Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan 2014 – 2023.

This Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan (CCCSP) for the period 2014 – 2023, as a cross-sectoral framework, is the first comprehensive national policy document responding to climate change issue. Building synergy with existing government policy documents such as National Strategic Development Plan(NSDP), Rectangular Strategy, National Policy on Green Growth and sector development plans, the CCCSP is designed to ensure its strategic cohesion to address a wide range of climate change issues concerning adaptation, GHG mitigation, and low-carbon development. The Vision is: Cambodia develops towards a green, low-carbon, climate-resilient, equitable, sustainable and knowledge-based society. The plan’s main goals include reducing vulnerability of most vulnerable groups and critical (natural and societal) systems to climate change impacts; shifting towards a green development path by promoting low-carbon development and technologies; and promoting awareness and participation of the public in climate change response actions.
Concerning helping eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, one of the strategic objectives set up in the CCCSP is to promote climate resilience through improving food, water and energy securities. Main strategy seeking to food security is: increasing capacity to address climate-induced opportunities in agricultural production systems, ecosystems, and protected areas, focusing on agricultural diversification (e.g. crops, livestock etc.), increase in productivity (e.g. crops, fisheries, livestock, forestry etc.), opportunity for new cropping, and watershed and ecosystem management.
Regarding making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the main strategies concern: reviewing all national policies to achieve green growth; promoting environmentally sustainable areas through reforestration, forestry, fishery and biodiversity conservation, and zoning for conversation and development by balancing each other; capacity building on green growth skills of officers and stakeholders; encouraging investors to take green growth into account and create jobs with green technology use; investment in efficient use of natural resources; reducing greenhouse gas emission and climate change adaptation; following green growth principles in coastline zone management and development; sustainable water resources management; effective management of energy and renewable energy; management and sustainable land usage.
The CCCSP recognizes that response efforts to address climate change cannot be separated from economic development and poverty alleviation. The main strategies to achieve the strategic objective to reduce vulnerability of sectors, regions, gender and health to climate change impacts include: promoting community-based adaptation approaches and strengthening partnerships between development partners, civil society, private sectors and the government; promoting the use of appropriate technologies on animal and crop production for vulnerable farmers; improving effective fisheries management; promoting participatory land-use planning. The main strategies to achieve the strategic objective to promote adaptive social protection and participatory approaches in reducing loss and damage include: promoting micro-financing to facilitate access to credits by local communities for climate change response; promoting insurance schemes for reducing climate-risk and disaster burdens on society; integrating gender into climate change response planning; leveraging the decentralization process to strengthen financial and institutional processes for local adaptation; instituting public engagement, participation and consultations as primary entry points for adaptation planning, promoting the involvement of multiple stakeholders including NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs), youths, indigenous communities and the private sector.
Concerning increasing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the CCCSP adopts a twin track approach. Much emphasis is put on building institutional capacity and science-based knowledge for projection of climate change impacts, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction since these would have immediate far-reaching implications on vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, water supply, forestry, and fisheries. The CCCSP also envisages building resilience capacity and production skills, especially at the community level, to effectively overcome climate change impacts. The CCCSP reflects the country’s political will and firm commitment for reducing climate change impacts on national development efforts and providing contribution with international community to the global efforts under the UNFCCC. The main strategies to achieve the strategic objective to reduce vulnerability of sectors, regions, gender and health to climate change impacts include: prioritizing adaptation measures for key regions of Cambodia, such as coastal zones, highlands, rural areas, based on vulnerability and risk assessments; introducing technologies in waterworks development and rehabilitation in response to the negative impacts of climate change; providing climate proofing to rural infrastructure (roads, irrigation, wells and culverts) to be resilient to flood and drought; promoting early warning systems on hydro-met; prioritizing women’s needs in climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. The main strategies to achieve the strategic objective to improve capacities, knowledge and awareness for climate change responses include: enhancing the implementation of Article 6 of the UNFCCC on education, training, awareness, participation, and access to information, and the international cooperation in climate change; developing targeted awareness programmes aimed at key audiences such as most-vulnerable groups, women, children, youths and minorities; sensitizing the private sector on threats and opportunities of climate change (technical support, financing, and technology transfer), and developing public-private partnerships for communication; capacity building of teachers and planning officers; strengthening the capacity for collection, analysis, modelling and interpretation of climate data and information dissemination to various end-users, including seasonal forecasting for adaptation and community early-warning facilities for disaster risk management; developing early-warning systems and programmes for climate-related disaster management and recovery; capitalizing on lessons learned, local knowledge and good practices for development of policies and actions for adaptation and mitigation. The CCCSP further addresses coordination frameworks for national climate change response and collaboration in international climate change processes, including: to mainstream climate change into national and sub-national development plans and the social protection strategy; to reinforce the national institutional framework and inter-ministerial coordination in policy development; to develop a national monitoring and evaluation framework for climate change response; securing climate funds from international funding mechenisms.
Regarding to the institutions for coordinated climate change response, the mandate of the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) is to coordinate and monitor implementation of the Government’s policies, strategies, regulations, plans and programs in response to climate change. A Climate Change Technical Team (CCTT) was established as an inter-ministerial body to provide technical support to NCCC in fulfilling its mandate. The Climate Change Department (CCD) within the Ministry of Environment (MOE) serves as the Secretariat for NCCC and coordinates the activities of the CCTT. There are climate change focal points and working groups appointed by line ministries to oversee the development of the sectoral climate change strategies, action plans and projects. The CCCSP emphasizes a need for review of the climate change institutional structure to promote inter-ministerial coordination and implementation of CCCSP, as well as climate change response measures.