Content uploaded by Kong Chhuon
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Kong Chhuon on May 11, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
The State of Climate Change in Cambodia
Watt Botkosal, Chhuon Kong & Chea Chanthou
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: chhuon.k@gmail.com
Cambodian climate is characterized by a dry season from mid-November to mid-
May and a rainy season from mid-May to mid-November. The annual average
temperature is 27°C, and rises to a maximum of 38°C in April or May and falls
to a minimum of 14°C in January or December.
Cambodia, it is predicted that there will be an increase in mean annual
temperature of between 1.35˚C and 2.5˚C by 2100. Mean annual rainfall is also
predicted to increase from 3% to 35%, with the most significant increase
experienced in the wet season. As with the other countries in the Lower Mekong
Basin, flooding and droughts are expected to increase in terms of frequency,
severity and duration. The potential impacts of climate change include changes to
rice productivity, with increases in wet season crops in some areas and decreases
in others; acceleration of forest degradation including the loss of wet and dry
forest ecosystems; inundation of the coastal zone and higher prevalence of
infectious diseases.
The impact of climate change will be an unprecedented and increasing global
threat to life, livelihoods and life-supporting systems. Cambodia’s contribution to
greenhouse gas emissions is negligible and the country is ranked number 109 by
the World Resources Institute, with emissions of only 0.29 tons of carbon
dioxide per head of population each year. However, Cambodia will suffer from
the effects of global warming due to excessive emissions in other parts of the
world. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is expected to
experience higher and more intense rainfall. The effects are likely to include
more severe water scarcity and more frequent floods, resulting in crop failures
and food shortages. Accelerated loss of biodiversity will cause a decline in
ecosystem services. Coastal communities and eco-systems are likely to be
affected by rises in sea levels. Higher temperatures and humidity will create
conditions for increased incidence of malaria and dengue fever. The poor and
marginalized, particularly women and children, will be worst affected.
There is consideration that the Governmental institutions and non-governmental
institutions, agencies and other stakeholders have taken into account the Climate
Change (CC) concepts in their development activities in Cambodia. The
Government has ratified and accepted the international strategies and protocol for
actions on CC in the country as well as global concern.
The main objective of this paper is to gain insight on the experiences and lessons
learned from Cambodian National Institutions and some key local communities’
concerns to the CC and its adaptation.
Keywords: climate change; greenhouse gases emissions; global warming; climate
change adaptation.
1
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
1 Introduction
The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in mainland Southeast Asia between
latitudes 10° and 15° N and longitudes 102° and 108° E. Cambodia covers an
area of 181,035 km2 with a total population is about 13.4 million people in 2008
(NSDPU, 2009-2013). Approximately 80.5 percent of this population lives in
rural areas. The population lives below the national poverty line fell from 34.7%
in 2004 to 30.1% in 2007.
Figure 1: Administrative map of Cambodia
Cambodia is vulnerable to climate change. On average, agriculture has
accounted for more than 40% of GDP. Agricultural production is dependent on
the annual flooding and recession of the Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong River,
which brings fertile alluviums to the central plains. Over 80% of population is
living in rural areas, of which 52% in the central plains and 30% around Tonle
Sap Lake. Cambodia has 435 km coastline and low elevation of central plain
that vulnerable to sea water intrusion. Tropical diseases (malaria, dengue fever,
etc.) with limited health care system. Unprecedented dengue fever outbreak in
2007 and more severe and frequent floods and droughts have occurred in recent
years.
2
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
The strategies, policies and legal framework of Cambodian government created
and ratified from international policies and protocol that shown the thoroughly
consideration of the government to CC. The NCCC is a cross-ministerial policy
making body to address climate change issues in Cambodia and support the
country for committing in applying the integrated water resources management
(IWRM) aspects for climate change adaptation in the country.
1.1 Objectives
The following objectives are set in different task on items, specifically:
1. Understand the CC and it impact to related sectors in Cambodia;
2. Shear knowledge, experience and lesson learnt of CC management in
Cambodia to all line agencies and other countries as well as the world
3. Identify and review the governmental documents related to CC related
policies and strategies by viewing the integrated aspects have been
addressing by them;
4. Provide recommendations for improving the related documents for
Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) perspectives integrated;
5. Make specific recommendation for next activity.
2 Understand of Climate Change in Cambodia and in Global
Context
Recently, Cambodia facing various problems since there are increasing natural
resources degradation due to forest, water, land and mineral resources have been
overusing for economic development and pro-poor development activities in
country-wide up to date. These problems are major for environment which
appeared such as higher temperature, precipitation and sea level rise. It is to
start a knowledge related to climate change in Cambodia.
The simple understanding on climate change, showed by Website
chinaview.com [2], the word “climate change” is a change in the "average
weather" that a given region experiences. Average weather includes all the
features we associate with the weather such as temperature, wind patterns and
precipitation. The earth's climate is dynamic, always changing. In the past few
million years, there have been spells of Ice Age and warm periods. The causes
of these changes in climate have been natural. What the world is more worried
about now is the impact of human activities on climate change.
Website chinaview.com [2] declared that CC also comes from human activities,
releasing greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is
produced when fossil fuels are used to generate energy or when forests are cut
down and burned. Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are emitted in many
ways for example agricultural activities, change in land use, and other sources.
A greenhouse is a house with transparent plastic or glass roof and walls that is
built to grow vegetables, flowers or other plants in temperate and colder
3
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
countries. A greenhouse protects provides heat to plants: its roof and walls
allow sunlight to enter and prevent heat from escaping. This effect is known as
the "greenhouse effect".
Figure 2: The Green House Effect
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defined clearly the
definition of climate change as any change in climate over time, whether due to
natural variability or as a result of human activity.
2.1 Impact of climate change in Cambodia
With viewing of the climate change in global context, there are given in
summary as below:
a) Health sector: weather-related mortality, infectious diseases, air
quality-respiratory illnesses;
b) Agricultural sector: crop yields failure, irrigation demand;
c) Forestry sector: change in forest composition, shift geographic range
of forests, forest health and productivity;
d) Water resources sector: change in water supply, water quality,
increased competition for water;
e) Coastal areas: erosion of beaches, inundate coastal lands, costs to
defend coastal communities;
f) Species and natural areas: shift in ecological zones, loss of habitat
and species.
For specific Cambodia, this country contributes little effect to climate change,
but the country shall be affected by climate change impacts as a whole from the
global. Recent study of Anshory Yusuf and Fransisco [1] shows that Cambodia
is not highly exposed to climate hazards (except the Mekong Delta on the
border to Vietnam) all its provinces, but are vulnerable to climate change due to
4
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
their limited and low adaptive capacity and dependence on climate-sensitive
livelihood. Climate change adaptation in Cambodia is largely about agriculture,
water and health concerns and the strengthening of institutional capacity. There
will be most climate change impacts in Cambodia be largely felt in Tonle Sap
areas through changing water flows in the Mekong, altering the unique flood
pulses system, and in coastal zones through sea level rise, increasing erosion
and salinization. It is likely to be wetter, with higher water levels and more
extensive flooded areas as well as longer flood duration; however the effects of
climate change on the monsoon system are not yet fully understood. Responding
to climate change should start by linking efforts to reduce vulnerability to
present climate-related disasters with those aimed at building longer-term
resilience to climate change. It is important to note that climate change is not the
only factor affecting the Mekong flows; planned large-scale hydropower dams
are estimated to have a remarkable impact on the quantity and quality of the
flow. The combined impact is a serious concern for the Tonle Sap areas.
The mean annual temperature is expected to increase by between 0.7 oC and 2.7
oC until 2060 and between 1.4 oC and 4.3 oC until 2090 by McSweeney, 2008
[3]. The frequency of hot days and hot nights has increased by 13% and 17%
since the 1960s. Projections for 2090 go up to a doubling of hot days and hot
nights during summertime. According to the 2006 National Adaptation Program
of Action to Climate Change (NAPA), agriculture, forestry, human health and
coastal zones are most vulnerable against the impacts of climate change. Floods
have accounted for 70% of rice production losses between 1998 and 2002, while
drought is responsible for 20% of the losses (MoE, NAPA, 2006) [6]. Floods do
not only destroy crops, but also kill many people and damage infrastructures.
Weather extremes believed to be related to climate change cause a significant
number of facilities and considerable economic issues.
Cambodia's climate is governed by monsoon and characterized by two major
seasons: rainy season from May to early October and dry season from
November to April. The annual average temperature is 28oC, with a maximum
average of 38oC in April, and a minimum average of 17oC in January. The
country frequently experiences floods and droughts, that cause considerable
economic losses and social and environmental impacts. Cambodia rarely suffers
from extreme weather events such as typhoons or even severe storms because it
is protected by the surrounding mountain ranges (MoE, NAPA, 2006) [6].
According to IPCC, 2007, climate change impacts such as drought, floods,
severe weather and sea-level rise are likely to result in food shortages, increases
in vector-borne diseases, infrastructure damage, and the degradation of natural
resources upon which livelihoods are based. The negative impacts of climate
change will affect mostly poor people, who consider lower adaptive capacity.
Oxfam Cambodia (2008) [10] also highlighted that Cambodia is one of the most
disaster-prone countries in South East Asia with its vulnerability to annual
floods and droughts. One of the reasons why it is vulnerable to natural disasters
is that the livelihoods of the majority of people depend directly upon natural
5
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
resources, with a large proportion of its population occupied in agriculture and
related sectors, including animal husbandry. Extreme poverty, which limits
access to food, water and other basic amenities, leads to the increasing of
vulnerability. These characteristics heighten Cambodia’s exposure to the
impacts of climate change too.
The Ministry of Environment of Cambodia conducted the study on Cambodian
Climate status by using two global warming scenarios (SRESA2 and SRESB1)
and three models (GCM models CCSR and CSIRO) in 2002 suggested that by
2100 rainfall in Cambodia would increase by 3% to 35% from the current
condition, while temperature increase would be in the range of 1.3oC - 2.5oC.
The occurrence of climate extremes may also increase.
This evidence of greater climatic extremes are both declining rainfall in the dry
season and more violent rainfall in the wet season, causing flash floods.
Increasingly powerful typhoons also appear to be occurring (Oxfam Cambodia,
2008) [10]. Projected changes in climate could have major consequences on
hydrology and water resources, agriculture and food security, terrestrial and
freshwater ecosystems, coastal zones and marine ecosystems, and human health.
Adverse impacts include increased flood and drought magnitude and damages in
temperature and tropical Asia, reduction in crop yields, decrease water
availability, and increase in the number of people exposed to vector and water-
borne diseases (MoE, NAPA, 2006) [6].
There will be increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events
such as floods, droughts and windstorms as well as coastal inundation due to
sea-level rise (Cambodia Environmental and Climate Change Policy Brief). The
occurrence of drought, flood, and windstorm is getting more common in
Cambodia. The risk of drought, flood and windstorm in Cambodia may increase
as a result of global warming (Tin Ponlok, 2010) [12].
2.2 Natural hazards and disasters induced by Climate Change
2.2.1 Flood
The high rainfall uneven distributed throughout the country. Some regions can
be expected high level of rainfall, which lead to floods, while the others may
face shortage of rainfall, leading to drought. Floods (and occasional droughts
and windstorms) are quite frequent in Cambodia over the last decade and appear
to be increasing since 1989 after which statistics are available. Severe floods
have resulted in a high number of casualties and destruction of infrastructures.
The most severe floods, which occurred in 2000, killed some 350 people and
caused US $150 million in damages to crops and infrastructures. The severe
floods occurred during the period 2000-2002 was the worst in recent history,
resulted in 438 casualties, which included a high number of internally displaced
people, hundreds of deaths and economic losses, and caused damage amounting
to US $ 205m in total (NCDM, 2002) [9]. The worse event again in 2011, flood
hit 15 provinces and affect 90,300 families. At least 97 people were killed and
170 000 hectares of rice fields have been submerged.
6
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
2.2.2 Drought
According to the information from the National Committee for Disaster
Management (NCDM) in 2002 [9], the impact of drought in some regions in
Cambodia can be evidenced through the following description. Prolonged
drought was experienced in 1997 to 1998 and consecutive drought in 2001,
2002, 2004 and 2005. A short dry spell of 20 to 30 days during the rainy season
(May – November) can result to extensive damage to crops. The most severe
drought, which subsequently occurred in 2002 and caused by the lack of rainfall
had been severely affected on more than 2 million people and destroyed more
than 100,000 ha of paddy fields (CDRI, 2002). These facts indicate that the
agricultural production center of Cambodia is very vulnerable to extreme
climate events. The productive impact could be classified as 134,926 ha rice
crop, 41,490 ha transplanted and 15,441 ha seedling. Furthermore, the draught
had been widely affected throughout the areas of 8 provinces consisted of 43
districts and affected on 442,419 families (2,017,340 individual) and caused
food shortage for 154,069 families. The estimated direct damages are at USD 9
M.
2.2.3 Typhoons
Typhoons are rare in Cambodia and do not appear to be a serious threat to
coastline integrity (EVS, 1996; GEC, WWF and Wetland International, 2000).
Typhoons strike the Cambodian coastline every 2 to 5 years and normally occur
at the end of the rainy season. Cambodia is among the four Southeast Asian
Countries that were affected by Typhoon Ketsana between September 26 and
October 5, 2009, causing incredible damage and loss, destroyed homes and
livelihoods of some 49,000 families, or about 180,000people, equivalent of 1.4
percent of Cambodia’s total population, leaving 43 people dead and 67 severely
injured and 14 out of 24 provinces were affected by the storm and subsequent
flash flood. Most of the affected districts are among the poorest in the country
(RGC, 2010) [11]. The typhoon hits the Northern Provinces of Cambodia, from
the Northeast border to the North and the Northwest. The flash floods were
followed by more moderate flooding in nearby provinces (World Bank, 2010)
[15]. The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) estimated the total damage
and loss caused by Typhoon Ketsana to be USD 132 million (damage: USD 58
million and loss: USD 74 million). The productive sector is the most affected
(56% of all damage and loss), followed by the social sectors (26%), and
infrastructure sector (18%). Damage and loss of the cross-cutting sectors
(environment and public administration) can be considered as negligible when
compared to the sectors (RGC, 2010) [11]. The initial Damage Assessment
carried out by the Government indicated that up to 14 provinces with 73
districts and 336 communes had been affected by the storm and subsequent
flash flood (NCDM, 2009) [9].
2.3 Sectoral Impact of Climate Change
Climate hazards occurring in Cambodia include flood, drought and windstorms.
In coastal areas, underground water salinization, and seawater intrusion are
7
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
common problems. The following sections provide an overview of the impacts
of climate hazards in Cambodia on various sectors.
2.3.1 Seawater Intrusion
Underground water salinization and seawater intrusion are common in coastal
lowland areas used for agriculture, particularly during the dry season.
Salinization of groundwater occurs in Kep and Kampot provinces which close
to the sea. Similarly, most streams in coastal areas experience seawater intrusion
in the dry season.
2.3.2 Malaria Incidence
Cambodia is geographically located in an area prone to vector and water-borne
diseases, including malaria and dengue fever. Thus, changes in climatic
conditions will have significant influence on the outbreak of these diseases.
Cambodia already has the highest malaria fatality rate within Southeast Asia,
with some 500 deaths per year (MoH, 1999 and 2004). The percentage of
malaria inpatients is the highest among communicable diseases within the
country. The Ministry of Health, especially the National Centre for
Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, has limited financial and human
resources to fight malaria. Although malaria incidence has decreased since
1999, case fatality rate has increased from 3.2% in 1998 to 4.3% in 2002 (MoH,
1999 and 2004).
2.3.3 Agriculture
In the agriculture sector, only the rice production system was assessed in four
major rice producing provinces. Based on data from the past five years, rice
production loss in Cambodia was mainly due to the occurrence of flooding
(more than 70%) and followed by drought (about 20% ) and others such as pest
and diseases (about 10%) (MoE, INC, 2002) [5]. Under elevated CO 2, yields of
wet season rice might increase above that of dry season rice. However, there is a
chance that under changing climate, rice yield in some provinces would be more
variable than under current conditions due to the increase in flood frequency and
intensity, in particular in rice growing areas surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake
and the Mekong River.
Figure 3: Distribution of rice production loss
8
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
2.3.4 Fishery
By 2030, climate change may raise the wet season flood level of the Tonle Sap
Lake by 2.3 meters, extending feeding grounds and encouraging fish
production. On the other hand, dams to be developed in the Mekong Basin will
store water during the monsoon and thus will decrease wet season flood levels.
The net result of these two processes is unknown.
It is similarly difficult to predict the specific effects of climate change on fish
species composition and abundance in Cambodia. Patterns of change in fertility,
recruitment, nutrition and growth will depend on both species and interactions
between species. Some of the 500 or so Cambodian freshwater species will
thrive in a changed climate, while others may die out. An assessment is needed
of climate change effects on the commercially dominant species that comprise
the bulk of the catch (World Fish Centre, 2009) [16].
2.3.5 Forestry
According to the Holdridge Classification System, under the current climate
conditions, Cambodia's forests are dominated by dry forest (60%), followed by
wet forest (20%) and moist forest (20%). Under changing climate, the area of
wet forest would decrease while moist forest would increase and dry forest
would remain the same. This change indicated that forest productivity and
biodiversity might also change. High rate of deforestation may accelerate the
loss of forest biodiversity and reduce forest productivity.
2.3.6 Health
In the Vulnerability and Adaptation (V&A) study, only the impact of climate
change on malaria has been assessed as this is the most serious vector-borne
disease in Cambodia. The study showed that in the last four years the number of
malaria cases is negatively correlated with dry season rainfall (6%), mean
annual temperature (19%) and percent literate (46%), and positively correlated
with wet season rainfall (29%).
2.3.7 Coastal Zone
Cambodia's coastal zone consists of two provinces (Kampot, and Koh Kong)
and two municipalities (Sihanoukville and Kep). The total area covered by these
provinces and the autonomous cities is about 17,237 km2. In this study, only
Koh Kong province has been assessed since this province covers most of the
coastal zone (11,160 km2) and is the most vulnerable to the impact of sea level
rise according to a preliminary analysis of the impacts of a 1 meter sea level rise
on Cambodia's coastal zone. This is due to the fact that most areas along the
Koh Kong coastline are low-lying. The study indicated that if sea level rises by
1 meter, about 0.4% of the total area of Koh Kong province would be
permanently under water (MoE, INC, 2002) [5].
9
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
3 Policy of government for Climate Change Adaptation
Responding to the urgent need for climate change issues and impact, Cambodia
ratified the UNFCCC in 1995 [13] and launched the first climate change project
to help prepare the Cambodia’s Initial National Communication (UNDP/GEF)
in 1999. In addition, the environmental protection law which was approved by
the national assembly in 1994 is also one legal document which is supporting
the climate change.
In 2002, Cambodia has acceded to the Kyoto Protocol and at the same year,
Cambodia has submitted the Initial National Communication (INC) to the CoP-
8 in New Delhi, India. In addition, the MOE has conducted an analysis of
policies and to address climate change impact of Cambodia (MoE, 2005) [4].
In 2006 the Royal Government of Cambodia has developed the Cambodian
National Adaptation Program of Action to Climate Change (NAPA) and in 2007
developed the second national communication. The National Strategy
Development Plan, 2009-2013 is also a crucial framework to support climate
change. Finally, in 2010, the brief policy on Cambodia Environmental and
Climate Change has also developed to support addressing the climate change
impact of Cambodia.
The National Climate Change Committee (NCCC), which was established by
sub-decree in April 2006, and now comprises of representative from 20
Government ministries and agencies, serves as a policy-making body and
coordinates the development and implementation of policies, plans and
measures to address climate change issues within the country.
Figure 4: Institutional Framework - Organization Charts
10
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
4 Best Practices for Climate Change Adaptation
4.1 Flood prone management
A number of so far several programs have been implemented to reduce and
mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts, which are the main climate hazards
in the country. In the last five years, at least ten types of projects have been
implemented to address floods. Most of these projects consisted of the
construction of water culverts, and the rehabilitation of roads and bridges
damaged by floods, while the construction of dams, pumping facilities, water
gates and canals has been limited. Some roads were constructed as part of an
effort to prevent or reduce the damages of floods in agricultural areas (MoE,
2005) [4].
4.2 Traditional plant
In addition, planting bamboo is a traditional method used by people who live
along watercourses, water bodies to reduce the impact of excessive flooding, as
bamboo can reduce erosion and sedimentation. Adequate funding to support
traditional flood mitigation methods is still lacking (MoE, 2005) [4]. Mangrove
forest management will support to protect coastal erosion and to support
biodiversity vital.
4.3 Drought management
The impact of drought have similarly been addressed by a number of programs
with aiming to improving the irrigation system, rehabilitation of pumping
stations and water pump, water supply and sanitation and establishment of
Farmer Water User Community (FWUC). For example, MOWRAM’s objective
for 2001-2005 have been achieved a total of 290 irrigation rehabilitation
projects, covering 532,673 ha of wet season rice and 154,368 ha of dry season
rice, at a total cost of about US$ 607 million. Up to 2003, 315 irrigation projects
had been implemented, covering 153,149 ha of paddy rice, of which 89,383 ha
for wet season and 63,766 ha for dry season (MOWRAM, 2003) [7].
4.4 Other sectors management
In 2009, the Food Facility Project was funded by European Union (EU) and
implemented by the General Department of Agriculture (GDA) in cooperation
with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in nine provinces in
Cambodia. The results of the project include agriculture land improvement,
better knowledge of local farmers on how to select a good rice crop variety
aiming to improve the rice production, how to raise fish to support their
livelihood, how to grow vegetable and how to store rice in a right manner for
food and seed.
The Ketsana project was funded by the World Bank and implemented by the
Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) in six provinces, which affected by the
Ketsana Typhoon in 2008, aimed to build and improve the rural infrastructure
such as rural roads and rural water supply and sanitation facilities. However, the
11
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
project has been started to make inventory and to build and rehabilitate the rural
roads and rural water supply and sanitation facilities later (the Ketsana project
report, 2010). In addition, the project has also strengthened capacity of
provincial staff of disaster management committee on how to prevent the
natural disaster.
5 Adaptation capacity to climate change
5.1 Understanding of adaptation
The definition of adaptation was made by IPCC (fourth assessment report IPCC,
2007): adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected
climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities. Other definition of adaptation is adjustments of a system to
reduce vulnerability and to increase the resilience of system to change, in this
case in the climate system (W. Neil Adger UK), Shardul Agrawala
(OECD/France), M. Monirul Qader Mirza (Canada/Bangladesh), 2007) [14].
According to UNDP (2005), adaptation - is a process by which strategies to
moderate, cope with and take advantage of the consequences of climatic events
are enhanced, developed, and implemented.
Adaptive capacity – The ability of a system to adjust to climate change
(including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to
take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences (IPCC, 2007).
Adaptive capacity is the ability or potential of a system to respond successfully
to climate variability and change, and includes adjustments in both behavior and
in resources and technologies.
Adaptation strategies – A climate change adaptation strategy for a country
refers to a general plan of action for addressing the impacts of climate change,
including climate variability and extremes. It may include a mix of policies and
measures, selected to meet the overarching objective of reducing the country’s
vulnerability (UNDP, 2005).
The adaptation is an important means of reducing climate-change impacts.
Adaptation includes all activities that an individual, community, government, or
institution does in response to climate stimuli. Adaptation can either be
autonomous – reactive – or planned in advance. Autonomous adaptation refers
to actions taken during or after experiencing the impacts of climate change. This
kind of adaptation generally involves suffering losses and so is not ideal.
Planned adaptation includes all those actions taken in anticipation of climate
change impacts. These decisions are the most difficult to make, since climate
change involves uncertainty, and human resources and financial investments
may go to waste if the course of action decided on turns out to be wrong one. As
decisions of this kind are important, we tried to identify both types of decision
made at the community level. However, it is difficult to distinguish in practice
between the two. For example, digging wells, planting new cropping systems, or
storing rice or fodder may come under either category, depending on
12
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
circumstances including intention, timing, and the degree of planning, and so on
(Oxfam Cambodia, 2008) [10].
5.2 Adaptive Capacity Barriers
In Cambodia, the NAPA (2006) highlighted the following barriers related to
capacity for adaptation that will need to be addressed:
a) Limited financial resources or funding for climate change related
activities, especially in the health and agriculture sectors;
b) Few climate change studies and little experience within the country;
c) Lack of climate change research and/or training institutions in the
country;
d) Lack of data availability and reliability and , in particular, absence of a
formal mechanism for information sharing;
e) Limited cooperation and coordination among institutional agencies
related to research or studies on climate change and climate variability;
f) Relatively low technical capacity of local staff;
g) Relatively low government salary and limited incentives from the
climate change project;
h) Non-comprehensive national climate change policies and/or strategy;
i) Lack of qualified national experts in the country;
j) Limited public awareness and education on climate change; and
k) Limited technical, financial and institutional resources for adaptation.
5.3 Adaptive capacity challenges to Climate change adaptation
Resulting from the importance and barriers of adaptive capacity for climate
change in Cambodia, the several challenges for adaptive capacity to respond to
climate change can be summarized are as follows:
a) Awareness and knowledge on climate change must be mainstreamed to
all sectors development aspect at local, provincial and national levels
through media system, TV spots, radio and campaign;
b) Establishment of data management system for collecting and sharing
data and information on climate change issue and adaptation capacity to
related stakeholders;
c) Establishment of networks for meteorology and hydrology to manage
and control for example: temperature, rainfall, weather, agriculture
production, industry and health impacted by climate change;
d) Staff capacity building on climate change through long term-studies,
short course trainings and exchange study tours in and out of the
country and the region;
13
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
e) Development of long-term integrated planning of providing best chance
of minimizing the sea-level rise’s negative effects;
f) Availability of financial resources must be secured for
programs/projects, research and development on climate change
adaptation from both the government agencies and development
partners;
g) Strengthening the cooperation and coordination mechanism among
different sectors agencies at local, national, regional and international
levels applying IWRM aspects to response the climate change
adaptation;
h) Encouraging the decision makers to recognize the climate change issues
and to commit their deals with issues;
i) The appropriate capacity of local farmers on the selection of crop
varieties, and the planning of crop system for climate change
adaptation;
j) Vocational skills for local farming to get the jobs in the communities for
climate change adaptation.
6 Conclusion
In conclusion, Cambodia is one of vulnerable countries to climate variability
change. Climate change poses a serious threat for Cambodia socio-
economic development. The climate change issues in Cambodia are concerned
with the natural disaster hazards occurred in the country mainly flood and
drought that affect mostly to socio-economic development and environmental
and biodiversity conservation problem. The sectors cooperation is appropriate
though for this challenging process to support climate change adaptation.
Integrating adaptation into development cooperation is very important, as it
provides practical support with the integration of adaptation measures into
project activities, for example, in projects relate to disaster risk reduction,
coastal zone and water management, the conservation of natural resources and
ecosystems, or rural development, as well as poverty reduction.
The National policies, strategies and regulations have been set as national
framework to response the climate change issues and challenges of climate
change adaptation of related hazards. Cambodia supports the Protocol’s CDM
and commits her strong involvement in the Global Climate Change mechanism
though establishment of national institutions working with Climate Change and
adaptation. The National Plan for Development is being integrated with climate
change aspects and IWRM perspectives as the tool for climate change
adaptation in the country. The MRC program on climate change is provided to
assist Cambodia and other member countries to cooperate on climate change in
the Mekong River basin.
ASIAN Countries and MRC member countries have been working hard for CC
in the region. The existing national mechanism response to CCA and Mitigation
14
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
have been working and initiating at national and local levels. The Government
Actions and interventions to CC are synergized, cohesion and integrated to
national socio-economic development plan responding to CCA. Climate change
is a strategic challenge to the government of Cambodia to achieve the National
MDGs.
7 Recommendations
Based on these findings, our recommendations are made as follows:
a) Institutional and human resources capacity building for CCA should be
improved and comprehensively capable to deal with CCA and
Mitigation
b) Improving policy and decision makers capacity to understand the
climate change issues and capacity to deal with the climate change
adaptation;
c) Integrating Climate change aspects into the national policies, strategies
and regulations to support enhancing the country capacity the climate
change adaptation;
d) Comprehensive raising awareness on climate change issues and CCA
among different stakeholders including governments, civil society,
NGO, academic institutions and private sector etc;
e) Enforcing the implementation of legal documents that support to
climate change adaptation with appropriate tools, procedures, guideline
etc;
f) Developing and improving the networks for hydro-meteorology at rural
communities in order to exchange and disseminate the weather and
climate information to all;
g) The government and other development partners have to secure fund for
implementation of climate change adaptation programs/projects.
h) The action response to the CC should be in systematic cooperation on
mitigation and adaptation from all related sectors and from one country
to another and experience and lesson learnt should be shared to find the
effective action.
15
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
8 References
[1] Anshory Yusuf and Fransisco. (2009).
[2] chinaview.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 2010, from http://www.chinaview.com/
[3] McSweeney et al. (2008).
[4] MoE. (2005). Analysis of Policies to address Climate Change Impacts in
Cambodia, Final Draft.
[5] MoE, INC. (2002). Vulnerability and adaptation assessment to climate
change in Cambodia. Cambodia's Initial National Communication.
[6] MoE, NAPA. (2006). National adaptation programme of action to
Climate Change (NAPA).
[7] MOWRAM. (2003). Report on Activities and Outputs of the MOWRAM
2003. Phnom Penh.
[8] MRC. (2009). Management Information Booklet Series No.1 Adaptation
to climate change in the countries of the Lower Mekong Basin.
[9] NCDM. (2002; 2009). National Committee for Disaster Management
report.
[10] Oxfam Cambodia. (2008). Oxfam Cambodia and Graduate School of
Global EnvironmentalStudies . In Drought Management Considerations
for Climate Change Adaptation: Focus on the Mekong Region-
CAMBODIA. Kyoto University.
[11] RGC. (2010). Comprehensive Post Disaster Needs Assessment: Ketsana
Recovery and Reconstruction in Cambodia.
[12] Tin Ponlok. (2010). Cambodia Environmental and Climate Change Policy
Brief.
[13] UNFCCC. (1995). Report of United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
[14] W. Neil Adger (UK), Shardul Agrawala (OECD/France), M. Monirul
Qader Mirza (Canada/Bangladesh). (n.d.). Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from http://www.ipcc.ch
[15] World Bank. (2010). Cambodia: Kh-Typhoon Ketsana Emergency
Reconstruction And Rehabilitation Project - Project Information
Document (Pid), Concept Stage.
[16] World Fish Centre. (2009, December 30). Climate Change: Vulnerability
And Adaption In Cambodia. Retrieved 09 27, 2012, from The Fish Site:
http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/805/climate-change-vulnerability-
and-adaption-in-cambodia.
16
The 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Global Environment
November 21st-22nd, 2012
9 Abbreviations
17
CC : Climate Change
CCA : Climate Change Adaptation
CDRI : Cambodia Development and Research Institute
CMDGs : Cambodian Millennium Development Goals
CNMC : Cambodia National Mekong Committee
FAO : Food and Agriculture Organization
FWUC : Farmer Water User Community
GDA : General Department of Agriculture
INC : Initial National Communication
IPCC : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IWRM : Integrated Water Resources Management
MoE : Ministry of Environment
MoH : Ministry of Health
MOWRAM : Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology
MRC : Mekong River Commission
MRD : Ministry of Rural Development
NAPA : National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate
Change
NCCC : National Climate Change Committee
NCDM : National Committee for Disaster Management
PDNA : Post Disaster Needs Assessment
RGC : Royal Government of Cambodia
UNDP : United Nation Development Programme
UNFCCC : United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change