Deutsche Abwasser- und Abfallexperten aus Baruth/Mark engagieren sich in der Stadt Murun in der westlichen Mongolei

















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Official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between UBB and BUW

Friday, 14.03.2014, Battambang, Cambodia

In a solemn celebration the cooperation between the University of Battambang and the Bauhaus-Universität has been announced.

Ms Kimseang, speaker of UBB, officially opened the celebration ceremony, in which she welcomed the efforts by the students and facilitators of the iReBa project. After this short introduction the National anthem of Cambodia and the National anthem of Germany were played, which emphasized the significance of  the intended collaboration between the two universities, as well as the iReBa project.

After the national anthems Mr. Cheyvuth, dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, held a speech about the future cooperation between UBB and BUW. He expressed his deep appreciation of the start of this cooperation with the already conducted iReBa workshop. However, he hopes strongly to deepen this cooperation in the future with further exchange of students and members of the academic staff from Germany and Cambodia. He and his team look strongly forward to strengthen this cooperation.

Mr Jürgen Stäudel, representative of the team of the BUW expressed his deep personal feelings about the start of this cooperation. He stated, that this cooperation offers a huge potential for further common activities in the field of environmental engineering and urban planning at both univerities. The cooperation of staff of the BUW and other organizations from Weimar and Erfurt during the last years has laid an important groundwork on which it is possible to build a solid future cooperation. The common student project iReBa has been a remarkable success for the students of BUW and UBB, including all valuable results that have been found during the last two weeks. For Battambang this project just comes at the right time, as Battambang develops quickly and skilled engineers and urban planers are needed to support this rapid development.

After the two speeches of the representatives of UBB and BUW, the MoU was officially signed and exchanged:

Group picture of Mr. Ulf, Mr. Jürgen, Mr Cheyvuth, Mr Manit, representatives of UBB and BUW:

Resources management - We are slowly getting there

After quite some struggle the group is slowly getting there. Can you actually see it?

Not only the waste management in the class room has improved! Can you see it?

They simplify, they structure, they clarify.... Yes, they are slowly getting there.

But there is also not much time left. The final presentation needs to be prepared. The results shall be officially be presented to representatives of the University of Battambang, the Municipality of Battambang and other organisations in Battambang.

Please click on one of the pictures below to enlarge:

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Still a lot to learn and think about

Thinking intensively about integrated resources management does not immediately lead to obvious results. The waste situation in the class room stands symbolic for the work of the iReBa team. It is clear, something definitely needs to be done to improve, but what is? Where to start? Where is a solution?

All are thinking hard and don't give up. Lets keep it symbolic: All the rubbish is mixed. We know there is a lot of value contained. But what shall we do? How can we make use of all this sh....? Who can We actually change for the better?

Well lets continue work on ideas and consider different concepts and  technologies for our project.

Please click on one of the pictures below to enlarge:

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Excursion to dumpsite, SAB, WWTP and informal settlement

A first excursion to the dumpsite, the social waste management centre Battambang (SAB), the wastewater treatment plant and an informal settlement in Battambang helped to create a common understanding of the challenges. The German and Cambodian students have been equally impressed by what they have seen, as almost none of them has been aware of the complexity of environmental problems related to missing basic infrastructure systems or see these problems in reality respectively.

Please click on one of the pictures to enlarge and see the slideshow with impressions from the field trip.

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