LocationsBuilding Climate Resilience Across Cambodia
July 25, 2024
Cambodia is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, partly due to its dependence on rain-fed agriculture and susceptibility to extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts. Floods accounted for nearly half of the country's natural disasters in the past four decades. With low adaptive capacity, the local communities are bearing the brunt of associated losses and damages.
In response, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has prioritized climate change adaptation, including increased investments in favour of economic and societal resilience, in its climate action commitment to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and key national plans and strategies.
UNDP has collaborated with partners to assist the RGC in building climate resilience across the country through (1) strengthening climate information and early warning systems, (2) enhancing climate-responsive planning, and (3) promoting local adaptation solutions.
Strengthening climate information and early warning systems
UNDP has been working in partnership with the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) since 2015 to modernize Cambodia's climate data collection to enhance its capacity to obtain reliable information through the "Strengthening Climate Information and Early Warning Systems to Support Climate-Resilient Development in Cambodia Project," funded by the Global Environment Facility-Least Developed Countries Fund.
The project supported the installation of 54 automatic weather and hydrological stations in disaster-prone regions and training for the Department of Meteorology staff in the use and modelling of meteorological data. The forecasts and warnings generated from this data help facilitate decision-making in weather-sensitive sectors thus saving lives, assets, and livelihoods.
Together with People in Need (Non-Governmental Organization), we have expanded the early warning text message alerts EWS1294 to scale up awareness at national and local levels, adding nearly 25,000 new subscribers.
Our partnership with DanChurchAid has supported the creation of eight Drought Infohubs, which help improve drought monitoring and response by facilitating information sharing between provincial departments.
Enhancing climate-responsive planning
UNDP, under a regional initiative with support from the Republic of Korea, has been promoting an integrated approach to water resource management in the Mekong River basin. This includes closing data availability and analysis gaps, enhancing institutional and technical capacity at the subnational level, increasing resources for water-related risk reduction, and facilitating knowledge sharing and coordination between Cambodia and Lao PDR.
Additionally, through the projects supported by the Global Environmental Facility, efforts have been made to develop community action plans for disaster risk reduction and introduce climate-sensitive planning, budgeting and execution at the sub-national level, specifically focusing on gender equality and empowering female-led households.
Promoting local adaptation solutions
Promoting local adaptation solutions is critical to building resilience across Cambodia. We have worked with partners on initiatives ranging from providing grants for local adaptation projects to planting mangrove trees, creating a public pond for agroforestry, and building solar water pumps.
Through the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance Phase III (CCCA III), a joint initiative between UNDP, Sweden, the European Union, and the Royal Government of Cambodia to increase capacities for climate resilience for the communities, implemented by the National Council for Sustainable Development, 22 innovation grants were awarded to local adaptation projects, including grants for promoting technologies for climate-smart farming and water management.
Through our partner ActionAid Cambodia, more than 70,000 mangroves have been planted in coastal communities to improve biodiversity and reduce damage from storm surges. Solar water pumps installed in six villages provide easier and cheaper access to water during the dry season.
In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, we have supported the creation of a public pond for agroforestry to improve community income and reduce pressure on upland watershed areas in line with the National Action Plan to Combat Land Degradation.
In a complementary endeavor with the Ministry of Environment, more than 90 small-scale water management infrastructures, such as canals, ponds, and water wells, were built in Siem Reap and Kampong Thom to reduce the climate change induced vulnerability of local communities and their livelihoods.
Ways forward
Nearing the tenth year of building climate change resilience, we acknowledge the progress made by Cambodia in enhancing the adaptive capacity of local communities and strengthening climate information and early warning at the national level. The country has come a long way, from ranking 9th in the World Risk Disaster Index of 2016 to 65th in 2022. Nevertheless, it still remains highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The climate change crisis is multifaceted and hence requires a whole of the government and whole of society approach. UNDP will continue to support Cambodia in the development and implementation of national adaptation strategies and actions in line with the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan (2014-2023) and the Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN) to combat the adverse effects of climate change and deliver the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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