By Sok Lak
The Climate Change Department of Ministry of Environment have held the Launching Ceremony of the Research Report on "Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Climate Change in Cambodia” on 10 May in Phnom Penh.
The report aims to provide comprehensive information for all stakeholders such as NGOs, development partners, public and private sectors in developing their response programs to help Cambodians adapt o climate change.
H.E Mok Mareth, Minister of Environment, said that the research examined the situation and public perceptions on climate change, which is one of the main issues in 21st century. “It is the first in-depth study on climate change in Cambodia.
He added that the key findings and the recommendations written in this report are considered to be an important base of information for all related partners to be used in preparing their strategic plans to raise public awareness in Cambodia. “I would to encourage close collaboration in the future to address climate change through adaptation and the effective green house gas emission reduction strategic.
“The Ministry of Environment has made an effort in building its technical capacity to mainstream climate change knowledge into some important sectors such as agriculture, water resource, infrastructure, health, and coastal management to achieve the sustainable development of Cambodia.
Brian Lund, East Asia Regional Director of Oxfam, said that KAP indicates that some start to plant more vegetation and increase household food stock and feed stocks for their animals with adopt new agriculture techniques such as diversifying crops and rehabilitating water storage structures.
“Climate change poses a significant threat the livelihoods, health, and security of billion around the globe, and jeopardizes the achievements of decades of development effort worldwide especially in the poorest countries and communities including Cambodia,” he noted.
He added that low level of economic and human development and high dependency on rain-fed agriculture make Cambodia extremely vulnerable to climate change. “Rural areas affected by floods and drought will bear the brunt of the increasingly unpredictable and intensified weather patterns,” he said.
Education and information play a crucial role in empowering and enabling people to adapt to and recover from the effects of climate change to ensure sustainable development, he motioned. The role of media in accurately disseminating and simplifying the complexities and dimensions of change in the climate change is essential.
More than half of the survey respondents think they are unable to respond to weather changes and said they do not have the information they need to respond to these changes. Most of people surveyed have incomplete understanding about the causes of climate change. They associate changes in the weather to local activities and do not understand the interplay of causes at the global level. Two-thirds (67%) said deforestation in Cambodia causes the weather to change. Scientific consensus links current climate change to both natural forces and human activities, and the largest known human contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels, mainly used to produce electricity, heat, and transport.
The Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Danida, Oxfam and UNDP in 2010 commissioned the BBC World Service Trust to conduct KAP survey on Cambodian public perceptions of climate change, using a nationally representative sample of 2401 respondents and additional interviews with 101 keys informants including journalists, NGO staff and government officials.
Source: The Southeast Asia Weekly, May 15-21, 2011, Vol. 5, Issue 20, Page 2
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