The Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and United Stated Development Program (UNDP) in collaborated to launch the 2011 Cambodia Human Development Report (CHDR) on August 30 which identifies climate change as a threat to human development gains and a source of increasing vulnerability for the poor.
“Building Resiliency-the Future of Rural Livelihood in the Face of Climate Change,” which is the first-ever Cambodia human development report on climate change brought about enormous benefits to Cambodia as it detailed information about the current situation of climate and its impact on Cambodia especially country’s rural population who are the most vulnerable in facing climate change and strive to improve their livelihood to deal with those problems.
Speaking at the ceremony, H.E. Keat Chhon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said that in the face of the global climate change Cambodia has set climate change task as a national priority in the current National Strategic Development Plan 2009-2013. “The priority should be giving to the development of human resources and institution, research, the applying of appropriate technology and financing issue aiming at strengthening the capacity to effectively respond to the climate change,” minister said. “It needs to be done particularly in the sectors that are backbone of national economy such as agriculture, water resources, fisheries, forestry, energy and physical infrastructure,” he minister added.
H.E. Mok Maret, Minister of Environment, said that responding to climate change, it needs to reform some sector which increase people’s capacity to solve problem by themselves such as reform throughout decentralization, reform information system, climate prediction, reform rural infrastructure, select best crop, and increase capacity of research knowledge. He added that government agencies, non-governmental organizations and private sector with the support of development partners can ensure the success of climate change response in Cambodia.
Douglas Broderick, UNDP Cambodia Resident Representative, said that climate change is fundamentally a development challenge and highly vulnerable to climate change impact. “This vulnerability does not necessarily come from high exposure, but rather from low adapting and coping capacities. These capacities can and should be strengthen, not only as part of a broader national response to the manifestations of climate change, but also to enhance the country’s ability to respond to all natural disasters and to lessen their impact on the poor and the near poor.”
The report from the ceremony said that although climate change is often considered an environmental issue, its effects will take a toll on human development gains. Shorter and more interns rainy seasons combined with longer and dry reasons are expected to significantly alter the country’s agriculture landscape. Predicted rises in temperature could have devastating effects on the rice crops on which many rural livelihoods rely.
Dealing with climate change marks a new paradigm for development, and the report’s recommendations emphasize the need to address the structural dimensions of poverty and vulnerability rather solely focusing on climate change adaptation. The report also argues for a well coordinated effort to build climate resilience among the rural population, particular in four key areas: water resources, agriculture, forest and fisheries.
The report also said new natural phenomenon such as slow rainfall in 2010 shows us that the rural livelihoods strongly depends on the rainfall dropping on time and when the rainy season is beginning slower than normal causing the level of Tonlesap and Mekong River to be lower should alert public to start paying attention to climate change. Local farmers also lost their agricultural crops from the Ketsana storm in September in 2009. The storm was a tragedy for local farmers and it is a strange one because climate change can be blamed for potential catastrophes.
“For the past 30 years, the ecology in Cambodia rapidly changed, the report said, adding that the change of temperature on the earth and the change of ecology at the local community level will make temperatures in the future change differently from the current climate situation.
Generally, the change in climate has been blamed on population growth, and on high demands of natural resources for heavy industry, and deforestation, smoke from heavy industry and transportation.
Source: The Southeast Asia Weekly, September 4-10, 2011, Vol 5, Issue 36, Page 6
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