Through quiz and comedy, Cambodians discuss climate change on World Environment Day

Cambodians answered quiz to test their understanding of climate change as they joined the rest of the world in observing World Environment Day on June 5. Comedians were also on hand to cheer them up and galvanize them into action to protect the country’s forests and prepare themselves better how to survive in the age of a warmer planet Earth.

“When we face shortage of rain, we should use rice seed which relies on lest water to grow and lest time to yield,” Chem Chantha, a 53-year-old farmer, said responding to a random questionnaire how to adapt to climate change.

To a question about health implications, Koeun Somean, a 23-year-old woman, raised her hand and said: “Climate change can cause diseases to make us sick and kill our livestock too.”

Can anyone name at least one type of green house gases?

Li Sok Lun, 17 and an 11^th grade student, answered: “Methane and carbon dioxide.”

The respondents were among some 1,000 farmers, provincial officials, and representatives of non-governmental organizations who took part in the UNDP-supported events on June 3 and 5. They were held in Kratie and Preah Vihear provinces under the global theme “Forests: Nature at Your Service”.

In her message celebrating the day, UNDP’s Administrator Helen Clark said a sustainable environment is a matter of survival for the world’s poorest.

“When we impoverish the environment, we impoverish ourselves. It is the poorest who are hardest hit. Their lives are most directly dependent on the environments in which they live, and they are least able to protect themselves from the impacts of deforestation, change in rainfall patterns, or rising sea levels,” she said.

This holds particularly true for Cambodia. Forest resources contribute from 30 to 40 percent of their total household livelihood. However, the country’s forests have suffered from deforestation and degradation caused by the rapid pace of development in the country, including large-scale agro-industrial development.

Because it has limited financial and technological resources, Cambodia is considered highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change.

A study released on May 10 found that a vast majority of Cambodians are feeling the effects of climate change but still have little understanding what is causing it. They believe that extreme weather events like flood and drought are more frequent. But more than half of the 2,401 respondents said they were unable to respond to weather changes due to lack of information. Even among those who received such information, they did so only during or after an extreme weather event but not before, according to the "Understanding Public Perceptions of Climate Change in Cambodia" study that was funded in part by UNDP.

The findings point to huge information and knowledge gap still existing among the people of Cambodia, especially those who live in the rural areas where access to information in general is scarce.

The weather is hotter and rainfalls are becoming more irregular and harder to predict – these were among the concerns that weighed heavily on the minds of the villagers who attended the two-day campaigns.

Nav Sothy, a rice farmer in Kratie province, compared her experience of coping with irregular rainfall patterns to betting on lucky draw.

“Sometimes you bet on number 9 but you got number 10 instead. Or it’s the other way around. It is very hard to keep up with the change in the climate,” said Nav Sothy, 19.

UNDP in Cambodia has been working in partnership with the Cambodian government to strengthen its institutional capacity to respond to impacts of climate changes. At the local levels, UNDP is implementing activities to assist farmers to improve their abilities to adapt to the changing weather. This includes using drought and flood resilient rice seeds in farming and skills in raising livestock to supplement household incomes.

During the campaign in Kratie province, H.E. Kham Phoeun, the governor, acknowledged UNDP’s contribution in this endeavor.

He said climate change is here to stay and to survive it everyone has to get involved in preserving the forests.

“Stop cutting trees and plant them back wherever they have been lost – not just for the sake of saving the forests but for the sake of the environment we are living in also,” he said.

Inaction could spell “disaster” for the environment and sources of livelihoods in the future, H.E. Sar Thavy, deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, told villagers during the campaign there.

“Although the government has mechanism and strategies to address these issues, all of us must have clearer understanding of climate change and the causes behind it. We must play our part in helping to reduce climate change by protecting the environment and natural resources,” he said.