A forum on flora and fauna in Indochina kicked at Phnom Penh's Royal University, with more than a 100 botanists representing countries from Africa, Europe, Asia, and the US

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008120923097/National-news/Indochinese-flora-fauna-forum-to-kick-start-nascent-research.html

Indochinese flora, fauna forum to kick-start nascent research
Written by Brendan Brady
Tuesday, 09 December 2008

More than a hundred botanists from around globe converge on PPenh

A FORUM on flora and fauna in Indochina kicked off Monday at Phnom
Penh's Royal University, with more than a hundred botanists
representing 15 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, as well as the
United States.

Young Cambodian researchers and university students attending the
conference will "profit from the experience and exchange of ideas by
having so many people from around the world here", said a scientist
from Madagascar who was in attendance.

The weeklong conference sponsored by the French government aims to
connect regional experts and kick-start research by Cambodians in the
field.
"This is the first major conference in Cambodia of this kind. There is
a shortage of skills in this field in Cambodia, and this can help in
their training," said Dominique Freslon, the cooperation counsellor
for the French embassy in Phnom Penh.

Picnic on algae
Topics of discussion throughout the week will range from edible green
algae in the Mekong River to plant conservation in national parks in
Vietnam to medicinal plants throughout Southeast Asia.

Evelyne Ollivier, a French researcher with experience in Cambodia who
gave a lecture Monday on traditional medicine, said herbal remedies
remain popular for the majority of rural Cambodians and insisted on
their effectiveness.

But she lamented that "most traditional healers are now old, and it's
not certain their knowledge will be transmitted" to the next
generation.
.