New course of action in Cambodia’s alliance against climate change

Cambodia has begun charting a new course of action against climate change, consolidating initiatives and efforts from all actors to tackle the impacts of this global problem.

The government has united with development partners to form the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA), to jointly map out a course of action to fight climate change. On 18 August, the alliance met to discuss strategies for improving the abilities of the government’s institutions at all levels to face up to the new challenges.

“We cannot hope to achieve the kinds of transformations at the societal level that will be necessary to respond to climate change if we act alone, or in isolation from other initiatives,” Rafael Dochao-Moreno, Chargé d’Affaires, European Union Delegation to Cambodia, said in his speech at the inception workshop of CCCA on Wednesday.

The workshop was attended by some 150 participants including senior and mid-level officials from 20 government’s line ministries and agencies,, representatives of development partners, civil society organisation and academic institutions, and members of the media. The gathering kicked off the implementation phase of the multi-donor funded CCCA programme, which was launched on 25 February.

The meeting allowed the programme team to review the progress it has made during the last six months – the initial stage that followed the Alliance’s launch – and to empower the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) to take full ownership of the programme and for line ministries to understand their roles in the programme implementation.

H.E. Dr. Mok Mareth, Senior Minister and Minister of Environment, Chairman of the National Climate Change Committee, opened the workshop by reiterating the Royal Government of Cambodia’s view that tackling impacts of climate change is a strategic priority for reducing poverty and sustainable development.

“We are undertaking this task at a time when climate change-related issues are becoming more and more serious, requiring the utmost attention in our national development agenda,” the minister said in his speech.

“Because climate change is a cross-sectoral issue directly concerning ministries and institutions that are charged with tasks of national development, the Royal Government of Cambodia has recognised the need to streamline climate change issues into national policies and the socio-economic development plans at national and sub-national levels, as well as into all sectors,” he said.

The CCCA initiative is supported by the Climate Change Trust Fund of US$8.9 million – which covers the period 2010-2012 – contributed by the European Union, UNDP, SIDA, and DANIDA. The initiative works to strengthen the Cambodian institutions – including the National Committee on Climate Change, the Climate Change Department, and other sectors at national and sub-national levels – and to integrate climate change considerations into policy and planning processes to build a national adaptation and mitigation system.

UNDP has had a long-standing partnership with the Cambodian Government on climate change for more than 10 years, starting with the support for its participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the development of National Adaptation Programme of Actions (NAPA), and the preparation of the Initial and Second National Communication to the UNFCCC.

The CCCA is a continuation of this partnership, and under this framework, UNDP continues to play important functions.

One of its roles is to support the government to mobilize expertise to develop the national climate change strategy and action plan in the coming three years, UNDP Cambodia’s Deputy Country Directory (Programme) Sophie Baranes told a media briefing on the sideline of the workshop.

“Our second role is to assist the Royal Government of Cambodia to connect to the South-South knowledge. All governments in the region are faced with the same challenges and UNDP has the presence in all these countries, so we hope that we can connect partners with the counterparts in the region to discuss this issue and exchange solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation,” she said.

“The third role relates to capacity development, making sure that while UNDP support mobilization of technical expertise, concurrently skill, system, capacity are being developed through the Climate Change Department and the sectoral ministries,” she said.

She added that UNDP will be administering the trust fund for the initial period to assist the Climate Change Department in putting together a system for financial management, procurement, reporting, and, in a broader sense, programme management to take over the management of the fund – a move towards direct budget support in the future.

Cambodia, where some 80 percent of the population live in the countryside and depend on agriculture for livelihoods, is deemed vulnerable to impacts of climate change events such as drought, erratic patterns of rain falls, and flooding.

Even though it is a small country, Cambodia can do a lot to protect the environment against climate change, Mr. Moreno, of the European Union Delegation to Cambodia, said.

But he said that, since climate change impacts are too big for any single project, ministry or development partner to respond to alone, it is crucial to consolidate and harmonise different initiatives.

He suggested this could be done through a National Programme – established by Government, with the support of development partners and civil society organizations – to align climate change initiatives and donor support with national strategies and priorities.

“A programmatic approach can reduce transactions costs, strengthen national ownership and leadership, and enhance efficiency and effectiveness in order to promote greater impacts,” he said. “This is a fight that needs the support of everyone.”