Strategic Plan of Rural Development for Climate Change Adaptation in Cambodia 2012.

This Strategic Plan of Rural Development for Climate Change Adaptation in Cambodia 2012 is a sectoral policy document at the national level for the period of 2013-2022. The Goals are “To build the adaptive capacity of rural vulnerable communities (knowledge, primary health care, infrastructure and socioeconomics) and to increase the resilience of rural and social infrastructure to climate change, and optimize mitigation opportunities for sustainable development”. The first five years of the strategy will be used to increase resilience to, and reduce vulnerability of, local critical economic infrastructure in vulnerable rural areas of Cambodia, to the adverse impacts of climate change, focusing on physical conditions of all rural infrastructure facilities.
In response to the Cambodia's national strategy on poverty reduction, and to help rural poor who are restrained by the impacts of climate change, this Strategic Plan addresses four priority areas: (1) Development of policies and regulations which relate to upgrading rural infrastructure quality and rural adaptation, (2) Creation of rural business opportunities for savings and improved rural livelihoods, (3) Provision of upgraded rural infrastructure projects as demonstrated in some areas, and (4) Provision of capacity building on climate change adaptation and rural health care awareness to communities. The four prioritized areas are all aimed at creating: “Climate risk-resilient rural areas of Cambodia with healthy, safe, prosperous and self-reliant rural communities, and a thriving and productive rural development situation”.
Responding to climate change adaptation and mitigation, the Strategic Plan proposes the core activities in the 10-year program, including: Policy research and development on roads, water supply, community health care, community socioeconomics, indigenous people and identification of vulnerable project areas, preparation of standardized technical manuals and terms of rural infrastructure in response to climate change; Providing soft loans to 30% of the vulnerable groups of people in the first three years, accompanied by exact agricultural plans to ensure that the return will be safe and savings of local businesses will compensate any loss of property during disasters; Protecting road infrastructure from climate change impacts through an improved planning process and consideration of environmental and social safeguards points; Ensuring that increased resilience of road infrastructure does not increase the vulnerability of the surrounding area to climate change through green planning and a pilot local early warning system and a pilot program for emergency management planning for rural roads; Design and develop rainwater harvesting systems; For community water, to design climate proofing of pumping wells to adapt to climate change; etc.