain information in Oki islands. While there are
English website and employees who can speak English at
Nishinoshima-cho which is other part of Oki islands,
none of them are available at Dogo tourism office.
According to Japan National Tourism Organization, thenumber of foreign tourists who visit Japan has been
increasing and it exceeded 20 million in 2016.
Concerning Oki islands tourism offices, they can be
regarded lack of unity among themselves since each ofthem has own vision and strategies for attracting visitors,
residents and investments. To pursue improvement of
current Oki islands’ tourism situation, cooperation
between each office is important.
As for Japanese tourism, the tourism to Oki islands
has declined in part due to reduction in group tour.
Comparing with individual tour, the group tour has
higher possibility to contribute to the islands economy
because it brings more people. A special program that
can attract not only individual tour but also group tour
should be established in the islands.

Fig. Undried woodchips.

Fig. An example of the biomass project: Oki GreenPower Station.

Fig. Lignophenol plant in Dogo island.
3. Public awarenessAccording to the questionnaire of Group 3, 85 % ofyoung people living in the island said the biomass project
is not important. In addition, more than half of
respondents are unaware of the project. Okinoshima-cho
is planning to establish “subsidiary system of residential
wood pellet stove installment” for household orenterprise by aiming to further increase of wood pellet
and its use in 2017. At present, only 150 households haveinstalled the pellet stove. The number of the wood pellet
stove spread for ordinary homes may reflect on theseFig. Wood pellet stove.

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4. Case study
4.1 Case of Ama-cho
Ama-cho (Ama town) is in Nakanoshima which isone of Oki islands and is in Dozen part, and its
population is about 2,400. Ama-cho succeeded toincrease residence with many activities despite a part ofOki islands as well as Okinoshima-cho, Dogo island. We
can refer case of Ama-cho to the first point of our blue
print: welfare of local residents. The activities and that ofresults are shown below.
● Activities of Ama-cho Financial support for people who wishes to start
fishery (e.g. 150,000 yen per month for 3 years
till their salary reaches to decent level).
 Affordable loans for people who want to start new
business in Ama-cho.
 Mayor of Ama-cho cut 50 % of his salary to
manage the budget.
 Other officers of Ama-cho agreed to cut theirsalary to manage the budget.
 Established and advertised ‘Oki beef ’ and‘Haruka oyster’ brand.
 Opened new courses at the high school in Amacho with scholarship for students from outside of
the town.

51,060 km2.
The country is rich in nature and its half of the landarea is covered by forest. Totally, national parks andnature reserved area is occupying over quarter of the landarea. In this country, there are lots of biodiversity andpristine water and beaches. Thus, it can be said that theenvironment of Costa Rica is similar to that of Dogoisland. On the other hand, the number of tourists and thetourist income in Costa Rica are increasing unlike thecase of Dogo island. We can refer the case of Costa Ricato the second point of our blueprint: tourism activities.
Costa Rica is a hotspot for eco-tourism: emphasis
on visiting unspoiled natural places, and on disturbing
the natural environment as little as possible. Many of thefirst eco-tourists were academics that came to study
biology. However, many of today’s eco-tourists are not
so. There is some key to continued tourism growth:
innovative attractions.

Fig. Costa Rica location.
● Eco-lodges
 Built using sustainable materials
 Sustainable power (e.g. wind and solar)
 Some proceeds used for environmental
preservation, education
 Range from shoestring budget to high-end luxury

Fig. Map of Ama-cho.
● Results of the activities
 Population increased and currently 20 % of
population of Ama-cho is from outside of the
town.
 Population of young generation, that representsfrom 0 to 39 years old, increased.
 ‘Haruka oyster’ is now exported to Dubai, theUnited States, etc. and annual turnover reaches to
200 million yen (about 2 million dollars).
 There is boom of housing construction due to theshortage of housing for people from outside of
the town.
4.2 Case of Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country in Central America locatedbetween the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It has
a population of around 4.9 million, in a land area of● Adventure Activities
 Zip-lining
 Mountain biking
 Bungee jumping Whitewater rafting Regular endurance races
 More than 50 % now come for adventure
activities.

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Table of tourism statistics in Costa Rica
Year

Tourists(thousands ofpeople)Earned by
Tourism(millions ofdollars)

Relationship% of GDP(Tourism/exports)

2003

1.237,95

1.199,40

19,70

2004

1.452,93

1.357,40

21,50

2005

1.679,05

1.569,90

22,30

2006

1.725,26

1.629,30

19,90

2007

1.979,79

1.894,70

20,30

2008

2.089,17

2.144,20

22,60

Source: MIDEPLAN based on data from ICT 2009.

171

The number of student is about 2,000 while once was
100 at first. The purposes of this university are teacher
training, teacher in-service training and research of
education. Now, the most focused one is teacher inservice training.
As shown in the picture, the university have beensurrounded by the small hills and lots of rice field. There
was another purpose to make the bunker as a regional
military headquarter. At that time, there was no hospital,
no markets but just one road.
They use the 2 ways for teacher in-service training
between online and offline. They can get some benefits
the offline training courses. Also providing the offline
training service, they can call the teachers andstakeholders in education to their location. The numberof teachers as training member is 2 or 3 times over than
the number of student per year. Thus, as well as theuniversity officers, many teachers who have an economic
power visit and stay around this region. This results inincrease the benefit for local economy. Though there wasonly one road in this region, there are little bit moreroads, more over 10 cafes, 3 supermarkets and etc. atpresent.
We can refer this case to the final point of our
blueprint: forestry institution.

Fig. An eco-lodge in Costa Rica.

Fig. Zip-lining in Costa Rica.
Fig. An aerial photograph of KNUE.
5. Conclusion
Regarding the questionnaires implemented byGroup 3, raising awareness of the Oki islands biomass
project has the potential to revitalize the forestry value
chain, creating jobs and developing industries linked to
the forestry environment. This in turn could revitalize theislands’ economy. Our concrete proposals are shown
below.

Fig. Whitewater rafting.
4.3 Case of Korea - KNUE
Korea National University of Education (KNUE)
was established in 1984 by the president law to make theintegrated education center. It is located in Cheongju.

 Advertisement campaigns inside as well as outside theisland.
 Research centers focused on improving the existing
technology for producing biomass products such as
wood pellets and lignophenol, to achieve greater
efficiency and reduce production cost.
 Encourage business formation via government

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subsidies research grants and so on.
 Improve the infrastructure: transportation,communication facilities and restaurants.
 Promote Oki islands as a premiere eco-tourism
destination.
 At initial stage, we need to at least have small
successful projects, if not a bigger one (as was pointed
out by Mr. Hisashi Kajiyama in the lecture at
Hiroshima University), so that others can also be
inspired to do the same.
6. References
http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/admin/region/chiiki/ritou/
ritou/index.data/hukyuuban2.pdf
http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/tourism/tourist/kankou/
oki_shoukai/oki/syoukai.data/okigenkyo29_4.pdf
http://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/articles/3594/1.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2013/11/07/ama_
n_4232760.html
http://www.megurinowa.jp
http://www2.knue.ac.kr/icons/app/cms/?html=/home/
life_ad2.html&shell=/index.shell:175
http://www.edu.snu.ac.kr/board/news/view/468
http://www.oki-geopark.jp/en/about/
http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/tourism/tourist/kankou/
oki_shoukai/oki/syoukai.data/2013okitouyouran.
pdf
https://www.jalan.net/news/article/151649/
http://www.freeworldmaps.net/centralamerica/costarica/
location.html
http://www.pacuarelodge.com/
https://www.classadventuretravel.com/costa-ricas-top-3zipline-destinations/
http://dquest.travel/sightseeing/?pais=4&turismo=ODc

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Contributors
Chen, Yan:

Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Chen, YanShuang:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Commerce, Doshisha
University
Chi, Lirong:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Social Studies,
Doshisha University
Cho, Hyungbeom:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Policy andManagement, Doshisha University
Gines, Arnold Rey B.:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Gonon, Anne:
Professor, Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha
University / Editor of GRM Journal
Hajjaj, Mohammed Awad: Master’s Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Khalili, Mostafa:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Liu, Xiao:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Commerce, Doshisha
University
Masaki, Shingo:
Master’s Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Mukayama, Tomoyuki: Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Ohashi, Tasuku:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Pumaneratkul, Chayadit: Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Sato, Yutaro
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Shimabukuro, Yuji:
Master’s Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Sumi, Yu:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Takimoto, Kanako:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Policy andManagement, Doshisha University
Umemoto, Asuka:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Global Studies,
Doshisha University
Yang, Huimin:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Social Studies,
Doshisha University
Yasunaka, Kayo:Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Theology, Doshisha
University
Yoshioka, Kentaro:
Master’s Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University
Zhang, Fan:
Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Doshisha University

Global Resource Management ジャーナル Vol. 4

編集・発行者

印刷所

2018 年 3 月

印刷2018 年 3 月

発行

同志社大学高等研究教育機構〒 602-8580 京都市上京区今出川通烏丸東入
電話：（075）251-3259
E-mail：ji-grmld@mail.doshisha.ac.jp
URL：http://grm.doshisha.ac.jp/index.html
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